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PROFILE COMMENTS
UNKEMPT DIVERSITIES
— DELHI LETTER
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ON RECORD
PURNO Agitok Sangma, the affable former Lok Sabha Speaker is a busy man these days. Having maintained a consistent stand on the foreign origin issue of Sonia Gandhi, Mr Sangma has now put together a potent political configuration under the North East People’s Forum (NEPF). He says given a choice between the NDA and the Congress, he would go for the former. Hailing from far flung Tura in Meghalaya, Mr Sangma dismisses the argument that the BJP is communal and believes that such a line of thinking has lost its political relevance. At the same time, he categorically denies in an exclusive interview to The Tribune that he could eventually join the BJP. Excerpts: Q: How is the NDA, which you are in the process of joining, different from the BJP? A: In the National Democratic Alliance, there are many “so-called” secular parties. Critics say that the BJP is communal. But the people of India have not accepted it. For the BJP is the single largest party in the Lok Sabha with 182 seats. We have either failed to convince the people that the BJP is communal or the people themselves have become communal. Moreover, the argument that a party is communal is no more a political argument. My conviction, however, is different from this analysis. I am only analysing this as a student of political science. The world has changed and the dynamics of politics are fast changing. I have no problems with the policies of the NDA government — be it their economic policy, North-east, insurgency or the influx of illegal migrants. Q: Is supporting the NDA a halfway mark towards joining the BJP? Under what party affiliation would you contest the Lok Sabha elections? A: I won’t join the BJP. Not in this lifetime. As for the banner under which I would contest, it is too early to say. Q: You have decided to part ways with the NCP and go along with the NDA. Is the decision reflective of a personality clash? A: Had we stuck to our original stand of maintaining equidistance from both the Congress and the BJP, I would have endorsed it. If the party has now decided otherwise, then the Congress was never a choice for me. I have no quarrel with any personality. But there are three different entities involved here — ‘Desh ki Bahu’, ‘Congress President’ and ‘Prime Minister of the nation’. There is a very wide difference between being a Bahu, being a president of a political party and being the Prime Minister of the nation. I am simply making this distinction. Though we have adopted parliamentary democracy, from the beginning the dynamics of electoral politics have always been presidential in nature. People choose their Prime Minister and Chief Ministers. First it was Jawaharlal Nehru, then it was Indira Gandhi and later Rajiv Gandhi. Even in the recent Assembly elections, the fight was between the prospective Chief Ministers. Madanlal Khurana versus Shiela Dikshit in Delhi is a classic example. So if you are trying to say that the Prime Minister of country will be chosen by the people after the elections, then it is not really acceptable. In the present case the elections will turn out to be Mr Vajpayee versus Mr X. People would like to know who Mr X is. Q: In the emerging political scenario, do you think a non-Congress, non-BJP alternative can still be a reality? A: I would have liked it (a non-Congress, non-BJP alternative). But at the same time, one should not ignore history. It has been tried several times. There were four such governments before in the recent past under V.P. Singh, Chandra Shekhar, Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujral. But it did not work. It is a historical fact and we have to accept it. Q: Your views on Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin is well known. You have maintained that people of foreign origin should be debarred from holding high offices. Isn’t such a position legally untenable? A: When we are talking about national pride, national identity, national self-respect and the independence of the nation, the question is not of law, it is a question of blood. I think this is the right definition of nationalism. Do you expect P.A. Sangma to be the Chief Minister of Kerala or Punjab or Tamil Nadu? The question is much beyond law and legalities. Not for once am I questioning Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s commitment to the nation. But we have to remember that the future of India is above politics and as I said it is a question of blood. Q: Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi have now hit the campaign trail and much hype surrounds this initiative. What are your comments? A: You are now compelling me to make some personal remarks. I would only say that if the Congress President was capable of taking the party to victory with her so-called charisma, what is the reason behind her daughter and son coming in? Q: As a party, the BJP has strong views on cultural nationalism and minorities. Do you agree? A: I do not subscribe to the idea of cultural nationalism. India is a multi-cultural society and should remain so. My views on the issue of beef eating and cow slaughter remains the same. It is a State subject and should remain so. On the issue of minorities I would only say that the 112 crore people of India are legitimate citizens of the country. The sooner we stop using the word minority, the better it is for the country. We have made a mess by making a distinction between minorities and majority. The word minority should be scrapped from the political dictionary. Q: There is also the question of individuals such as Praveen Togadia with whom the BJP has somewhat identified with. How do you view politics of such rabid religiosity? A: I do not approve of this. If India has to be saved today, we should not talk about religion of individuals. Instead we should talk more about spiritualism of individuals. The emphasis should be on spiritualism and it is necessary to stop the moral degradation in the country. I think the BJP realises this. In the last four elections, the BJP has demonstrated that elections can be won on the basis of development and economic agendas. The transformation is taking place. Q: What about politics of regionalism and its role in the overall scenario? A: I am doing national politics and I do not do regional or state politics. However, I do acknowledge regional sentiments and aspirations. Fortunately, today regional parties are having a national outlook. This is a very positive development. |
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Will nanotechnology solve problems of masses? OF all the changes, those in the realm of information and communications technology have been most spectacular. Internet is changing business, government, economy and society, and the way individuals and organisations operate. Using appropriate technology and methods, virtual marketplaces and virtual organisations can be created that offer benefits of speed and agility, of round-the-clock operation and of global reach. e-Commerce is rewriting the way products and services are promoted and sold. Goods and services can be developed, bought, sold, and even delivered over electronic networks. The changes are keeping up with the Moore’s law. And now we are in the age of nanotechnology. Scientists are seeing clear possibility of molecular computers and manipulation of matter at the atomic or molecular level revolutionising the way humans work, communicate and live. That will definitely accelerate the process of change. Indeed, it will add to new dimensions of change and growth in addition to accelerations along the existing dimensions. A very important question over which we must ponder is, “will it really solve the problems of people?” The knowledge economy is causing unprecedented growth in comforts and conveniences for the human society. Nevertheless, the debit side is also heavy. Consider only the problems directly related to information and communication technology. Everyday, computer users suffer losses from cyber attacks. Intruders, hackers, attackers and crackers are on the prowl. They can steal your credit card and personal information, read your e-mail, plant a virus or worm, or steal online banking information. They can delete files from your computer and steal your personal identity. The notorious genius of man creates or discovers new vulnerabilities regularly. Identified computer vulnerabilities — faults in software and hardware that could permit unauthorised network access or allow an attacker to cause network damage — have increased significantly. The number of vulnerabilities went up from 1,090 in 2000 to 4,129 in 2002, only in the United States, the technologically most advanced nation. Moreover, people can do all that sitting in unknown distant places! Managing people in an organisation is altogether a different game now. Stephen Robbins writes in his famous book “Organizational Behavior” (Pearson Education 2001), “While computer technology has generated huge productivity gain in recent years, it’s also made ‘goofing off’ at work a lot easier for employees. In need of down time or simply bored with their jobs, workers are flocking to web sites for games, shopping, stock trading, conducting ‘cyber affairs’ and other diversions.” Recent studies in the United States have found that 41.5 percent of employers actively monitored or restricted employees’ Web activity; more than half of the midsize-to-large member organisations of the American Management Association tracked employees’ internet connections at work, and more than a third store and review their e-mail! A vast mass of people may not be concerned with those developments and problems. According to the UNDP’s Human Development Report 2003, more than 1.2 billion people — one in every five on earth — survive on less than $1 a day. Some 115 million children do not attend primary school. In all, 876 million adults — one in six of the world’s adults — are illiterate. Every year more than 10 million children die of preventable illness and more than 500,000 women die in pregnancy. More than a billion people in developing countries lack access to safe water and 2.4 billion to improved sanitation. What does nanotechnology mean to the poor on the earth? What is the mechanism through which the benefits of the higher economic growth achieved from the developments in the area of nanotechnology will percolate down? Nanotechnology will dazzle the technologists and scientists and elite, alright. Nonetheless, lest the problems of large masses are slighted once again, it would be critical to ask the following questions vis-à-vis nanotechnological developments: How nanotechnology can be used to empower people belonging to all sections of society? How people can harness the breakthroughs to expand their choices in daily life? How to tap the new opportunities created from the technological breakthroughs to help create a mass of entrepreneurial activity that can generate its own momentum? How to determine global and national policies and institutions that can help accelerate the benefits of technology while carefully safeguarding against the new risks that may accompany them? The search for a dynamic equilibrium by organisations and individuals under the interacting competitive forces unleashed by the process of growth will become increasingly more complex. While the WTO is reshaping the world of threats and opportunities (WTO is perhaps a better acronym for “the world of threat and opportunities”), people ought to be anxious about what lies in store at the time of entering 2004, the fourth year of the New Millennium. Nevertheless, there is an air of optimism in India, and genuinely so. Indians with their tremendous intellectual capabilities have been playing a significant role in this area. They will continue to have their competitive edge in microtechnology and play the leading role in shaping man’s destiny. The most desired option for India is to develop systems and institutions so that the Indian potential is harnessed fully. Of course keeping in mind the interest of the deprived, the weak, and the downtrodden. Let that be the pledge for the New Year. The writer is Professor of Management, Panjab University, Chandigarh |
PROFILE An expert in fiscal management, having a brilliant academic career, Mr Krishna Murthy has a multi-faceted personality. He is a lover of music which ranges from classical Carnatic tunes to modern Jazz. He listens to Veena. His wife is an accomplished Veena artist. His second love is Shakespeare’s plays, “Hamlet” being the favourite one. Mr Krishna Murthy drowns the drudgery of revenue and tax matters in the melody of music and literature. A devout person, he begins his day quite early in the morning with prayers on his lips. He performs pooja twice a day — in the morning and evening. Mr Krishna Murthy was a topper in his student days. He created a record in the Bachelor's examination of Mysore University having obtained highest marks in each paper. He says two missionaries — Father Lawrence J. Collaco and Father Louis Mascarehans — left an indelible mark on his personality. They were his wardens and both are no more. His pet reading has been biographies of great men. Jawaharlal Nehru’s “Discovery of India” and “Glimpses of World History” impressed him most in early student days. His other pet books include “History of Modern Empire” by Hal Fischer and “History of Britain”. Mr Krishna Murthy learnt Gujarati when he was very young. His father, a Railway employee, was posted in Gujarat at that time and local language was compulsory in schools. As Election Commissioner when he visited Gujarat following the
post-Godhara riots, the knowledge of Gujarati helped him a lot to communicate with the local people. Beginning his career as Probationary Officer with Reserve Bank of India, 33 years back, his journey to the high constitutional office in Nirvachan Sadan has been long and eventful. He joined the Indian Revenue Service in 1963 and subsequently rose to the position of Secretary, Company Affairs, in the Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs. He was lauded for framing the comprehensive Companies Bill to improve corporate governance and investors interests. He was the first non-IAS officer to become Secretary of Company Affairs. A disappointment in his variegated career, he admits, was denial of the post of the Revenue Secretary to him. “I could have brought many changes had I got the opportunity”, he says. Later, he was moved to the Finance Ministry as Additional Secretary. He came to the notice of the International Monetary Fund and was subsequently included in the panel of fiscal experts and sent to Ethopia as Tax Adviser. He says he has been a happy and contented man. He enjoyed working at every post. “I have no regrets. I have not gone for favour to anybody”. Born in
Tiruchirappalli, the 63-year-old, Taruvai Subbayya Krishna Murthy is the first officer from the Indian Revenue Service to become the Chief Election Commissioner. He is entrusted with the task of conducting, perhaps, the most sensitive Lok Sabha elections which may firm up the era of coalition. Sources in the Election Commission are apprehensive of the problems the political parties may create, going by the experience of Gujarat elections. Also the fear of violence is lurking. The new CEC and his team is bracing up to the task. Mr Krishna Murthy has no political leanings and “goodwill to all” has been his motto. At the same time, he is capable of acting decisively to safeguard the integrity of the Election Commission. His motto now is to hold free and fair elections ensuring fairplay to all and without prejudice. |
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COMMENTS UNKEMPT
HOLI, Basant, Dussehra, Diwali, Ramadan and Id, Christmas, SAARC in Islamabad, so-called summits in Lahore and Agra. Will it all be hype or, as the media say, a new era? Who would have thought that Agra and Lahore would end with a whimper? There is never any end to the upswirling prognostications of the media, but are there many predictions based on scientific calculations: that India will outpace the United States in economic wealth in, maybe, a couple of decades and so on. I wonder if we have forgotten the cover pages of magazines in Rajiv Gandhi’s time asserting that India had almost reached super-power status. We are too fond of fiction. Our films and histories are too vivid with stories, not facts. The West and the Japanese usually sail close to the facts, be it the battles of the Samurai in the Mikado’s times or about the Crusades or the victory of William the Conqueror over the Saxons in 1066. The weapons, the manuscripts, maps and drawings, scenes of the sea dashing against the coast and swordsmen, archers and soldiers carrying rape, pillage death and fire to city after city, along with the masterly description of historian-presenters on television — the chronicle is impossible to forget. What I miss in India are the accounts of the researchers. Do we have many parallel and truthful scenes of the battles of Panipat, of Plassey and the wars of Shivaji constructed on archaeology and history? I remember the distinguished historian Sir Jadunath Sarkar’s collected accounts of the renowned battlefields of India. He visited them all before describing them and his descriptions were memorable and as faithful to the record as possible. Bankimchandra Chatterjee’s Anandamath, the story of the Sanyasi Revolution, in which Vande Mataram was sung by the Santans, the Sons, is hard to forget but there history was mixed with lore and fiction, as in other historical novels of Bankim. Our historians have not quite been able to capture the true picture. Of course the Mahabharata was much older but Rajshekhar Bose, in his abbreviated but flawless translation from the Sanskrit, has described the great battles, the drama of the challenges and chivalry, almost as modern English historians have in television dealt with the fight between William the Conqueror and King Harold. As schoolchildren we read about the arrow shot by the Normans archery penetrating Harold’s eye, and his fall. The historians today describe Harold’s being cut down and the Saxon warriors retreating, before the Norman conquerors who stayed on in the British Isles for decades, plundering and pillaging them into submission. The most wonderful remnant of William the Conqueror’s rule was the Domesday Book in which was recorded the Saxon villages to the very last ox and pig. I am not, of course, a historian but I have not come across similar accounts of the life and villages of India. The Famous Chinese pilgrims attempted something but not nearly so complete. After the years of subduing and conquest by the Normans the English historians of today describe the fall of William the conqueror when all his knights fled to recapture their lands leaving William lying bloodied on the floor. Perhaps I have been somewhat hasty in saying that Indian history has not too many written records of the early days. Sanskrit and Pali were perhaps not historians’ languages; they were more the languages of religion. Later, much later, Persian became a language of record and we know a lot about the Muslim, particularly the Mughal, period. India’s case is not like China’s which has no tradition of independent historical scholarship. In imperial China historians worked for the emperor and wrote to justify his rule. A major source of India’s past is the records of the colonial powers. The British, of course, but also, in fullness, the French, the Dutch and the Portuguese. After discovery they have been mined extensively, and intensively, by historians of the colonial countries and by Indian scholars. All too frequently these have been dry-as-dust chronicles, only one or two in a hundred writers of history could breathe life into their writing. That took them into the realm of literature like Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Sometimes modern Indian historians have also recreated the life and times of the past. One such, for instance, is Ashin Das Gupta, professor in Kolkata’s Presidency College and later Vice-Chancellor of Viswa Bharati and Director of the National Library. Through his research and writings the Indian Ocean, its varied trade, shipping, conflicts between the navies of the colonial powers in the years 1500 to 1800 all come to life to the reader surprised by the richness of the revelations. Professor Das Gupta died relatively young and serious illness limited work in his latter years though what he has left behind stamps him as a remarkable historian. One feels self-conscious in swinging from television to history, from the record of priors and abbots to that, of in Europe and South America, to the professional historians in Indian royal courts. But in the end one has to rue the poverty of sparkling television which, through adequate research and equally adept articulation, brings the European Renaissance or the Norman Conquest home to the common viewer. As the trends go, Indian television will go vulgarly downhill for a long time before the curve turns upwards. Why this love of “talking heads” in unending discussions and long, simulated arguments? I read the other day a small monograph on the Vande Mataram and its powerful effect on latter-day Indian nationalism. It was a pedestrian account. But, on television, with the necessary inputs of Indian revolt from the end of the 19th through the 20th century, with excerpts from the demos, speeches and songs, police and intelligence reports it would be splendid television, historically accurate and at the same time exciting. Somehow our television has gone to “romance”, slapstick and imitation than to creativity. In the meantime, let us hope the unending optimistic predictions of the media will lead, in reality, to a true hitch-up between Pakistan and India.
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DIVERSITIES
— DELHI LETTER
PREPARATIONS are on for the Republic Day tomorrow. Preparations are also on in another quarter for the coming annual book fair. Don’t know who’s idea was it to hold it in the first half of February when two raging fevers grip our young — the Valentine’s Day and the one unleashed by the Board examinations... I don’t know about your towns and cities but here the teenagers seem to have gone underground and yet these books getting lined up and then those oft-repeated sentiments will be aired throughout the fair days — “the youth are no longer interested in books and reading, with the idiot box weaning them...” You counter that by exposing them to our writers. Our country can boast of many old writers. Spontaneously a few names strike — Khushwant Singh who would be turning 89 years this year, Amrita Pritam would also be in her late 80s but she has been very ill, Mulk Raj Anand would be turning 99, Kamala Das is also in the aging category. It is said her eyesight has been deteriorating at an alarming rate. And it seems strangely sad that most of us were not aware of the fact that for the past few years poet Nissim Ezekiel was lying in a Mumbai nursing home with shrinking memory cells. Nissim was stricken with Alzheimer's — the memory loss disorder where no medicines can really help; the only help can be provided by the family. In Nissim’s case, I am told his family, which included his immediate family — spouse and children — didn’t attend to him properly… And let me not forget to mention that preparations are on for the coming Women’s Day (March 8). I know it’s almost six weeks from now but you’d be amazed to know how far-sighted we women can get so much so that just about yesterday I overheard two socialites exchanging all possible ideas to make March 8 — a day full of speeches and screeches…Perhaps, not that unleashed by the politicians who would be busy campaigning. Formula fitness
in marriage? Almost practicing what Khalil Gibran has written that in a marriage give space to each other so that with space you don’t tread on toes and each other’s woes (but then, tell me what’s the point in marrying or remaining saddled in a marriage!), this couple stands out — Simon Mark is a golfer and a New Zealander. Some three years back, he landed in New Delhi with his wife Caroline McDonald, who happens to be the High Commissioner of New Zealand to India. A nice, no-fuss couple. The best part is that their areas seem distinct — whilst she is a diplomat, he seems passionate about golf and photography. Simon has been holding one exhibition after another in the capital. The latest one is on at the Triveni Kala Sangam’s Art Heritage — a gallery owned by veteran theatre person Alkazi and his first wife. Hegde and
Pratibha The first thought that struck this writer on hearing about the suave politician Ramakrishna Hedge’s passing away was this — how would his companion Pratibha Prahlad and her two sons cope with his death? New Delhi-based dancer Pratibha wasn’t his wedded wife but, perhaps, she was his companion. In fact, unlike the typical Indian politician, Hegde never really hid his relationships. I have seen him with Protima Bedi and now lately I had seen him with Pratibha — the two travelling in a black Merc, walking together on the inroads of Lodi Gardens, partying on the circuit so as to say... And yet going by the reports coming from Bangalore, Pratibha was not allowed to be anywhere near his cremation formalities. Perhaps, that’s the way our system works. Should we call it the great hypocrisy of our social system where sentiments are trampled upon to suit formalities of a hopeless ongoing kind? Bhishma Narain
keeps cool I was amazed to see the veteran politician and former Governor Bhishma Narain Singh sitting calmly at the award presentation function recently by an NGO — the All-India Conference Of Intellectuals. No, don’t get me wrong. I didn't expect him to go about jumping, but it’s in the context of this footnote — his teenaged grandson is said to be untraceable. Though he looked upset, he sat through those two hours, with his cell phone beeping messages, but not the one that he’d been waiting for. When the audience marvelled at his nerves, he came up with this rationale: “If Indira Gandhi had retained her cool at her son Sanjay’s death, this is nothing compared to that calamity...” Perhaps, he got the much-needed support from former Election Commissioner G.V.G. Krishnamurty who was also there on the dais and presented awards amidst chanting one-liners along this strain — appreciation for your work is far more important than the oxygen you breathe...
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True Ahimsa should mean a complete freedom from ill-will and anger and hate and an overflowing love for all. — Mahatma Gandhi Society must be oriented to the spiritual ideal; but the duties and modes of spiritual Sadhana of people must be regulated and harmonised with their capacities, understanding, and stage of development. — Shri Adi Shankaracharya For our own motherland, a junction of the two great systems, Hinduism and Islam — Vedanta brain and Islam body — is the only hope. — Swami Vivekananda By two wings a man is lifted up from things earthly: by simplicity and purity. — Thomas A. Kempis They who meditate on the Fearless Lord All their fears vanish. — Guru Nanak Justice without religion is better for the order of the universe than the tyranny of a pious prince. — Jami |
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FOR the first time since the confrontationist style of Mr T.N. Seshan brought to the fore the importance of the Chief Election Commissioner as a high constitutional authority, the Election Commission will be having a low profile chief in Mr T.S. Krishna
Murthy. Though the new CEC may give the impression of a suave, low key man to a first-time caller, in practice, he is known to be assertive and means business. He does not believe in unnecessarily taking up cudgels against politicians. Yet, he is not the one to be browbeaten by political parties. He feels the CEC’s job is to ensure fair and free elections and operate within the set framework. But he is equally concerned about the likely behaviour of political parties in the run-up to the elections. “We are fully geared up to hold elections, capable of organising polls but I am worried as to how political parties will behave”, he told this writer in an informal chat.