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Sops season Spreading the net wider |
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Like a million suns
Towards composite dialogue
Leading by example
NEWS ANALYSIS CONSUMER RIGHTS
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Sops season MR Jaswant Singh’s Friday package, based on the BJP’s political agenda, contains measures aimed at giving boost to the rural economy. The most significant of these is the proposal to establish an agricultural infrastructure fund with a corpus of Rs 50,000 crore to be mobilised. Cheaper funds will be made available for developing waste lands, consolidating irrigation facilities, strengthening rural institutions like cooperatives and setting up cold storage chains. Another Rs 50,000 crore fund, to be floated by financial institutions, is on the anvil to boost infrastructure and manufacturing. These measures, along with the thrust on rural housing, are expected to spur growth and generate employment in the countryside. These are eminently commendable measures, although one only hopes these do not remain on paper. More sections of society have been given benefits with an eye on the coming elections. Citizens above 60 can park their savings in government-backed, risk-free and rather oddly named Dada-Dadi Bonds, which will give a higher-than-market rate of return. With interest rates falling and health expenses rising, many senior citizens find themselves in a tight spot. The bonds, though inadequate to offset the growing cost of living, do provide some relief. With higher education becoming painfully expensive, softer loans for students are welcome. These will carry interest rates 2 percentage points less than the prime lending rates. At present banks charge one percentage more than the PLR for education loans. The propriety of announcing such pre-Budget concessions outside Parliament ahead of a general election is being questioned. But the Finance Minister says elections should not hinder the growth momentum. He is confident his giveaways will not widen the fiscal deficit as the economy is “on a roll” and “we will meet our revenue expectations of the Budget, maybe exceed them”. The voter is used to such election-eve concessions and is unlikely to be carried away by political rhetoric. He understands the harsh reality that one drought can unsettle all growth targets. The average economic growth during the BJP-led NDA regime, as Dr Manmohan Singh points out, is not more than 5.5 per cent. Nevertheless, any effort, well-meant and well-executed, should be viewed positively. |
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Spreading the net wider THE Union Government’s proposal to reduce the tuition fee in the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) is welcome as it is expected to make the cost of education in the prestigious institutions affordable to larger sections of society. Over the years, because of the exorbitant fee structure, the IIMs have been viewed as exclusive institutions of excellence meant only for the rich. Ironically, even though the demand for an IIM graduate has increased in the post-globalisation period, most are deprived of becoming the global managers of tomorrow as they simply cannot afford the exorbitant fee. Scholarships for studying in the IIMs are few. It is debatable whether the present annual tuition fee of Rs 1.5 lakh should be reduced to Rs 6,000 as recommended by the U.R. Rao Committee for Revitalising Technical Education. While fixing the cut-off point at Rs 6,000, the committee felt that this was 30 per cent of India’s per capita GNP, one that is also in tune with the fee charged by American universities such as Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley and California. Questions about the likely consequences of fee reduction, especially with regard to the quality of education being imparted in the IIMs, seem misplaced and far-fetched. For one thing, the IIMs are flush with funds, some having a corpus fund of over Rs 25 crore each. For another, they boast of excellent infrastructure with a talented and comparatively highly-paid faculty. Consequently, there is no reason why the tuition fee should not be reasonably reduced with a view to spreading the net of management education wider. The objections raised by the Central Universities, including Aligarh Muslim University, to the proposal for fee reduction and a common admission test for all management institutions in the country too are not based on realistic assessment of the problems. Why raise the issue of autonomy when it is a question of applying uniform criteria of selection in the entire country for selecting the best? The Central universities’ plan to go on strike on January 22 on this issue is wholly ill-conceived and unwarranted. |
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Like a million suns ONE wondrous quality of nature is that there is no limit to its miracles. Just as it extends to an infinite distance, the domain of the possible is also fathomless. In one more such discovery, scientists have some across a star which is five million to 40 million times as bright as the sun, at least 150 times as massive and at least 200 times as wide. And to think that the sun in itself is such a huge ball that it can accommodate millions of earths in its girth! The LBV 1806-20 not only stretches one’s imagination to the limits but also puts a question mark on the usual theories of how stars form. It is far too big to conform to those theories. There may be many more similar monsters out there. That is a humbling thought. The entire humanity is no more than a baby at the seashore marvelling at every starfish and seashell. Try as we might, we can never hope to fathom even a fraction of the smallest fraction of the mysterious universe. What appears settled in one century comes unstuck in the next — and vice versa. That limitless quality of nature is a boon. It can keep the entire humankind in thrall for millions of lifetimes. The more your circle of knowledge expands, the bigger the diameter of the circle of ignorance turns out to be. Human brain works best when it has bigger puzzles to solve. At the same time, the gigantic universe should make every man and woman see the present-day reality in better perspective. The blue planet which is our abode is no more than a speck in this array of billions of galaxies, each one of which has billions of stars, many of them much larger than our own sun. If we can’t live as one, what hope do we have of amity if we learn that we are not alone in this universe? |
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Thought for the day Literature is news that stays news. —
Ezra Pound |
Towards composite dialogue THE 12th SAARC Summit was a cover for the President of Pakistan and the Prime Minister of India to re-establish personal contact at their one-to-one meeting. The ambience of good cheer and fellowship created by the success of the summit seems to have affected the mood and attitude of the leaders of Pakistan and India. General Musharraf and Prime Minister Vajpayee separately took deliberate steps towards compromise. Clearly, in his poetic but shrewd style, the Prime Minister had been mildly theatrical in expressing negative sentiments earlier, as to prepare his countrymen for his dialogue with President Musharraf. Indeed, several days prior to his departure for Pakistan he had already, in an important interview with Aroon Purie of India Today, told him candidly that “along with other SAARC leaders, he would also interact bilaterally with our Pakistani hosts... that the perception of India among the Pakistanis is changing... and that the US as a friend, not a mediator, was making genuine efforts to promote peace in the subcontinent.” The joint press statement issued at the end of the Vajpayee-Musharraf meeting expressed the kernel of their agreement in plain terms thus: “To carry the process of normalisation forward, (they) agreed to commence the process of a composite dialogue in February 2004 (which will) lead to peaceful settlement of all bilateral issues, including Jammu and Kashmir, to the satisfaction of both sides.” The passage on terrorism in the joint statement may fail to satisfy diplomatic wordsmiths in India. Prime Minister Vajpayee is reported to have stated that the dialogue process should prevent “violence, hostility and terrorism” while the General blandly re-assures him, stating that “He will not permit any territory under Pakistan’s control to be used to support terrorism in any manner.” This might mean that he cannot, or that he would not, consider objectionable those non-terrorist (or liberation-motivated) acts of “violence and hostility” that might continue to occur. The Lahore Declaration of 1999 too had stated that “the two governments shall intensify their composite and integrated dialogue process for an early and positive outcome of the agreed bilateral agenda containing all issues, including the Jammu and Kashmir issue.” Here it is appropriate also to recall that all General Musharraf’s assurances on violence and terrorism had given earlier, either through American interlocutors or in his public speeches, was precisely the same or similar wording — Pakistani territory not being utilised for terrorist activity. The identity of the dramatis personae or the agencies from either side now entrusted with the responsibility for this composite India-Pakistan dialogue, to begin in February, has not been formally announced. In a briefing to one of the editors of The Hindu given before the recent Islamabad talks, it was made public that the two negotiators were to be Mr Brajesh Mishra, National Security Adviser of the Indian Prime Minister, and Mr Tariq Aziz, National Security Adviser of Pakistan’s President. In so far as India is concerned, this means that the Indo-Pak dialogue would have a pattern similar to the one agreed to for the China-India negotiating process. In the case of China, Mr Brajesh Mishra was expected to carry on his dialogue with the First Vice-Minister in the Chinese Foreign Office, Mr Dai Bing Guo. Both Mr Mishra and Mr Dai are professional and experienced diplomats even though currently our man is alleged to possess a political persona outside the diplomatic fraternity. In the case of Pakistan, his counterpart is a former class fellow, or college-mate of General Musharraf, a personal friend from their days as students in Foreman Christian College, Lahore. Mr Aziz belongs to Pakistan’s Income-Tax Service and has an impeccable and unblemished record and reputation for uprightness and integrity. He was appointed the General’s Principal Staff Officer immediately after his takeover effectively as the President-CEO of Pakistan. Mr Aziz has the reputation of being the President’s closest confidante and adviser. He hails from Gujarat district in West Punjab and is known to the people of that province, including former Muslim League Minister Shujaat Husain. His latest negotiating success has been with the tough nut Maulanas belonging to the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal. He got them to agree to legitimise General Musharraf’s Presidency in return for the General’s assurance that he would climb out of his uniform towards the end of 2004. All this means clearly that our Foreign Office and foreign service will remain, during the Vajpayee-Mishra era, mere observers, hewers of wood and drawers of water, while the substantive issues under negotiation with both China and Pakistan will be the domain of the head of the PMO. This could have some beneficent results too. China recognises that in today’s globalised world conflictual relationships with neighbouring states need to be avoided and eschewed. It now favours greater cooperation among the three major states and economies of Asia — Russia, China and India — something that had failed to enthuse them until a few years ago. Over the decades India’s protests in this context have been brushed aside by China, which says that this is part of an on-going normal evolution of their friendly political and industrial relationship with an old and reliable friend. May be our National Security Adviser, who has worked both in Pakistan and in Beijing, will find a way of persuading China not to persist in this endeavour. Indian negotiators need to remain both circumspect and cautious in the context of finalising agreements with Pakistan. This commentator has had something to do with several Indo-Pak negotiations, either directly or obliquely. Some of these were the Indus-Water Treaty, the Eastern Border and Western Border Agreements of 1960 and 1961, the Tashkent Agreement, the Simla Agreement, the Zia-Rajiv Gandhi Summit of 1985 in Delhi, and the Benazir-Rajiv talks of 1988 on the sidelines of the SAARC Summit in Islamabad. He has watched as an informed citizen and media commentator Prime Minister Vajpayee’s bus yatra to Lahore, resulting in the Lahore Declaration; the Joint Statement of Lahore; and the MoU on nuclear and other security-related issues; the collapse of the Agra Summit; and the you-you-me-me (tu-tu-main-main) leading to the just-held Islamabad talks bringing about the agreement on a composite dialogue. Pakistan’s agreement or acceptance of any substantive arrangement tends often to be casual; and it may either fail to move towards the implementation stage or sometimes allow amnesia to take over rather rapidly. Often, they have denounced the agreements earlier signed by themselves as was the case when Foreign Secretary Abdus Sattar rejected the validity of the Simla Agreement several years after it was signed. One hopes that now, as a responsible nuclear weapon state, Pakistan will take itself and its pledge with greater seriousness and self-regard. One has been taking note of news items and analyses in the US media about Pakistani violations of their solemn assurances not to proliferate nuclear and missile technology. Consciously or subconsciously, Mr Vajpayee, on occasions, reverts to the Nehruvian policy and style. Just before his death in May 1964 Nehru had released Sheikh Abdullah and sent him to Pakistan to settle J&K with Field Marshal Ayub Khan. Sheikh Saheb and Ayub Khan were unable to come to an agreement. In one of his last major speeches Nehru had urged the country to adhere to the Gandhian approach and get Pakistan “psychologically” into a friendly mode through the display of our genuine goodwill and by dealing with them with sincerity and in an accommodating manner. India’s own conduct, he had then said, was not invariably blameless, and that we should not become too self-righteous. The echoes of this sentiment have appeared in various recent moves and statements of Mr Vajpayee. The writer is a former Foreign Secretary of India. |
Leading by example AT the time of India’s Independence in 1947 politicians had little knowledge about the things military, and, therefore, the government had a negative attitude to the need for a strong national defence capability. The words of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, in response to the suggestion for a clear-cut National Defence policy by General Sir Rob Lockhart, the Commander-in-Chief of Indian Army in 1947, are really revealing. He had said, “We don’t need a defence policy. Our policy is Ahimsa (non-violence). We foresee no military threats. As far as I am concerned, you can scrap the Army. The police are good enough to meet our security needs.” Although he had to withdraw his words within days as the need arose to counter Pakistani threat in Jammu & Kashmir, nevertheless, the attitude persisted till the 1962 war. The war changed all that and the Army suddenly started training as they would fight in war. The ‘Mantra’ train “as they would fight” became favourite with the top brass and the tactical exercises ceased to be an annual ritual. We were out on exercises almost round the year—more so in peace stations. First Armoured Division used to be located at Jhansi-Babina with its Lorried Brigade at Mathura. This area is ideally suited for large-scale movement of mechanised forces. One of the greatest hazards to night operations used to be numerous blind wells without any wall or brick lining above the ground. There was always a danger of a tank or tracked vehicle falling head-on in a blind well. These wells were, therefore, marked by hurricane lamps at night during the exercises. Two Lancers were operating with the Lorried Brigade. A troop of tanks under the command of a young officer was manoeuvring for a battle position. Suddenly, the leading tank came to an abrupt halt and the troop deployed itself for battle. The leading tank had come across a combination of a culvert-cum-blind well and it was hanging in a precarious balance when the crew ejected out of the tank. It was early morning and the young officer asked for an Armoured Recovery Vehicle to recover the tank. A detailed examination of the tank and its surrounding area revealed that the recovery vehicle could go nowhere near the tank. The tank could only be recovered, if at all, by reversing it on its own steam. The balance of the tank was so precarious that the slightest mistake on the part of driver recovering it would result in certain death for him.The young troops leader decided that instead of asking the driver or anyone else, he would himself face the extreme danger and recover the tank despite loud protests from his men who had volunteered to try their hands. As he was getting ready to get into the tank, the Brigade Commander arrived on the scene and was briefed about the situation. As the young officer sought the commander’s permission and got into the driver’s seat, a visibly distressed Brigade Commander watched helplessly. The young officer started the engine and moved the tank. The front half of the tank was already into the well resting on nothing. The Brigade Commander missed a heart beat and turned away. Suddenly there was a huge noise, a thud and the tank landed on its rear portion out of danger. The men of the troop watching it suddenly burst out cheering and ran to the tank. The young officer jumped out of the driver’s seat and saluted. The Commander hugged him for a long time. Tears of joy were rolling down the cheeks of the Brigade Commander as he hugged the officer and muttered.” Very well done, my dear son. I have never before in my life prayed so hard as I did in the last 10 minutes. I could not stop you from getting into the tank as you were setting an excellent example of true leadership; but my heart sank and I could never have forgiven myself had you not come out of it alive.” There are innumerable instances of such bravery by our young officers in the annals of history of the Indian Army. This young officer was my course-mate who rose to be a Brigadier in the Army, the late Brigadier Ganga Singh
Rathor.
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News analysis
THE argument in certain quarters in this country that the seven-member South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is a flawed concept, considering its track record since its inception in 1985, must have received a rude jolt with the unexpected outcome at the three-day 12th summit, which concluded in Islamabad on January 6. A strong lobby in various institutions making recommendations to the Union Government on foreign policy issues held steadfast in the run-up to the SAARC summit that India should actively consider unshackling itself from this India-Pakistan centric grouping and pursue the path of bilateralism vigorously. The shenanigans of doom held forth that the SAARC summit would once again fall by the way side without addressing the key socio-economic issues of development, poverty, unemployment and illiteracy of the peoples of this region constituting one-fifth of humankind. The stumbling blocks on evolving a consensus on dealing with the menace of terrorism coupled with having a framework for the South Asia Free Trade Area (Safta) from January 1, 2006, were enormous. However, a new awakening has dawned on a dormant and controversy-ridden SAARC now that it is stepping out of adolescence into manhood. Acutely aware of the shrinking world and the frightening scenario of not getting their act together, leaders of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal have consciously endeavoured to move away from past predelictions and rivalries between and among themselves. Pakistan’s changed approach in sticking to the SAARC charter by steering clear of raising bilateral issues contributed to giving a push to multilateralism. This facilitated in great measure to keep aside lurking suspicions and take the direly needed step
forward to assimilate and strengthen the region. It is, therefore, not without reason that these leaders have described the Islamabad Declaration as “epochal, historic and path breaking” as all previous summits have invariably been hijacked by Indo-Pak problems. They believe a small but highly significant step has been taken for integrating SAARC without overlooking the concerns and apprehensions of the least developed countries (LDCs) in the grouping. At the same time, the smaller countries in the grouping realise that the two nuclear powers in their midst — India and Pakistan — cannot be wished away. And India as the largest country with its pre-eminence in IT, science and technology and other spheres has a vital role to play for the stability and development of the region without being a big brother. New Delhi has not been found wanting in playing an assertive role as a major power without being overbearing. New Delhi has taken special care in accommodating and protecting the interests of the LDCs, both in respect of the additional protocol on terrorism and SAFTA. Even though the definition of terrorism has been left to the individual states to decide, the Additional Protocol on Terrorism has come through as also SAFTA which assumes significance with the next ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) scheduled in Beijing in 2005. The SAARC Heads of State and Government underlined the need for unified action against terrorism and stressed that South Asia must boost its strength not to fight wars or to maim and kill, but overcome poverty, hunger and despair. They felt the winds of rapproachment blowing across this region raised hopes of a more durable peace and stability within and among the states in South Asia. Mr Vajpayee made several suggestions for strengthening SAARC and expressed India’s gratitude to the King and government of Bhutan for the operations against extremist groups targetting this country. His Bhutanese counterpart Lyonpo Jigmi Thinley noted that the operations against armed extremist groups from Assam and West Bengal in the land-locked kingdom have “created a safe and secure environment for socio-economic development of Bhutan and neighbouring regions of India.” SAARC’s decision to initiate studies on the feasibility of a common currency for this region and achieving the goal of a South Asian Economic Union by 2015 instead of 2020 was described “premature” by hosts and new chairman of the grouping Pakistan. That did not mean it has not found favour with all the seven member States as Nepal had first thrown up the idea for the creation of a South Asian Economic Union at the 11th SAARC Summit in January 2002. The Islamabad Declaration called for creating a suitable political and economic environment that would be conducive for achieving the objectives. It was an oblique reference to India and Pakistan making every effort in normalising their turbulent relations. The Islamabad Declaration also directed the SAARC working group on energy to study the creation of a South Asian Energy Cooperation encompassing the concept of an Energy Ring. So, can SAARC be dismissed as a failed concept especially when it took decades for the Asean grouping and EU to get to where they are as present. The process is slow and Saarc countries, though belatedly, are surely waking to the potential of grouping not only in South Asia but internationally. It is another matter that it has taken 18 years for the Heads of State or Government of SAARC to try and change tack from political rivalries to the task of dealing with one of the poorest regions in the world. |
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CONSUMER RIGHTS TODAY if you avail of the fax services at the telecom centres run by the Department of Telecommunication or at the divisional telegraph office or the Central Telegraph Office, you will be pleasantly surprised to find that the cost of faxing has come down from Rs 30 a page to Rs 10 a page. Well, you have to thank the Tiruchi-based consumer group, Consumer Protection Council of Tamil Nadu for this. Ironically, it took the consumer organisation more than a year to persuade the government to see reason in its demand for revision in fax charges following reduction in the telephone STD tariffs! The council’s argument was simple and logical: that tariff must be cost based and the benefit of technology should be passed on to the consumers. But the service provider (or the government) was unwilling to accept this. The entire chain of events that finally led to the government bringing down the fax rate provides a sad commentary on the way the government works. It was on September 25, 2002, that Mr S. Pushpavanam, Secretary, Consumer Protection Council of Tamil Nadu, first took up the issue and wrote to then Union Communications Minister, Mr Pramod Mahajan, and also to the Chairman of Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL). His contention was that in 1986 when the fax services for the public were introduced by the telegraph offices, the tariff was fixed at Rs 30 a page for faxing anywhere within India. At that time, the STD tariff for the highest slab (over 500 kms) was Rs 37.50 a minute and since it took about 40 seconds or so to transmit a page, the tariff of Rs 30 a page was reasonable. In 2002, the STD rate had come down to Rs 9 a minute, but the department had failed to effect a corresponding revision in the fax charges. Besides, the cost of fax machines had come down drastically — from Rs 79,000 to Rs 7,900, Mr Pushpavanam pointed out in his letter. He followed this up with letters to the Department of Telecom (DoT) as well as BSNL. Then in August 2003, the consumer organisation finally got a response from BSNL, which, however, was disappointing. The letter said that the “proposal of revision of telegraph tariff, including bureau fax tariff, was not accepted by the Department of Telecommunications under prevailing growth of modern and advanced communication technology” (whatever that meant!). Mr Pushpavanam then visited the office of TRAI in New Delhi in November and explained the issue to the Adviser, quality of service, TRAI. Finally, the efforts of the consumer group bore fruit. In December he got two letters — one from DoT and the other from BSNL — both informing him that the tariff for inland fax services had been brought down from Rs 30 to Rs 10 a page. Where the fax is sent to another BSNL fax machine and is required to be delivered to the recipient through a messenger, the charges would be Rs 20 a page, the communication said. This rate does not apply to fax services offered by private operators. Says Mr Pushpavana: Private operators’ charges depend on the market. Usually, they charge the STD tariff for the time taken to fax the page plus Rs 10 per page. So the DoT fax rates are cheaper.
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I salute him who dances in the way of the birds, clouds and gods, who became angry and took Lakshmana on his shoulders while Meghanada produced frightening music. — Shri Adi Shankaracharya Death is the privilege of brave men Provided they die in an approved cause. — Guru Nanak One cannot be called a saint, merely by his saffron robes. In fact, only his actions and behaviour can put him in the category of saints. — Nirankari Baba Hardev Singh I fear God, and next to God I chiefly fear him who fears him not. — Saadi Live near to God, and so all things will appear to you little in comparison with eternal realities. — RM. McCheyne |
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