E D I T O R I A L   P A G E

EDITORIALS

Torture diplomacy
TODAY, it is Mr Kulwant Singh. In April it was Mr Anil Khanna and in November Mr Devendra Kumar Gupta. There is a sickening regularity to Pakistan’s torture of Indian diplomats who are unfortunate enough to be posted there. They are abducted and mercilessly beaten up at the behest of Pakistani intelligence agencies. As soon as any Pakistani official is caught spying in India, Indian staffers have to go through hell.

Amarinder's 100 days
CAPT Amarinder Singh's popularity graph has shot phenomenally ever since he was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Punjab on February 27. A lucky catch in the anti-corruption net in the form of now suspended PPSC Chairman Ravinder Pal Singh Sidhu is primarily responsible for giving him the kind of start chief ministers seldom get. Had the cash-for-job scam not come to light, Capt Amarinder Singh would have had little to show by way of achievement in the first 100 days of his term in office.

Defections at their peak
DEFECTIONS (or horse-trading, as they have come to be known), are not new to Indian politics. Nor is “hotel politics” — keeping party members in safe hideouts with five-star hotel comfort, invariably outside the state, where their safety is ensured by the friendly government. This also protects them from being poached by rival parties whenever the ruling party is directed to prove its majority in the state assembly within a specific timeframe.

OPINION

Punjab Vigilance Bureau is a toothless tiger
It needs to be recast on the pattern of CBI
P.C. Dogra
Recently there was a furore in the bureaucratic labyrinth of the Punjab Government. The IAS fraternity was up in arms against the Vigilance Bureau of Punjab for registering an FIR against an IAS officer on charges of alleged corrupt practices in collusion with an erstwhile minister of an Akali Government.

MIDDLE

Saint or sinner?
J. L. Gupta
The one “that falls into sin is a man, that grieves at it is a saint”. The “charismatic” cricketer, Wessel Johannes Cronje too had sinned. Like many others. But he had the courage to acknowledge his aberration. Shed tears. Like others. But his tears bore testimony to a deep despair. An overwhelming grief. A sacred strength. Hansie’s “drop of sorrow” spoke more eloquently than many tongues.

Is the FBI returning to the Hoover era?
V. Gangadhar
Sometime in the 1970’s, popular writer, Irving Wallace published his controversial novel, “The R Document” which dealt with the plot hatched by the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to assassinate the American President and take over the government.

Wooing foreign investment, Haryana style! 
Tripti Nath
The Chairman and CEO of the Haryana Foreign Investment Promotion Board and former High Commissioner to Singapore, Mr Prem Singh, has shown Haryana the way to tap its resources and open its doors to foreign investment by the present government headed by Mr Om Prakash Chautala.

Government Securities and shares

EDITORIALS

Torture diplomacy

TODAY, it is Mr Kulwant Singh. In April it was Mr Anil Khanna and in November Mr Devendra Kumar Gupta. There is a sickening regularity to Pakistan’s torture of Indian diplomats who are unfortunate enough to be posted there. They are abducted and mercilessly beaten up at the behest of Pakistani intelligence agencies. As soon as any Pakistani official is caught spying in India, Indian staffers have to go through hell. A counter-allegation is always made against them and they have to come face to face with “interrogation”, Pakistani style. Needless to say, these third-degree methods are applied with a vengeance on the Indian staff, their diplomatic immunity be damned. The formality of deportation too takes a cruel turn, as it happened in the case of Mr Kulwant Singh. He and his family were stopped on the way to Wagah and were made to wait in scorching sun for hours before being denied permission to go. These are the extreme cases which come to light because of the sheer inhumanity of it all. But the staff members and their families are even otherwise treated as some kind of hostages. Their life and limbs are never secure. Pakistani spies trail them everywhere. Their phones are routinely tapped and it is quite common for “unidentified intruders” to break into their houses and rummage through their belongings without even the pretence to do it for the sake of money or jewellery. All Indian protests against such barbaric acts remain futile.

The irony is that the game is so dirty that India cannot even opt for a “tit-for-tat” policy. Perhaps that is what encourages the intelligence men in that country to continue with their sadist behaviour. That is not quite unexpected from men who butchered and maimed Indian soldiers who fell into their hands during the Kargil skirmish. But this kind of provocation has gone on for too long and it is high time India called a halt to this uncivilised behaviour. As long as only India was the target, western countries were a silent spectator to the viciousness. But of late, several European diplomats and their families too have had a taste of Pakistani hospitality. No, they were not visited by the intelligence men but the gestures and taunts that they received on the street from common people were ominous enough to scare them good and proper. Many have left the country. Perhaps just that mild sample will be enough for them to understand the agony that the Indian High Commission officials have to undergo. Only if the world makes a common cause against such inhumanity will Pakistan wake up to the fact that it is no longer living in the barbaric age when it was routine to dismember and disembowel your adversaries. Incidentally, diplomatic staff was not tortured even in that era! 

Amarinder's 100 days

CAPT Amarinder Singh's popularity graph has shot phenomenally ever since he was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Punjab on February 27. A lucky catch in the anti-corruption net in the form of now suspended PPSC Chairman Ravinder Pal Singh Sidhu is primarily responsible for giving him the kind of start chief ministers seldom get. Had the cash-for-job scam not come to light, Capt Amarinder Singh would have had little to show by way of achievement in the first 100 days of his term in office. By a strange coincidence Godhra happened the day he replaced Mr Parkash Singh Badal. Since then only two developments had hogged the front pages of most newspapers. One was the post-Godhra violence in Gujarat and the other was the job-for-cash scam of mind-boggling proportions in Punjab. Gujarat is now relatively quiet and the PPSC story too has become routine for want of fresh developments. Gujarat earned Chief Minister Narendra Modi a diabolical name. The exposure of the PPSC scam saw the popularity graph of Capt Amarinder Singh behave like the sensex when Harshad Mehta manipulated the share market. It is about time the Punjab Chief Minister at least unfolds before the people the roadmap he has for reviving the state's moribund economy. Yes, it is indeed true that people, not only in Punjab but elsewhere in the country, are sick and tired of the scale of corruption in government dealings. It makes them happy when the odd big fish is caught. Launching a comprehensive literacy programme would not have earned the Chief Minister as many points as the investigation in a single scam has.

Now is the time to move on and address the problems that had been allow to grow during the term of Mr Parkash Singh Badal. A vigorous anti-graft campaign was just one of the many promises the Congress had made in its poll manifesto. Once the people get out of the "Sidhu shock" they will begin asking questions about the real achievements of the Congress government. Of course, 100 days in office is too early for any government to show results. But Capt Amarinder Singh needs to be reminded that a measure that did not require consultations was the one about making the elected representatives declare their assets. What is holding him back from implementing this promise? He could have set an example by asking at least the Congress MLAs to fulfill the promise made in the manifesto. Raising the amount of shagan or the old age pension or giving free power to the Dalit families will only add to the economic burden of the state. In any case, populism has seldom paid dividends. It may yield short term gains. So if Capt Amarinder Singh really wants to help the state regain its economic strength, he should draw up plans for reviving industrial growth. He should, however, give the highest priority to introducing overdue reforms in the agricultural sector. He should address the factors that force farmers to end their lives. The farmers do not need free power and water. They need an adequate and assured supply of both. Help them adopt modern farming techniques for increasing production. If he can set the pace for reforms in this key sector, he should not be surprised if his popularity rating hits the ceiling.

Defections at their peak

DEFECTIONS (or horse-trading, as they have come to be known), are not new to Indian politics. Nor is “hotel politics” — keeping party members in safe hideouts with five-star hotel comfort, invariably outside the state, where their safety is ensured by the friendly government. This also protects them from being poached by rival parties whenever the ruling party is directed to prove its majority in the state assembly within a specific timeframe. What is happening in Maharashtra today is a re-enactment of this drama. On Thursday, the beleagured Chief Minister, Mr Vilasrao Deshmukh, had sent 40-odd Congress members to Bangalore’s fabulous Golden Spa, to keep them away from the BJP-Shiv Sena poachers. Three ministers of the S.M.Krishna Government in Karnataka were at the airport to receive the guests and take care of them. Sixteen hours earlier, the Nationalist Congress Party — the major partner of the coalition government — had sent about 50 members to Indore in Madhya Pradesh where they are hiding at Hotel President. When the late N.T.Rama Rao faced a crisis in Andhra Pradesh, over 100 Telugu Desam MLAs were bundled out from Hyderabad to Nandi Hills near Bangalore. The friendly Ramakrishna Hedge’s Janata Party Government protected them from being poached by the Congress. Mr Rama Rao could not save his chair the second time when his son-in-law, Mr Chandrababu Naidu, raised the banner of revolt and kept his party members in Hyderabad’s Hotel Viceroy. The protection given to Gujarat’s BJP members in Hotel Chandela at Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh, and Ms Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party members in a Lucknow guest house are still fresh in memory.

Even as most of the members of the ruling coalition are ensconced in their plush hideouts outside Maharashtra, the very few who are still in Mumbai have been changing parties by the hour. Horse-trading is at its peak and it is said that the going price for a ruling Democratic Front member is between Rs 2 crore and Rs 5 crore. Apparently, there are no easy options left for the Chief Minister. Even if the controversial NCP Minister, Mr Sunil Tatkere, has offered to resign, there is little chance of wooing back the Peasants and Workers’ Party members as they now want more ministerial berths and major concessions. The same is the case with the Left. If reports are to be believed, the ministry has been reduced to a minority and it is perhaps for this reason that the Congress high command has advised Mr Deshmukh to resign with grace if he is not confident of proving his majority on the floor of the House before June 14, the deadline set by Governor P. C. Alexander. The noises being made in some quarters of the ruling coalition about punishing the defectors by enforcing the Anti-Defection Act might not help because of various loopholes in the law. Sadly, for obvious reasons, the principal political parties at the national level have failed to evolve a consensus on the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution to legally stop the menace of defections that has ruined the Indian polity, while helping the parties to either retain or come to power through defections. Developments as in Maharashtra now or in Goa (a few months back) could have been checked if there was an explicit amendment in the Anti-Defection Act to the effect that a member would lose his seat if he defects from the party on whose ticket he was elected.

OPINION

Punjab Vigilance Bureau is a toothless tiger
It needs to be recast on the pattern of CBI
P.C. Dogra

Recently there was a furore in the bureaucratic labyrinth of the Punjab Government. The IAS fraternity was up in arms against the Vigilance Bureau of Punjab for registering an FIR against an IAS officer on charges of alleged corrupt practices in collusion with an erstwhile minister of an Akali Government. The Chief Minister of Punjab had to intervene to sort out the matter. The Vigilance Bureau, Punjab, never had any real power and nowhere near those vested in the Central Bureau of Investigation. Earlier, the Chief Director, Vigilance, was at least empowered to register a regular enquiry or an FIR against non-gazetted officers. Cases relating to the gazetted officers were dealt with by the Secretary Vigilance of the State Government.

Even this limited authority vested in the Vigilance Bureau was not probably to the liking of the bureaucrats. A “noble” mission to “strengthen” the Vigilance Bureau and make it more “effective” was started by the top echelons of the bureaucracy. In a meeting of the then Chief Secretary and Secretary Vigilance, taken by the then Chief Minister, I was asked for my views. I forcefully suggested the adoption of the CBI manual so as to give it some operational autonomy and attract the goodwill of the people at large. Thereafter, I was never associated with any such proceedings and totally kept out of this exercise. The bureaucrats devised and enforced such a setup for the Vigilance Bureau which made it totally powerless but a showpiece all the same with a shining top brass. The IAS lobby has got a stifling stranglehold over it. The manual for the Vigilance Bureau has been revised.

Now the Vigilance Bureau will send all complaints or the source information reports to the Secretary Vigilance who will decide whether it should be filed or sent to the administrative Department for such action as the Secretary Vigilance considers necessary or it should be placed before the apex Vigilance Committee. Needless to say that this process will obviously result in exposure of the source and the complaint/source information. It goes against the basic principle of the confidentiality of the source report and the non-exposure of the source.

The revised manual says that there shall be two committees. One will be for the gazetted officers comprising Chief Secretary, Secretary Vigilance, Chief Director Vigilance Bureau, Legal Remembrancer and the Administrative Secretary concerned. The other will be for non-gazetted officers with the same composition except the Chief Secretary. The committees will decide whether the matter is to be closed or it should be referred to the Administrative Secretary concerned for departmental action or to the Vigilance Department for a thorough probe or an FIR be registered where prima-facie criminal case is made out. In trap cases against the gazetted officers, a prior permission of the Administrative Secretary is required.

There has been another shocking addition in the amended instructions. I shall quote verbatim: “Provided further that in each such case where enquiry/investigation has been completed by the Vigilance Bureau and it is to be placed before any of the two committees, the committee concerned will record its comments especially about the performance of the investigating officer/supervisory officer. If any of the committees is of the view that enquiry/investigation has not been done in an impartial manner, it will record its views regarding the same in its proceedings and Secretary Vigilance after giving reasonable opportunity to the officer concerned will get such comments recorded in his annual confidential report”. Apparently the bureaucracy has completely taken over the supervisory role of the registration and the investigation of the criminal cases which is the statutory power vested in the police under the law of the land. I have learnt that now directions are issued to the Vigilance Bureau whether a particular case is to be sent untraced/cancelled.

Some time in 1985, the Government of India issued a Single Directive to the CBI on the subject of registration of Regular Enquiry/FIR against a certain level officers of the Government of India directing that “In regard to any person who is or has been at a decision-making level (Joint Secretary or equivalent or above in the Central Government or such officers as are or have been on deputation to a public sector undertaking; there should be a prior sanction of the Secretary of the Ministry/Department concerned before SPE (Special Police Establishment) ie CBI, takes up any enquiry, including ordering search in respect of them. Without such sanction, no enquiry (Preliminary Enquiry or Regular Enquiry) shall be initiated by the SPE.”

It was challenged in the Supreme Court in a writ petition of Vineet Narain & others vs Union of India. The government held the view that the objective of the directive was to protect the decision-making levels from the threat and ignominy of malicious and vexatious inquiries/investigations. The Attorney-General while arguing the case, defended it on the ground that the CBI being a special agency created by the Central Government, was required to function according to the mandate of the Central Government which has constituted this special agency for specified purpose. The pragmatic effect of the Single Directive was therefore to inhibit investigation against the specified category of officers without sanction in accordance with the Single Directive”.

The Supreme Court held that “Once the CBI is empowered to investigate an offence generally by its specification under Section 3 of the Special Police Establishment Act, the process of investigation, including its initiation, is to be governed by the statutory provisions under the general law applicable to such investigations and they cannot be stopped or curtailed by any executive instruction. This is not an area which can be included within the meaning of “Superintendence” in Section 4(1) of the Act. In the absence of any statutory requirement of prior permission or sanction for investigation, it cannot be imposed as a condition precedent for initiation of the investigation once the jurisdiction is conferred on the CBI to investigate the offence. The law does not classify offenders differently for treatment thereunder. Be you ever so high, the law is above you’, The Single Directive cannot therefore, be upheld as valid on the ground of it being permissible in exercise of the power of superintendence of the Central Government under Section 4 (1) of the Act”.

Let us have a look at the powers of the CBI. As regards registration of enquiries or criminal cases up to the rank of Secretary to the Government of India, Lieut General and above in the Army and equivalent ranks in the Navy and Air Force, Director. CBI is competent to decide on his own. He does not have to refer the file to anyone. Similarly, Additional Director of the CBI is competent to decide cases of the rank of Joint Secretary to Government of India, Major-General, Brigadier and their equivalent ranks in the Navy and the Air Force. The Joint Director can dispose of cases of the level of Director to the Government of India and DIG/CBI that of Deputy Secretary to the Government of India. The Superintendent of Police of the CBI is empowered to register Regular Case/Regular enquiry against all group “C” & “D” Government servants. Of course, there is legal advice available at all levels and is mandatory for all the investigating officers. The senior the officer, the larger the number of levels at which the legal opinion is required to be taken by the investigating officer or the supervisory officer.

What a contrast! In the CBI, a DGP rank officer can register a corruption case against a Secretary-level officer. In Punjab, Chief Director Vigilance who has generally been of the rank of DGP cannot register even a complaint, leave aside a criminal case, against a non-gazetted employee. He has to put it before the Vigilance Committee headed by Secretary Vigilance and abide by his order. It is a total subversion of the law of the land. It can be a fit case for public interest litigation.

The arrest of the Chairman of the Punjab Public Service Commission and the seizure of crores of his ill-gotten money has been the all-time greatest achievement of the Punjab Government. The credit must go to the Chief Minister.

He deserves our gratitude. But the war against corruption should not end here. It must be carried on. For this we need a legally autonomous system, with an inbuilt insulation against extraneous influences. The Vigilance Bureau needs to be strengthened. I sincerely suggest that it should be revamped on the pattern of CBI.

The writer is a former Director General of Police, Punjab. 

MIDDLE

Saint or sinner?
J.L. Gupta

The one “that falls into sin is a man, that grieves at it is a saint”. The “charismatic” cricketer, Wessel Johannes Cronje too had sinned. Like many others. But he had the courage to acknowledge his aberration. Shed tears. Like others. But his tears bore testimony to a deep despair. An overwhelming grief. A sacred strength. Hansie’s “drop of sorrow” spoke more eloquently than many tongues.

Born on September 25, 1969, Cronje had made the international debut against Australia in the year 1991. At the age of 25, he had taken over as captain. Played 136 one-day international matches. Scored 4100 runs. Took 54 catches and 77 wickets. Five wickets for 35 runs were his best. Passed the Test Matches’ test too. Scored 2678 runs. Took 14 catches and 26 wickets. The best was 3 for 21 runs.

The world had watched the Protean captain. Entertaining large crowds. Fighting for his country’s honour. Take his team to a high pedestal. Cronje looked keen and competitive. Young, but mature. Invariably, unsparing in effort. There was a promise of lot more. But it was not to be. The captain was kicked. Rather cruelly.

Why did he falter? A consuming avarice? An unmitigated greed? Or pure destiny that made him deviate from the right path?

May be both. A bit of avarice and greed. Also an adverse planetary configuration. Yet, after the initial hesitation, he was unable to compromise with himself. He had listened to his own conscience. Gone to his priest and made a clean confession. Not within the closed confines of the Church. But in public. Under the blinding lights of television cameras. In the presence of his conscience-keeper.

How many have exhibited such courage? How many shall show it in future? Only time shall tell. But Cronje had a conscience. He was different from others. On and off the field. Even in death.

Those whom God loves die young. So has Hansie gone young. In the prime of his youth. At the age of 32. Born in “Free State”, he is free today. And what a death. The plane caught on a cliff. Nearer the Lord!

Mortals make mistakes. Only the dead are exempt. Hansie was human. Today, he may have renounced the earth. He has not forfeited heaven. He will be there in human hearts. The shock must be unbearable for the family. They can derive some solace from the fact that there are many, all over the globe, to share their grief.

A POINT OF VIEW

Is the FBI returning to the Hoover era?
V. Gangadhar

Sometime in the 1970’s, popular writer, Irving Wallace published his controversial novel, “The R Document” which dealt with the plot hatched by the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to assassinate the American President and take over the government. The Director in the book, was closely patterned on the notorious Edgar Hoover, who ruled the FBI with an iron hand for nearly 40 years and used illegal wire taps on almost everyone in the nation, including the Presidents of the country!

The FBI today is confronted with another ‘R Document’. The document is a 13-page letter which was sent to its Director Robert Mueller by veteran agent Coleen Rowley who is the Bureau’s Chief Counsel at its Minneapolis office. Its contents were explosive and could well change the working pattern of the Bureau.

Rowley, a distinguished agent, whose loyalty and efficiency were acknowledged at all levels, hand delivered the letter to her boss and members of the Senate Intelligence committee. She explained, in anguish and anger, how the Bureau deliberately obstructed measures which could have prevented the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center towers in New York. In meticulous detail, Rowley’s letter revealed how FBI agents at the headquarters systematically undermined and dismissed requests from her Bureau and field office for permission to obtain a warrant to wiretap and search the computers and apartment of Zacharias Moussaouj, a French Moroccan operative arrested in Minneapolis and facing trial as the sole person charged with conspiring in the September 11 attacks.

According to the Rowley memo, the FBI did not share this information with other government agencies or investigate further Moussaouj who had reportedly taken flying lessons and had Middle East connections. It was a case of bureaucratic bungling and prevented the Bureau from getting closer to the conspiracy and uncovering other enemy agents who were on to flight training before September 11. Rowley was so peeved with the agency that she accused the investigations being derailed by a ‘culture of fear’ which rewarded passivity and blind obeisance of the bosses.

The Rowley Memo did upset the FBI and also went further. She had staked her career and could still face black balling by the male-dominated top hierarchy. Yet her own personal reputation and the seriousness of her charges caught the immediate attention of the top brass including director Mueller. Suddenly everyone realised that the FBI needed a shake up. All over the USA, people and the media demanded to know whether the September 11 tragedy could have been prevented. President George Bush had to face considerable embarrassment. After all, the lone crusader in the war against global terrorism had erred badly in allowing the tragedy to happen, thanks to bureaucratic bungling. How was he to explain this to his own people and his allies?

The FBI, since its inception, had been glorified by the government and the media. During the 1950’s, when the USA was enveloped in an anti-communism hysteria, Hoover’s agency labelled everyone with liberal ideas as Russian agents and interfered with their citizenship rights. Since Hoover was the darling of the right wing politicians and media, he got away with murder and hung on to power.

Despite such glorification, the Bureau often blundered in several major cases. Along with the anti-Communism hysteria, it targeted the Blacks, civil rights leaders, intellectuals and those who questioned the might of the military-industrial complex. Despite its enormous powers, unlimited budgets and strong political backing, the FBI blundered on several fronts like the drugs rackets and the growing power of the mafia giants who operated as though they were above the law. After the end of the Cold War era, the Bureau focussed more on growing international terrorism.

The time had come to change all this. Despite being the only super power in the world, the USA allowed itself to be attacked and its citizens killed. George Bush and other stalwarts in his administration may rant and rave about religious fundamentalism, but have they realised that their own incompetency had led to this shameful attack on American pride?

The FBI had already taken certain steps on plugging the loopholes. Director Robert Mueller can now personally review any appeals from field agents for wiretaps which were being denied by the lawyers at the head office. The wiretaps were meant for those suspected of working against the American state. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act introduced in 1978 gave the FBI the broad authority to search a suspect’s home of belongings but the Courts had frowned on frequent requests of this kind. Mueller announced the recruitment of around 900 new agents and the shifting of another 600 now on the Narcotics Section to work on the global terrorism unit.

The FBI would co-operate more fully with other government agencies including the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The FBI will also be provided with special ‘flying squads’ which shall be despatched at short notices to various field offices And of course, there would be a hefty hike in the Bureau’s budget.

Are these changes adequate for a better performance? Ms Coleen Rowley felt that the creation of Flying Squads would only cripple the field offices and delegate more power to the head office. What was needed was a more streamlined approach to investigation, prompt sharing of information, less red tape and more freedom to the field offices whose important reports would be acted upon without any delay. Several members of the Congress and the Senate had also questioned the free availability of funds without proper accounting.

The FBI and the CIA, quite often in the past, had acted like rogue elephants on the issues of wiretaps and interfering with the fundamental rights of the citizens. They had always targetted groups and individuals who had challenged the USA’s official approach of Might being Right. These groups had every reason to fear that the additional powers conferred on the FBI could be used against them.

As was to be expected, the US government had initiated an independent inquiry into the intelligence failure. Behind closed doors and soundproof rooms, members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, drawn from both the Congress and the Senate, had already begun asking questions to the various intelligence agencies which were supposed to safeguard the safety and integrity of the USA.

ON RECORD

Wooing foreign investment, Haryana style! 
Tripti Nath
Tribune New Service

The Chairman and CEO of the Haryana Foreign Investment Promotion Board and former High Commissioner to Singapore, Mr Prem Singh, has shown Haryana the way to tap its resources and open its doors to foreign investment by the present government headed by Mr Om Prakash Chautala. In the last two-and-a-half years alone, the State has earned foreign investment of Rs 2,700 crore.

Six months ago, the state government set up the Haryana Foreign Investment Promotion Board. Mr Singh’s effort has helped the government plan a 13-day visit to the USA, Canada, France, the Netherlands and the UK on June 10.

The 62-year-old diplomat has served abroad for nearly three decades including Washington and Mauritius besides four Arab countries, including Bahrain, Beirut, Egypt and Kuwait. He has also served in the Army from January 1963 till July 1967. He knows Arabic and French.

Mr Singh spoke to this reporter on a variety of subjects, including his present efforts in foreign investment. Excerpts from the interview:

Q. What is the objective of your the foreign visit?

The visit will create awareness about Haryana and tell people that it is a place which is advantageous for a foreign investor. The first thing a foreign investor looks for is the investment climate. This has three elements — policy framework, political leadership and its vision and whether the bureaucracy is pro-active or investor-friendly. Gurgaon, for instance, offers a locational advantage to prospective investors. It is almost a suburb of Delhi. It offers world-class housing. The Indira Gandhi International Airport, the international gateway and the national airport are right next door.

Gurgaon has a skyline like Singapore. I told the Chief Minister that if Haryana follows the right policy with the right mindset, Guragon-Jaipur access has the potential of developing into California in the next 10 years. Besides, Haryana is the single largest contributor to the Central Excise Fund and the third largest exporter of software in the country.

Q. Do you think Haryana satisfies all the three parameters of an investment climate?

I would say in all these three parameters, Haryana will rank high compared to other States.

Q. Which other States in India are wooing foreign investors?

In a bigger or smaller way, all the States in India are conscious of the need to invite foreign investment. States which have been pro-active in inviting foreign investment are Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh.

Q. How much is the visit costing the Haryana government?

I can tell you that it is not a jaunt. We are not travelling according to our travel entitlement. This includes the Chief Minister who is also travelling economy class. You look at our travel schedule and you will find that we have meetings all day and are travelling all night. There is no time for sight-seeing.

Q. What is the kind of homework that has preceded this visit?

We are using contacts in our embassies and diplomatic missions abroad. We have also contacted foreign embassies here in Delhi. I’ve also written to the Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) seeking their help in organising a meeting with the CBI. They have been receptive to my request. I have contacted a friend in France to organise our visit to the Agen wholesale market. We are also taking advantage of the weekend to stop at Amsterdam to see a flower auction at Amsterdam.

Q. How did you get associated with this Board?

The Board is in the process of being crystallised. When I was in the High Commission in Singapore in 1997, I learnt that the Singapore Trade Development Board had identified eight Indian States as high growth areas and five countries in Asia. The eight States identified by them were Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab and Tamil Nadu. The same year, I wrote to the Chief Secreatries of all the States to visit Singapore along with senior officers and a business delegation to create awareness about Haryana. Barring one or two States, I did not get a response from any State. During one of my visits to India in 1998, I rang up the then Chief Secretary of Haryana and proposed that the State government make efforts to promote foreign investment. In April 2000, I called him again as the government had changed. I suggested to him that the new Chief Minister might be interested in the proposal. Within half an hour I got a call from Mr Chautala asking me if I could visit Chandigarh the same evening and discuss the proposal. I tried to motivate them to come to Singapore as I was retiring in July end. They were scheduled to visit Singapore on July 7 but the visit got postponed as the CM had to undergo an operation. Later, they decided to visit Singapore in October. I went a week ahead to prepare for their visit. Haryana was not known there and the foreign office did not recommend a meeting of the Haryana CM with the Prime Minister of Singapore. I used my personal contacts to arrange the meeting.

Q. How fruitful was the visit to Singapore?

Such visits do not bear fruits instantly. They are a long term investment. You do not return with money bags. Two weeks back, a Chinese Singaporean met the CM with the proposal of setting up a world class trade centre and a casino in Gurgaon. He will come back with a detailed proposal. We have at least five proposals in the pipeline for setting up hotels and theme parks. The Signature Tower on NH-8 adjacent to the Hindustan Lever Limited building and the industrial township in Gurgaon have been developed by non-resident Indians. Negotiations are on for foreign investment worth Rs 3,000 crore.

Q. There have been informal reports that domestic entrepreneurs have been preferring Rajasthan to Haryana for investments as the State government has been allegedly demanding a cut? What do you have to say about such allegations?

This is something I can neither prove nor disprove. I have no means to confirm or deny it. I’m not concerned with the domestic investments. The Industrial Assistance Group has been working with the Board to promote and facilitate investment in Haryana. If you bring me any specific case of corruption, I will bring it to the Chief Minister’s notice.

75 YEARS AGO

Government Securities and shares

Persons desiring to buy or to sell or to invest surplus funds, to insure life or property, should always write to S.R. Batta, Railway Road, Lahore (Gold Medallist) Member Punjab Stock Exchange. Sixteen years' banking experience. Best references.

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

The trader of oneness

Has purchased anguish,

Has purchased fortitude

In the bazaar of anguish

Heads are bartered,

That is the price of love.

At the stall of the beloved,

Treasure of the heart is submitted,

For the purchase of Nam (the word).

Eyes are the agent,

Mind is the trader,

Nam is the commodity traded.

You may barter with one head,

That is not enough, O Qutab,

The grace of Satguru (the true preceptor) is wanted.

If you wish to attain the goal,

Live with love.

Be in love with God,

Drive sleep away from your eyes.

As long as you live,

O Qutab,

Be immersed in Nam.

Give up false business, O man,

Be always engaged in Nam.

Life without Nam is a waste,.....

Remember God and earn happiness,

You will be liberated from here.

Except the love of God, O Qutab,

All actions are useless.

—Sufi Qalander Hazrat Sai Qutab Ali Shah. From S.L. Gajwani, A Sufi Galaxy.

* * *

Once a devotee said: "When bitter cold pierces me I call the Name more intensely than before and I quickly get warm all over; when hunger torments me, I call the Name intensely and soon I forget my craving for food; when I fall ill and suffer from pain and call on the Name, soon I forget the pain. If one harms me and utters an evil word I again repeat the Name and lo! I forget the injury and soon the anger passes away.

—C.S. Ramaswami

* * *

Repeat God's Name, says Ravidas,

The glamour of the world stays not with anyone.

—Guru Ravidas

* * *

The egoist forgetful of the Name Divine is involved in great suffering.

—Sri Guru Granth Sahib