E D I T O R I A L   P A G E

EDITORIALS

Pillage of heritage
THE wounds of the vicious war imposed on the innocent people of Iraq will heal with time. But a wound that time never heals is the one caused by the wanton destruction of heritage and history. Iraq had both of these attributes of great civilisations and in abundant measure.

Fencing alone won’t do
THE idea of barbed wire-fencing at various points along the Line of Control to prevent terrorist infiltration from Pakistan is not a new one. It has been discussed off and on ever since the problem in Jammu and Kashmir began in 1989. The difficulty, however, is how to accomplish the task.

Rightsize the ministries
THE suggestion to reduce the strength of the ministries — at the Centre and in the states — to 10 per cent of the total strength of the Lok Sabha or State Assemblies is welcome and needs to be pursued to its logical conclusion.

OPINION

The fall of Saddam Hussein
Does India’s ‘middle path’ policy make sense?
K. P. Fabian
WHAT should be the reaction of the concerned global citizen to the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime in Baghdad? What is in store for Iraq, the region, and the world order? How should India react to all this?

MIDDLE

Sleeping allowance
S. Raghunath
DURING a recent debate in the Lok Sabha on the report of the Administrative Reforms Commission, a member humorously asked if the government was considering sanctioning its employees a “sleeping allowance” similar to the “stagnation increment” and according to news agency reports, the reply from the treasury benches was “drowned” in laughter.

THE TRIBUNE INTERVIEW

Disinvestment process is ‘transparent’
No differences over method of PSU valuation
Manoj Kumar
THE Punjab Government set up a disinvestment commission in 2000. Its recommendations to close down a number of public sector units and to disinvest the government stakes in others have generated a lot of heat and resentment in political and trade union circles.

TRENDS & POINTERS

Structural changes to benefit students
SCHOOLS should have a healthy environment for all students. US researchers now suggest that alteration of environmental and other school policies can help kids become more physically active and even eat better.

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

EDITORIALS

Pillage of heritage

THE wounds of the vicious war imposed on the innocent people of Iraq will heal with time. But a wound that time never heals is the one caused by the wanton destruction of heritage and history. Iraq had both of these attributes of great civilisations and in abundant measure. What had taken 7,000 years to build was pillaged by the mobs, let loose, as it now transpires, by the coalition troops to create illusions of popular uprising against Saddam Hussein. A point that US President George W. Bush may find difficult to understand, but not British Prime Minister Tony Blair, is the importance of history and heritage in the growth of societies and civilisations. The Anglo-American coalition may have had a case for regime change. But it will have difficulty explaining why it could not protect the National Museum of Iraq from being looted. Bush represents a country that has neither history nor heritage. The native cultures were destroyed by the forebears of the present generation of Americans whose leaders now preach to the world the value of freedom and democracy. But Blair's silence on the pillage is hurtful. It took the vandals less than 48 hours to rip the museum, that housed the relics associated with the civilisations that flourished in Mesopotamia and Babylon, and loot its priceless collection of artefacts and antiques.

The scenes of jubilation on Day 21 were enacted mostly by prisoners let loose by the coalition forces after the fall of Baghdad. They are the ones who have formed vigilant groups. Their hand in the pillage of the museum is confirmed by the recklessness with which it was done. The killing of innocent people by the coalition troops is a war crime. But the destruction of 7,000 years of history because of the doings of the ignorant marines is a far greater crime. No name can be given to it. No name need be given to it. The looting was the result of the indifference of the troops parading up and down the streets of Baghdad, if they were not busy stretching their legs in the luxurious bedrooms of Saddam. When the Buddha of Bamiyan was blown up by the Taliban the world had reacted to the spectacle with horror and disbelief. The irony is that those who were responsible for the destruction of that magnificent symbol of human compassion and peace in Bamiyan cannot be punished because they are either dead or in hiding. But the coalition forces that aided and abetted the vandalisation of a culture can be identified. They helped in the commission of the biggest heritage crime ever by looking the other way while the thugs and thieves of Baghdad stripped the museum clean. The war has cost America $80 billion. Iraq's reconstruction cost is going to be twice as much, maybe more. But the worth of the pillaged heritage cannot be compensated by Bush's bluster or even by offering the sum total of the economic worth of the most powerful nation on earth.

Fencing alone won’t do

THE idea of barbed wire-fencing at various points along the Line of Control to prevent terrorist infiltration from Pakistan is not a new one. It has been discussed off and on ever since the problem in Jammu and Kashmir began in 1989. The difficulty, however, is how to accomplish the task. In any case, the fencing project covering 187 km is already on. According to one estimate, the work will be over by March 2006, if everything goes as planned. Simultaneously, floodlighting of the border is also being done. Going by the government’s viewpoint, the terrorist infiltration problem should be under control to a large extent after the fencing work is complete. But is it so easy? The line dividing India and Pakistan covers an area of over 1260 km. This means that fencing will only help the security forces to deal with the problem more effectively. The fenced area will not require heavy patrolling and, therefore, much of the forces from there can be deployed elsewhere. But terrorist infiltration will continue to remain a constant source of violence in Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere unless other measures are also employed successfully.

Under no circumstances can India afford to shift its focus from the bases of terrorism on the other side of the border. Where from have come the 200,000 plus jehadis reportedly camping on the Pakistani side of the border and looking for opportunities to sneak into Jammu and Kashmir? Obviously, from the training camps being run by militant organisations like the Lashkar-e-Toiba, the Jaish-e-Mohammad, the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, etc. Most of these outfits have been banned by the Pakistan Government, but this has not affected their functioning. They are back in business by changing their names and the Musharraf regime knows it. They have been collecting funds in the name of jehad with the government ignoring their activities. The militant organisations are indoctrinating their recruits with the belief that killing of Hindus is a part of jehad, as admitted by Lashkar-e-Toiba chief Hafez Saeed. They feel emboldened to indulge in such foolish acts mainly because cross-border terrorism remains an instrument of State policy for Pakistan. There has been no change in the policy even after the American pressure in the wake of 9/11. India must continue its diplomatic efforts as vigorously as possible to force the international community to launch a drive to eliminate the sources of cross-border terrorism in Pakistan in the interest of world peace. There will be no end to terrorist killings in Jammu and Kashmir unless the monster’s support base is destroyed forever.

Rightsize the ministries

THE suggestion to reduce the strength of the ministries — at the Centre and in the states — to 10 per cent of the total strength of the Lok Sabha or State Assemblies is welcome and needs to be pursued to its logical conclusion. However, given the present-day political culture, it is doubtful whether Congress MP Priya Ranjan Das Munshi’s Bill in this regard would get the attention it deserves in Parliament. Clearly, jumbo cabinets represent the cynical pursuit of power at all costs. They are also a drain on the exchequer. The problem becomes particularly acute when there is dissidence in the ruling party or a change in the leadership of the House is imminent. The chief ministers make desperate attempts to woo members by distributing the loaves and fishes of office. In the process, all norms are thrown to the wind. The use of political power and public money to entice members to gravitate in support of the existing or aspirant chief minister is a flagrant abuse of the trust vested by the Constitution in him and a mockery of the basic norms of democracy and representative government. Moreover, what is cause for concern is its disruptive impact on governance. The logical corollary to a large Cabinet is a brazen increase in the number of ministries and departments. This is invariably achieved by irrational splitting and proliferation of departments with no respect for functional efficiency or logical linkages.

According to an estimate, the size of the Union Council of Ministers increased from 16 in 1947 to 51 in 1967 — more than three-fold in a span of 20 years. Today, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee heads a 76-member ministry. The argument that since Parliament has about 800 members in both Houses, a 76-member ministry satisfies the 10- per cent formula, as prescribed by the Administrative Reforms Commission, is certainly disingenuous. The situation is far worse in states like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa and Bihar. Nowadays, to keep pace with economic reforms, governments all over the world are becoming lean and trim. Thus, there is no justification for bloated ministries. Many of the ministries or departments at the Centre and in the states can be axed or merged for speedy decision-making and effective governance. Surely, when rightsizing or downsizing the administrative apparatus has become the norm today, ministries ought to be more than berths to accommodate chosen politicians. If it is difficult to enforce the 10-per cent formula in all states (it’s 12 per cent in the Northeast), the Centre should explore the possibility of extending to all states the practice that obtains in Delhi where the number of ministers cannot exceed eight.

OPINION

The fall of Saddam Hussein
Does India’s ‘middle path’ policy make sense?
K. P. Fabian

WHAT should be the reaction of the concerned global citizen to the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime in Baghdad? What is in store for Iraq, the region, and the world order? How should India react to all this?

Mr Paul Wolfowitz, US Deputy Secretary of Defence, has threatened Syria, and has said in so many words that that country is the next on the list. He has shortlisted Iran also for similar attention. He has also made it clear that the UN will not have a major role in Iraq. Mr Wolfowitz is a highly respected guru in neo-conservative circles and should be taken seriously.

Mr James Woolsey, former Director of the CIA, and one of the high-level “administrators” tipped to run Iraq, told a group of students last week at Los Angeles that America might have to wage World War IV for years and even decades to redraw the map of the Middle-East. In case the reader is confused, for the speaker the Cold War was World War III. In other words, America is eager and willing to have more wars.

Why should America be keen to redraw the Middle-East map? Is there any threat to America’s security emanating from that region that cannot be dealt with without starting a big war? The short answer is that the regime in Israel, paranoid about Israel’s safety, wants to make use of America’s concern for Israel’s safety to redraw the map in the region to Israel’s advantage. We have already witnessed a “regime change” in the PLO. Does the much-hyped about “road map” mean anything at all? Yes, it is meant to fool the Arabs and they will be fooled once again.

What is in store for the United Nations? There is a critical difference between an individual and an institution. It is not difficult to know when an individual dies or is terminally ill. The doctors can determine that. In the case of the League of Nations how do we answer the question: When did it die, and when did it become terminally ill? Choose from the following:

(1) 1931 when Japan invaded Manchuria and set up a puppet state called Manchuko.

(2) 1935 when Mussolini attacked Ethiopia, and annexed it the next year.

(3) 1946 when the League was officially buried.

To a great extent the future of the UN depends on the attitude of the United States which created the world body. The UN had rather undemocratic origins despite the moving eloquence in the Charter starting with “We, the People”. It can be said without any exaggeration that the US was the father, mother, and the obstetrician.

Diplomats seldom enjoy reputation for truthfulness in their utterances, but we should not generalise. American Under Secretary of State John Bolton, speaking at “Global Structure Convocation”, New York, 1994, said:

“There is no United Nations. There is an international community that occasionally can be led by the only super power left in the world, and that is the United States, when it suits our interest, and when we can get others to go along.... The success of the United Nations during the Gulf war was not because the United Nations had suddenly become successful. It was because the United States, through President Bush, demonstrated what international leadership, international coalition building, international diplomacy is all about.... When the United States leads, the United Nations will follow. When it suits our interests to do so, we will do so. When it does not suit our interests we will not.”

So, how should India navigate in the treacherous geopolitical waters in the post-Saddam era? Does the “middle path” make sense? Yes, up to a point. The government was right in insisting on restrained language in the motion before Parliament. But the timing was utterly wrong. The resolution should have been passed much earlier. It is not implied that what Mr Bush did is not condemnable. But, unfortunately, moral outrage does not add up to policy.

Similarly, a monomaniac chase for contracts also does not add up to policy. Nor does automatic alignment as practised by Mr Blair. It is in India’s interest to push the world order in the direction of multipolarity and that should be done gently, subtly, and consistently without offending the unipolar hegemony beyond a point. I do not believe that it is beyond the ingenuity of Indian diplomacy to do so. But the question is: is there the political will required for long-term planning of policy?

An inhibiting factor working against any long-term policy is the Pakistan fixation. The External Affairs Minister was right when he said that India has a better case to take military action against Pakistan than America had against Iraq. But this is not saying much for the simple reason that America had no case at all. The point that needs emphasis is that India should look independently on its options vis-a-vis Pakistan. It may be that there is a case to take military action against Pakistan from where terrorism flows into India as contrasted with life-supporting water in the opposite direction. It may be that there is a case for seeking a revision of the Indus Water Treaty. But it will be utterly wrong to take a leaf from America’s book as suggested by some pundits. In this context there is need to draw attention to a dangerous doctrine being deliberately spread by some people. They have argued that there is a growing disenchantment in Washington with Musharraf, and that, therefore, if India were to take action she can expect benevolent neutrality from America. It is not possible here to go into this matter in depth, but it should be said that wishful thinking does not add up to policy.

Coming to Iraq specifically: India should send a team of doctors and nurses, with medicines and equipment, including generators, to southern Iraq to start with. Of course, the situation on the ground is still unsafe, but planning should begin now and the occupying powers should be told. Perhaps, the Army Medical Corps can take the lead, and associate NGOs if needed. The announcement of $ 20 million for humanitarian assistance is welcome. But India owes to itself to be pro-active.

Get in touch with America and find out how soon our embassy can go back to Iraq. We should be among the first to get back. Meanwhile, what is the ambassador doing in Amman? He should be in Kuwait, and get to know the interim-government-designate, most of whose members are already there.

As regards the contracts, proceed with enthusiasm tempered by judgement and sense of dignity. Open offices of FICCI and CII in Kuwait. With a little more of coordination between FICCI and MEA the sugar shipments that left India when everyone was expecting war and now being diverted need not have left India.

The writer retired as Indian Ambassador to Italy. His book “Commonsense On War On Iraq” is due for release on April 25

MIDDLE

Sleeping allowance
S. Raghunath

DURING a recent debate in the Lok Sabha on the report of the Administrative Reforms Commission, a member humorously asked if the government was considering sanctioning its employees a “sleeping allowance” similar to the “stagnation increment” and according to news agency reports, the reply from the treasury benches was “drowned” in laughter.

I have been talking to a Deputy Secretary in the Department of Personnel.

“It’s no laughing matter,” he said grimly and rubbing his eyes, “in recent years, the problem of government employees losing out on their regular 22 hours of sleep has assumed alarming proportions and that has naturally demoralised them and you’ll agree, a demoralised bureaucracy can’t be expected to effectively implement development schemes to benefit the common man.”

“That’s true,” I agreed, “but in view of the tight resources position, is there a justification for a sleeping allowance?”

“Look,” snapped the Deputy Secretary irritably and it was obvious that he was missing out on his regular 22 hours of sleep. “You haven’t quite grasped the magnitude of the problem and let me cite a few instances.”

“As you know government offices now open at 11 in the morning and that means, our employees have to get up as early as 10.30 in order to be in their offices by 11 sharp. Just imagine the amount of sleep they’re losing by having to get up at an unearthly hour of 10.30 in the morning!”

“Terrible,” I said.

“I’ve here a representation from the All-India Confederation of Case Workers and Pen-Pushers and it says, inter alia, that its members’ nerves are shot to pieces what with the incessant chatter of people in adjoining cabins, the noise of people loitering in the corridors and the clutter of coffee and tea cups in the staff canteens and as a result, they have had to reduce their afternoon siesta from four hours to just three hours and 59 minutes. Just take a measure of sleep they’re losing in the bargain!”

“Atrocious,” I said,” I’m surprised that the system of public administration in the country hasn’t collapsed, what with government workers losing out on their sleep right, left and centre.”

“The lot of government employees is unenviable,” said the Deputy Secretary yawning “and you’ve seen only the top of the iceberg. Because of austerity measures and general belt-tightening all round, our staff canteens are forced to buy inferior quality tea leaves and coffee powder and our employees have no alternative but to drink thin and watery coffee and tea and what happens? They stay wide awake during office hours and lose precious sleep.”

“I’m sorry I questioned the wisdom of sanctioning government employees a sleeping allowance “I apologised,” “and I can see now that no one deserves it more, but one last question. The Reserve Bank, in a recent report has said that 2001-02 was a sleeping year for India’s economy. Is there any likelihood of the country’s economy getting a sleeping allowance?”

“No possibility whatever,” said the Deputy Secretary, “the country’s economy sleeping is none of our concern.”

“So I thought” I said.

THE TRIBUNE INTERVIEW

Disinvestment process is ‘transparent’
No differences over method of PSU valuation
Manoj Kumar

THE Punjab Government set up a disinvestment commission in 2000. Its recommendations to close down a number of public sector units and to disinvest the government stakes in others have generated a lot of heat and resentment in political and trade union circles.

Ms Vini Mahajan, Director-cum-Special Secretary, Disinvestment, who has been assigned the task of spearheading the disinvestment process in a ‘‘transparent and least controversial manner,’’ is slowly but steadily moving towards the ‘‘restructuring of the state economy’’ by selling the government share to strategic partners.

Though the actual sale of any unit is yet to take place, she is hopeful that in the next three months the process of disinvestment in at least three units would be completed.

Belonging to Chandigarh, Ms Vini Mahajan is a 1987 batch IAS officer of the Punjab cadre. She did her graduation with honours in economics from Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi, and did a post-graduate diploma in management from IIM, Kolkata.

She has worked as the Deputy Commissioner of Ropar, the CEO of the Anandpur Sahib Foundation and the Chief Administrator, New Town Planning and Development Authority for the Anandgarh project.

She has been honoured with the Satyen Maitra Memorial National Literacy Award and also given a national prize for outstanding achievement in popularising the Mahila Samridhi Yojana, a scheme for women empowerment. Besides, she was awarded the Hubert Humphrey fellowship by the US State Department for conducting research on economic liberalisation issues, including privatisation.

In an interview to the Tribune News Service she talks about the controversial disinvestment process in the state. Excerpts from the interview:

The objective of disinvestment is not simply to raise revenue and collect money at a time when the state is facing a financial crisis. Rather, it is aimed at improving the efficiency of manufacturing units and competitiveness of the state economy, apart from creating sustainable employment opportunities for educated youth. The change in the management and work culture of the units will help the state economy and the people earn better returns from their efforts.

The state may be lagging in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) due to various reasons, but the disinvestment process, once completed, will attract huge investment in the state. It will also create a conducive environment for foreign and domestic players and help them invest in big projects.

We have consciously opted for the procedure of the Government of India to carry out disinvestment in the state government’s own units and units promoted by the state departments like Punjab Tractors Ltd and Punjab Communication Ltd.

The procedure set up by the Ministry of Disinvestment has been already subjected to the legislative, judicial, auditors, media and public scrutiny for over two years.Since it has been found quite satisfactory and is working well, so we have decided to follow the same pattern. Further, we have put up our disinvestment policy, procedure of bidding, advertisements and the stage of disinvestment progress on our website — www.pbdisinvest.nic.in. It has generated awareness among the public and confidence about the transparency of the mechanism.

We have undertaken two legal provisions in the share-purchase agreement that would be signed between the state government and the strategic partner. One, there would be no retrenchment during the first year once the new management takes over managerial control. This would check any unfair massive retrenchment by the new management due to its bias towards public sector employees.

Second, if the management wants to enforce any downsizing or compulsory retirement of workers during the next two years, it would have to pay minimum compensation to the workers equivalent to the benefits offered by the government at the time of the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS).

Further, as desired by the trade unions of Punjab Communications Limited (PunCom) and the Punjab Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC), the state government has already offered a VRS to the employees in consultation with the prospective bidders. The scheme is also being implemented in Punjab Alkalies and Chemicals Limited.

In fact, there is no strong opposition to the disinvestment move of the state government or its decision to close down loss-making public sector units. The previous state government had initiated the move to restructure the public sector units and the BJP is also committed to privatisation and disinvestment at the Centre.

As far as any opposition by trade unions is concerned, most of the employees have already undertaken the VRS. I have personal sympathy with them and hope that they would do better in other sectors after taking the VRS.

Actually, the issues regarding the disinvestment process are quite different at the state and central levels. I feel the opposition is not to the privatisation per se, rather right-minded persons and policy-makers are concerned about checking the emerging private monopolies in the oil, telecom and other sectors. However, in Punjab there is no large unit where disinvestment would create any monopoly.

At the Centre, the debatable issue is also the privatisation of huge profit-making entities declared as Navratnas. In Punjab, the government promoted units like Punjab Tractors have shown trends of falling profits. Further, the state government wants to pull out of the ‘‘manufacturing business’’ and wants to concentrate on social welfare and play a regulatory role to safeguard the interests of consumers.

The global advisers appointed for each unit have been asked to work out the valuation of the unit through internationally accepted methodologies like discounted cash flow, the historical cost method, the balance sheet method and the comparable transaction method. The core committee of officials involved in disinvestment will study the valuation under all methodologies to fix the reserved price. However, the discounted cash flow method has been found more appropriate in many cases.

I personally feel that this is the most suitable route of disinvestment in the Indian economic scenario where the primary capital market has no deep pockets unlike the European countries or the USA.

Further, that route results in the shifting of management into the hands of private players. The Union Government has also adopted that route to disinvest its shares in most cases.

After completing the process of disinvestment in five units, there are also plans to disinvest the government share in Spinfed mills, and restructure cooperative sugar mills. As far as the power sector is concerned, the state government has already initiated action, though that is not under our jurisdiction.

As per the recommendations of the Disinvestment Commission, we would take care of small units that are loss making and have lost their relevance in the new economic scenario.

TRENDS & POINTERS

Structural changes to benefit students

SCHOOLS should have a healthy environment for all students. US researchers now suggest that alteration of environmental and other school policies can help kids become more physically active and even eat better.

He further said, “As we get better at creating a healthier environment at schools, health educational programmes are expected to work even better. But we still have a long way to go before schools make healthy eating and physical activity the easy choices in schools.” ANI

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

Life is a journey

From “I” to “We”.

Life is like a block of ice

That is continually melting away.

Life is -

A mosaic of pleasure and pain.

Life is love.

It is a pendulum between sighs and smiles.

Life is the best teacher.

— From the discourses of Sathya Sai Baba