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Congress vision Quota route |
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Condemned to rot
Army drive in Pak tribal areas
His Majesty “the common man”
Dimensions and hues of India’s ‘shine’
People
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Congress vision THE vision documents of the Congress party, coming as they do in the wake of the one put out by the BJP, are a belated attempt to claim credit for the economic reforms, from which it had shied away in the past and to lambast the ruling party for its alleged failures on the security and foreign policy fronts. Having let the BJP appropriate the economic agenda, the best it could do to distinguish its own vision is throw in a re-worked version of “gharibi hatao” by taking recourse to the familiar populist rhetoric on social justice and eradication of poverty, illiteracy and unemployment. Although it has rejected the BJP’s arguments for higher growth, the Congress has promised to work for a 10 per cent growth, despite poor clarity on how this would be accomplished. Despite being the party that pioneered economic reforms under the stewardship of Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao in 1991, the Congress surrendered both the initiative and credit in its preoccupation with opposing the NDA efforts to carry forward the process. While recalling the glorious days of non-alignment, it fails to recognise the reality of the changed world order. Therefore, it is not surprising that much like its election platform, the Congress has failed to come up with a challenging vision that would make its rivals, or even supporters for that matter, sit up and take notice. What the Congress stands for, apart from its opposition to the NDA and the BJP, is the question that remains unanswered. The only consolation for the party and those who wrote the vision documents is that voters are unlikely to cast their ballots on the basis of these papers, for they are neither binding nor perceived as promises that pepper manifestoes. This is just as well because in a polity where promises apart, even legislation is not implemented to achieve the stated aims and objects, vision documents are of little practical value. The fact that the two main parties — the BJP and the Congress — have now chosen to complement their election manifestoes with vision documents does not necessarily imply that their sights are set beyond the short-term gains in the upcoming elections. |
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Quota route THE Samajwadi Party knows very well where its votes lie and has tried to woo all such sections avidly through its manifesto. The key freebie in the document is ‘reservation’ which it has promised in abundance not only to Dalits and backward castes but also to Muslims and the economically weak upper castes. This will be done through a Constitution amendment. To appease Muslim voters, it has said that there will be no interference in their personal law and the places of worship now under the management of the Archaeological Survey of India will be opened for the use of the communities concerned. Legal action would be taken against those responsible for the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992. Paradoxically, party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav’s government has refused to issue a fresh notification to revive the criminal proceedings against Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani for his alleged role in the demolition. If all that solicits three cheers, there is more. The party has also pledged to root out corruption, improve the lot of farmers and generate more employment opportunities. Noble causes, indeed, but how does the party propose to perform the miracle? Ask no difficult questions and no lie will be told. The manifesto becomes all the more ambitious when it comes to national issues. It says the party will ban the import of luxury goods, besides discouraging their production in the country so long as the basic needs of the masses are not fulfilled. The country will quit the World Trade Organisation or accept membership on its own terms. The name of India will be changed to Bharat and the border and passport formalities will be done away with between India (oops, Bharat), Pakistan and Bangladesh. One should thank Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav for leaving the country’s general foreign policy alone otherwise there might have been many more such gems in the historic document. |
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Condemned to rot THE National Human Rights Commission has rightly reiterated the need for state governments to safeguard the lives of undertrials. It has directed the Uttar Pradesh Government to pay a compensation of Rs 1 lakh to the next of kin of an undertrial who died in police custody in 1999. Sadly, undertrials do not get proper treatment in jails. The state governments always raise the issue of paucity of funds and inadequacies of the judiciary to cover up their failure to protect the interests of undertrials. The Indian Constitution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Standard Minimum Rules for Treatment of Prisoners clearly specify how the inmates in jails should be treated. Yet, they have to suffer for no fault of theirs. The most infamous case is that of Ajoy Ghose who spent 37 years in jail till November 1999. Arrested for killing his brother in 1962, he was subsequently certified as insane. While he was in prison, the trial judge and all the witnesses died. His mother too expired after which he passed through serious emotional upheaval. And since he was legally declared a lunatic, he was not tried. It was under the initiative of the then Chief Justice of India and now NHRC Chairman, Mr Justice A.S. Anand, that he was shifted from Kolkata's Presidency Jail to a Missionaries of Charity home. Unfortunately, though undertrials constitute 71.2 per cent of the prison population in the country, the authorities have done little to ensure their expeditious trial. There is need for concerted efforts at various levels to ensure the speedy trial of undertrials. Given the political will and official support, problems like systemic delays, mechanical extension of remands, and the availability of presiding judges and prosecutors can be resolved. Why should the court deny an undertrial's right to bail even in genuine cases? Most rot in the jails because of their inability to remit the high bail amount. It is time the state governments implemented Justice Anand's suggestion for holding special courts in jails for those undertrials involved in petty offences and willing to confess their guilt. |
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Life is just a bowl of cherries. —
Lew Brown |
Army drive in Pak tribal areas PAKISTAN Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told a Press conference in Islamabad on March 26 that Pakistani troops had moved into the areas which neither the British nor the Mughal army had ever seen. The minister wanted to create an air of achievement but his own admissions spoiled the effort. He could not hide the truth that the army’s campaign launched a week or so earlier against the foreign Al-Qaida and the Pakistanis who were sheltering them had been forced by the Americans. The minister had to confess that the army’s operation in the NWFP’s tribal areas was “to avoid any external interference”. Mr Ahmed gave out more than what General Musharraf was prepared to say before an invited audience of 500 tribal elders on the lawns of Governor’s House in Peshawar two days before US Secretary of State Colin Powell’s latest visit to Islamabad with another of his ultimatums. The President told the tribal jirga that failure to expel the foreign militants would have “very serious repercussions for Pakistan”. The Information Minister went much farther at his Press conference and said that in the “changed scenario” after 9/11 only those who took decisions in accordance with the “newly emerging situation” would survive. General Musharraf had received an ultimatum a few days after 9/11 that he must agree to do as America wanted or else be prepared to face the consequences. Pakistani’s soldier-President bowed in submission within 48 hours and was instructed to prepare his country as the anvil for an American hammer that would strike at Al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan. Officially, General Musharraf moved his troops into the tribal areas of the NWFP in December 2001 to express his preparedness to do the part assigned to him. He was expected to catch Osama bin Laden and all those with him who after their last stand in the caves of Tora Bora reportedly sneaked into Pakistan and were sheltered by the mainly Pashtun tribes in the near-autonomous areas of the NWFP. The Pakistani’s Army’s heart was not in what it was supposedly doing, for the Taliban had been created by Pakistan to rule Afghanistan by proxy and Al-Qaida men were the Taliban’s guests. For two years General Musharraf kept up a pretence of pursuing the Taliban and Al-Qaida and the Americans expected him to show results. Finally, Mr Powell landed in Islamabad once again in mid-March and delivered an ultimatum in the form of a badge for Pakistan as a major non-NATO ally. Among the others in this category are Israel, the Philippines, Egypt and Jordan. India was incensed because the US Secretary of State had stopped and talked in New Delhi before reaching Islamabad but did not mention anything about Pakistan’s coming new status as America’s ally and what that might mean for India. New Delhi certainly had reason to resent being taken for granted when a significant upgrading of Pakistani’s strategic resources was being engineered. Possibly, India will be sought to be assuaged with an assurance that Pakistan will be treated as a non-NATO ally only for purposes of the pursuit of Al-Qaida members and the Taliban in the NWFP. For General Musharraf the new status has turned immediately into a source of the trouble he had been carefully skirting around. “Non-NATO” is a strange way of recalling the NATO treaty provision for one ally rendering military assistance to another after mutual consultations in certain security-related situations. The Pakistani President is fully aware by now of how “mutual consultations in certain security-related situation. The Pakistani President is fully aware by now of how “mutual consultations” can be organised. While talking to the tribal elders in Peshawar, General Musharraf denied that American forces were operating inside Pakistan, promised to quit before that happened but admitted that more than two dozen Americans were searching on Pakistani soil for clues to the whereabouts of Al-Qaida’s top guns. The Pakistani President’s statements followed an American newspaper report, relayed round the world, that US and British troops were standing ready for a spring operation inside Pakistan to capture the elusive Al-Qaida and Taliban leaders. Washington’s upgrading of Pakistan’s status as a major non-NATO ally lent credence to this story. Since the spectacle of a major ally smarting under punitive restrictions was a little comic, President Bush revoked the sanctions that were still keeping up American disapproval of General Musharraf’s seizure of power by a coup more than four years ago. Pakistani’s Army and para-military forces ran into stiff multi-pronged resistance as soon as they opened their American-ordered campaign in the virtually unadministered South Waziristan in the Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA). Pakistan’s political parties, opposed to the Musharraf regime, quickly united to organize protests. There are warnings of another Bangladesh in the making in the NWFP. The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), the Islamic alliance now in power in the NWFP and Baluchistan, is accusing Pakistani troops of killing Pakistani citizens. Through the confusing figures from various sources among civilians and soldiers, foreigners and Pakistanis, killed, captured and released, it appears that the army commanders found the going tough and managed a pause to plan the next round. Prosecuting a war in any shape against the tribes who had so long been allowed to live without a care for the law of the land, will not be easy for General Musharraf, however hard the Americans may be breathing down his neck. The British were the last in the long line of foreign conquerors to realise that the fiercely independent-minded Waziris and Afridis, Mashuds and Momands were better left to their traditional anarchic ways in their mountains on the border between Afghanistan and pre-Partition India. Lord Curzon decided early in the last century that Britain should be happy with the Durand Line it had successfully drawn as the boundary between the two countries and treat the tribal area as a useful buffer without wasting more men and money in trying to subdue its wild inhabitants. He withdrew British forces from most of their “forward” posts and retained only a few strong points which could be reached by railway or passable roads. Yet the British had to cope with recurrent rebellions on the Frontier until close to the time power was transferred to Pakistan. No Pakistani ruler felt disturbed by the fact that the tribal areas had turned into a haven for the lawless of every kind, Pakistani as well as extra-territorial. Now that General Musharraf is finding himself forced by the Americans to do something about it, he is being threatened at the same time with a revolt at home if he really tries to tame the
law-breakers. |
His Majesty “the common man” I am proud of my high status as a common man. The high and mighty come to me for my vote. Even in the ethos of dictatorship, I have the takers. The dictators look to me for legitimacy and resort to referendums to make it appear that they have my mandate to rule. I do understand that nobody’s heart really bleeds for me and the political concern for me is only election-deep. In fact, the politicians just hate me because they find me too demanding. Still, they do not have any option, but to woo me. Anybody who wants to be somebody—rich and famous—understands my importance. Also, the way I am treated is an indicator of the civilistional level of a country. I am normally a calm and quiet person. But when tormented beyond the limit of my tolerance, I rise like a tornado and then the Louis’s get guillotined, Charles’s beheaded, Shah’s driven out of their domains and kings, emperors, Czars, Presidents, Prime Ministers and their governments made to lick dust. In fact, that is the defining hour when I wake one morning and find myself famous. Curiously, despite all my importance, nobody disturbs me during my walks, my visits to restaurants, my shopping stints and so on. Nobody has to give excuses on my telephone that I am busy in a meeting or just not there. I do not have to be afraid of any paparazzo stalking me. Should I even be one day caught with my pants down, I am sure, the people would just like to look the other way. How silly of me that, for a long while, I thought of my journey on retirement from a commanding officer to a commoner as a climb- down! All sorts of salesmen and showmen of the world have nightmares when they fail to attract my attention. The whole world seems to be out to pamper me. Films are shot, songs composed, TV serials produced and columns are written keeping me in mind. I do not have much to give to anybody, but still many are after me with their attractive offers, promotion schemes, rewards and incentives. What is it really that these people want from me — my little money, my mandate, my admiration, my adulation, my adoration or what? Even the newspapermen come to my door to persuade me to buy their papers. So as a reader or as a viewer, I can afford to nurse high ideas. I can just refuse to read even the biggest of the names or view anything that is so fondly put on the screen for my benefit. The trouble starts when I try to be a writer myself or want to see myself on the screen. Then, I painfully learn how scarce is the space in the columns and how flush the channels are with material. All the celebrities of the world are my creation. I often produce them out of nothing. Sadly, however, I invariably lose out when I try to be something
myself.
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Dimensions and hues of India’s ‘shine’
WE started our thrusts in science by building a large number of national laboratories and excellent institutes like the TIFR. These laboratories and institutes are somewhat starved of young people. On the other hand, the universities are starved of funds. Time has now come, therefore, to shift our emphasis towards universities. Education and research should coexist. We also need to break all boundaries between the existing universities and national laboratories. A beginning in this direction has been made through the setting up of a number of inter-university centres. One of them is in collaboration with the Department of Atomic Energy, another with Space, and yet another with the Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla. These are like active railway platforms where people from various universities and national laboratories work together, in collaboration for mutual stimulation. Much more of this is required in many different areas. This is one way of correcting the initially capitalised structures through retrofitting. Little of this kind has been done in the last decade and a half. In some of the areas requiring a high level of expertise, and somewhat difficult challenges, we have a very peculiar situation. Our theoretical work in metallurgy is considered excellent. This has not converted adequately into competitive industrial production. We understand titanium technology, have actually set up small plants for various titanium alloys, but we have failed to attract capital, or support for exploiting this technology for setting up a niche industry. We are considered rather good in the area of catalysts. Indeed we have used them in our petroleum and other chemical technology areas. But it seems to me that we have not milked our expertise to the extent we could have. I see much better drive in the last decade. Perhaps things will bloom soon. Already the growth in the chemical technology industry has reached about 8 per cent. We have become one the world’s largest manufacturers of chemical fertilisers. We seem to have developed quite an expertise in developing more economic processes for a large number of drugs and pharmaceuticals in a regime when the patent laws of the country recognised only process patents and not product patents. The result of this has been that many of the life saving drugs produced in India are five to ten times cheaper than those produced in the western countries. We are now beginning to invent new molecules and there is general enthusiasm in this area along with increasing capabilities in biotechnology. We have ample evidence that in all the cases where walls have been broken, or disregarded, and young people of diverse backgrounds allowed to pursue challenging goals, we have achieved commendable results. Our satellite remote sensing programme would not have been so successful if it had been started and continued on the strength of people sent for training abroad, without entanglement with the real social and environmental needs of our own country. We can design and build first class satellites for communication and remote sensing, [and launch most of them], to provide services to various developed countries, and organisations like the Intelsat. We have designed and manufactured a large number of rural electronic exchanges, which have proved to be highly successful for the growth of telecommunication in rural locations. After being denied a super-computer import by the US, we went ahead and built at least three versions of parallel computers superior to those that were not given to us. On occasions, when we have been strongly moved by sociological imperatives, we have mounted pioneering socio-technical programmes like the SITE (the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment), dubbed by Arthur C. Clarke the greatest communication experiment in history. The world’s largest meter wave radio telescope, based on a novel design by Govind Swarup and aimed at studying the epoch of galaxy formation, has been commissioned and is working well. The world’s highest telescope at Hanley is working beautifully almost like a space telescope, being operated and accessed through of satellite connection from Bangalore. There have been rather striking developments recently in the field of telecommunication at the IIT in Chennai and elsewhere, though it is quite possible that as before we may overlook these in favour of those which come with a well advertised brand name from abroad. Looking at these and a large number of other accomplishments, it seems to me that, till recently, our capabilities have been over-estimated by those who could not make a difference and greatly underestimated by those who could. Let us not fool ourselves and say that this apparent “shine” - should one insist on using that word - is the result of efforts made during last few years. None of this would have been visible if it were not for the start given and critical decisions made several decades ago. Also we should not measure our development through the abundance of tinsel shine in our metropolitan shop windows, perhaps not even through the upward excursions of digital casinos we call stock markets. Yes, there is some exuberance, increased self-confidence. But the goals tend to be derivative and non-inclusive. Even the students of some elite institutions feel insulted if their fees are reduced. Perhaps there is a fear that the brand name of their education might come down a notch or two! We should not forget that most of our human capital that sustains us lies in a subterranean world that is showing signs of frustration and suppressed anger. The bulk of our resources should go into fructifying and enhancing their capabilities. They should not be pushed into channels considered appropriate only for the lower classes and castes. Giving ultra visibility to the elite can be unproductive and dangerous. We should never forget that we are the country where most of the world’s illiterate live, where millions are hungry and undernourished in spite of mountains of food rotting in our warehouses, where clean drinking water, sanitation and health facilities are not available. |
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People A lawyer by profession and senior vice-president of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), Rakapakse is a second-generation leader of the party and has handled ministerial portfolios of Fisheries, Labour, Shipping and Ports in Kumaratunga's government between 1994 and 2001. His father, DA Rajapakse, represented the same region of Hambantota from 1947 to 1965. He has identified peace with the Tamils as his main priority. Significantly, he wants New Delhi to pay a leading role in this process. "I have always wanted India to play a role in Sri Lanka," he said soon after taking over. Jarring note Dr Bhupen Hazarika's singing has a silken-smooth quality to it which has swayed generations of listeners not only in Assam but in the entire country. But his speeches as the BJP candidate from Guwahati strike many discordant notes. In fact, a stray comment he made recently threatens to snowball into a major controversy. While trying to deny that the BJP was a communal party, he argued that it just could not be communal since it had made a member of the minority community the country's President. The remark would not have amused Dr APJ Abdul Kalam and it has certainly annoyed the Congress no end. Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma has taken the cultural figure to task for "using the name of the President of India for seeking vote for a party". Great survivor The grenade attack on her rally near Uri on Thursday was the third that she had faced. Earlier, she was targeted on March 29 at Aish Muqam in Anantnag, which falls in the Pahalgam constituency which she represents. She also had a narrow escape when terrorists tried to storm the official residence of the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, on October 17 last year. Her father had left the place but she and other family members were at the house. After all these ambushes, she has bravely thundered that she will carry on regardless. And that is what she has done. |
Let us preach where we all agree and leave the differences to remedy themselves. — Swami Vivekananda Man attains to the sublime state of bliss through the name of God. — Guru Nanak Happy are they that have found deliverance. Longing for peace of mind, I shall seek the bliss of Nirvana. — The Buddha Good conduct comprises imbibing of non-violence, love, benevolence, gentleness etc. — Swami Dayanand Saraswati Atman is the core of your personality. It is the prime mover of your mental equipment. — Swami A. Parthasarathy |
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EVEN one day before he was sworn in, Mahinda Rajapakse was not certain that he was going to be next Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. In fact, President Chandrika Kumaratunga was all set to invite former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar and had scheduled a swearing-in ceremony on April 5, but it had to be put off as Rajapakse, opposition leader in the outgoing Parliament, mounted a challenge. What went in favour of 58-year-old Rajapakse was that he had been a legislator since 1970 —then aged 24, the country's youngest ever parliamentarian — whereas septuagenarian Kadirgamar entered Parliament only in 1994. 
People's Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti is fast becoming the female counterpart of Maninderjit Singh Bitta in the matter of terrorist attacks that she has survived.