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Freedom at last President’s gesture Trading gets boost |
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When Parliament is paralysed
Grandchildren and red tape
Avoid a knee-jerk reaction From Pakistan
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Freedom at last THE families of Antaryami, Tilak Raj and Sukdev Singh will heave a sigh of relief as the news of their loved ones' release from their Iraqi captors sinks in. These three Indian truck drivers had been taken hostage on July 21 along with others from Kenya and Egypt. All seven have been released. They were all working for the Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Company (KGL) and had been held by a group that called itself the Black Banners. The KGL had been negotiating with the kidnappers, and has apparently acceded to their demand to cease its operations in Iraq. Quiet diplomacy on the part of India and the other nations too played a role in securing the release. While the release of the seven hostages is indeed welcome, the sense of relief will be tinged with grief since it comes in the wake of the worst massacre of civilian hostages in Iraq, the execution of 12 Nepalese workers on August 31, which has been rightly condemned in no uncertain terms all over the world. There is no doubt that a state of anarchy prevails in the oil-rich state since the US invasion last year. Unfortunately, the interim Allawi government in Iraq has not been able to get a grip over vast territories, and lawlessness prevails over most of the country. Foreigners have been held hostage by sundry groups with a grouse, or with a yen for ransom. It was only a few days ago that Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni was executed by his kidnappers who were demanding withdrawal of Italian troops from Iraq, a demand that was rejected by the Italian government. He was the second Italian to be killed in Iraq. Two French journalists are being held hostage by a group that wants the ban on Islamic headscarves and other visible religious symbols, including turbans and large crosses, lifted in France. The world will have to take a hard look at Iraq, where innocent non-combatants, both Iraqis and foreigners, are held hostage. The release of Indian hostages is welcome; the conditions that led to it are not. |
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President’s gesture THE President of the country bringing the hands of Capt Amarinder Singh and Mr Parkash Singh Badal together was more than an unusual photo-opportunity. It was a grand symbolic gesture of an acknowledged statesman which should have made the feuding leaders shed their animosity and make a new beginning on the occasion of the 400th Parkash Utsav of Guru Granth Sahib. But subsequent incidents do not give any indication that the message has gone home. That is unfortunate. The Great Gurus always tried to bring together people of different religions, castes and creed. Here are two leaders owing allegiance to the same faith for whom political division happens to be more pressing than the message of universality of mankind. At least on this momentous day, the petty differences should have been sunk, but that was not to be. The glory of the occasion was forgotten in a political game of one-upmanship. That left a bad taste in everyone's mouth. Punjabis all over the globe look forward to Punjab as the repository of the wisdom of the Gurus. If they are greeted by such fissiparous tendencies even here, their sense of disappointment is palpable. There are some who bury the hatchet but remember exactly where it is hidden so that it can be pulled out at the first opportunity. But even they make a show of camaraderie when the occasion demands. The Punjab leaders did not care to put up even a pretense of unity at this special time. In any case, we are not talking about forgetting the differences just for one day. There should be civility and respect for each other on the other 364 days as well. Political disagreements should not degenerate into personal enmity. There is no point blaming any party or person but the situation has unfolded in such a way that today an electric fence seems to run between the treasury and opposition benches and they are ever ready to direct heavy artillery at one another from behind it. At a time when we are trying to mend fences even with inimical nations, surely politicians of different hues can learn to co-habit in a more amiable manner. Continuing acrimony between the Chief Minister and Mr Badal is harming Punjab. The earlier it ends, the better. |
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Trading gets boost IT is a please-all Foreign Trade Policy. Replacing the Exim Policy, it sets an ambitious agenda of doubling India’s share of global trade in five years — from 0.8 per cent to 1.5 per cent by 2009. To achieve that, the 2004-09 policy offers Rs 5,000 crore worth annual incentives to exporters. India’s sluggish exports can pick up only if, apart from the liberal sops, global quality standards are met. When Iraq returned an Indian wheat consignment for poor quality, it made headlines and lowered India’s credibility in global markets. The second essential is pricing. Because of inefficient production practices and multiple taxes, Indian products are not competitively priced. The new policy takes care of the taxation part only. Manufacturing hurdles and inefficiencies remain. The policy thrust on farm exports is particularly welcome. But farmers will benefit only if agro exports get a push. An excessive use of chemical fertilisers, high production costs and poor quality are major deterrents. Grain exports from the Central pool have been rightly discontinued, while private exporters have been left confused. A huge quantity of fruits and vegetables goes waste for lack of processing facilities. Flower exports wilt due to delays en route. Infrastructural facilities at airports and ports are woefully inadequate. Textiles has a massive potential for outsourcing business. The policy has left it untouched. The Foreign Trade Policy toys with some interesting ideas. It talks of making India a trading hub like Singapore and Dubai. It proposes free trade and warehousing zones with tax breaks available to special economic zones to boost trading. Goods can be imported and after a little value addition repackaged to meet demands of Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. After marketing the “Made in India” label with limited success, the government is now trying “Served from
India”. This is to boost the export of services. The phasing out of the exporters’ favourite duty entitlement pass book (DEPB) scheme from April 1, 2005, has been deferred again. Another notable is the proposal to set up biotechnology parks. This sector can create 10 lakh jobs and yield $5 billion revenues in five years. These are all commendable initiatives. Whether these deliver the hoped-for results remains to be seen. |
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Boldness be my friend! Arm me, audacity. — William Shakespeare |
When Parliament is paralysed IT is a small mercy that in the deepening darkness caused by the almost total paralysis of Parliament because of highly inflamed but wholly meaningless confrontation between the government and the BJP-led Opposition some minor shafts of light have begun to appear. The Leader of the Opposition, Mr L. K. Advani, is quoted as having said that the boycott of Parliament was confined to the Budget session, implying that it won’t be extended further. Then in a discussion on a private TV channel, he tersely remarked that the episode about the alleged discourtesy of the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, to a delegation of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was over, “woh mudda tau khatam ho gaya”. Moreover, the BJP leaders must have noticed that the public and media opinion has been overwhelmingly against their egregiously obstructionist and potentially destructive tactics. Meanwhile, the Lok Sabha Speaker, Mr Somnath Chatterjee, has disclosed that he would call an all-party conference on or around November 8 to evolve a consensus on the restoration of Parliament’s decorous functioning before the start of the winter session. Hopefully, the inter-session interval would prove to be a cooling off period. Welcome though these signals are, they are by themselves not enough. The current situation could not have been more drastic or depressing and it calls for drastic and decisive remedies. Even those of us who had despaired of the unspeakable and apparently unstoppable plummeting of parliamentary standards — daily barracking, abusive exchanges, and, above all, the lemming-like rush to the well of the House — had never anticipated that things would descend to such low depths as they have. Over the years, concerned citizens and watchful sections of the media have protested whenever the massive defence appropriations have been passed without debate or demands for grants of a host of other ministries routinely “guillotined”. These now appear to be childish pranks compared with the unbelievable horror of the entire Budget of a billion plus people being passed without any discussion at all, indeed with the principal Opposition boycotting Parliament. Any discussion on the reasons for this appalling state of affairs cannot but become a battleground for partisan verbal warfare. But surely it is not impossible to outline the sequence of events objectively. No one can deny that the BJP-led NDA — whose leadership seems to have passed from Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Mr Advani to Mr George Fernandes — had at first announced that it would not allow Parliament to function until “tainted ministers” were shown the door. And the threat was translated into action immediately. It was only later that other issues cropped up to add grist to the BJP-NDA mill. Now, the “tainted ministers” question has already become something like the poor horse flogged to the verge of death. In particular, since the Shibu Soren affair — be it noted that he was a snow-white innocent during the five years when he was the BJP’s ally but on joining hands with the Congress has become unacceptably “tainted” — the matter has been thrashed out fully. There is no need, therefore, to repeat the arguments that show up the saffron crowd to be hypocritical and disingenuous on this subject. However, because tempers are running very high and too many red herrings are being drawn across the trail, two points must be made even at the risk being repetitive. First, the Vajpayee government had as many “tainted ministers” — one of them with the rank of Deputy Prime Minister — as does the Manmohan Singh Cabinet. Nothing can be more preposterous than the argument, repeated ad nauseam, that the charges against Mr Advani and his cohorts were “political” while those against today’s “tainted ministers” are “criminal”. What is so political about the vile act of vandalism at Ayodhya on December 6, 1992, that led to carnage across the country in which hundreds were slaughtered? Mr Soren is also claiming that he was waging a political struggle that unfortunately turned violent. Secondly, and more importantly, if “tainted ministers” cannot be tolerated then what about “tainted MPs” whose number in the 14th Lok Sabha is close to a hundred and who belong to every single party worth the name represented in the House. Let everybody agree on getting rid of all of them and ensuring that no one with charges or warrants of arrest against him or her can be elected to any legislature. As for the other issues that came the BJP’s way later, it is legitimate for this party to protest against the “insult” to Veer Savarkar and to seek redress. But, in heaven’s name, is the total disruption of Parliament the only way to achieve this objective? The bizarre theatrics over the judicial custody of the former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Ms Uma Bharati, might give the saffron party and its more strident sidekick, the Shiv Sena, some advantage in the Assembly elections in Maharashtra due on October 13. But for her or her supporters to pretend that she is upholding the dignity of the national flag is to insult the intelligence of the Indian people. The widespread disbelief in the country in the complaint of rudeness against Dr Manmohan Singh, a man of impeccable manners and courtesy, should not be a surprise to anyone. For, the credibility of the main complainant, Mr Fernandes, leaves a lot to be desired in any case. A dispassionate view of the point in contention would underscore that the boot is on the other leg. What greater effrontery can there be than that those who immobilise Parliament should go to the Prime Minister’s office to seek a series of changes in the Budget they refuse to discuss on the floor of the House? The only insult involved in the episode is that done to Parliament. And let no one forget that in December 1979, Indira Gandhi was imprisoned not for any of the Emergency “excesses” but for a breach of Parliament’s privilege. Surely, at least a leader of the stature of Mr Vajpayee should be able to see, even if the likes of Mr Fernandes and Ms Sushma Swaraj cannot, the stark dangers that stare the country in the face. Look at what unrestrained, indeed reckless, confrontation along political or personal lines has done to Bangladesh. Moreover, in most countries where democracy has been smothered, only military dictators have dissolved and locked up Parliaments. Is the world’s largest democracy going to have the ignominy of its Parliament being shut down by veteran parliamentarians
themselves? |
Grandchildren and red tape I have heard it said that in a manner of speaking grandchildren are the opposite of “red tape”. You do not know what a great boon grandchildren are until you actually get them, and what a great bane red tape is until you get entangled in it yourself. I am in a position to endorse that view fully as I happen to have pretty extensive experience of both of the entities. I have three children, each of whom had at one stage a family of a boy and a girl. Then one of them decided some years later to break the pattern and added another child to her name and the tally rose to seven grandchildren in all. And I can say in all honesty that my wife and I have absolutely revelled in them and they have without doubt been one of the greatest boons of our lives. As regards experience of “red tape”, I expect it would be enough for me to say that I was a civil servant for as long as some 33 years. I like to believe that I was not as a rule at the dispensing end of red tape. In any case what I clearly recall are the occasions when I was at the receiving end of it, and was left fuming with frustration. An elderly relation of mine deposited Rs 40,000/- in a bank against a regular receipt. When, however, after some weeks the bank statement came the account did figure in it. Anxious enquiries from the bank received very evasive replies with delay and so to the matter was taken up with the local head office. It started its own elaborate inquiry and after months said that the money had been given by the manager to an unauthorised party and embezzled by the two acting in collusion with each other. But, it added, its law department had advised that the money should be returned to the owner only after departmental action against the delinquent manager had been completed and the embezzled amount recovered from him. I protested strongly that that was an absurd stand as the recovery of the money from its manager was an entirely different issue and was no reason at all for the return of the money to the owner being held up. But the bank would not budge. “We are sorry”, they said, “we cannot go against the advice of our law department”. The chairman of the bank in Delhi had then to be approached. He too dillydallied for a number of months but finally directed the return of the money. The entire process took nearly two years. It is ironical that officers who have no compunction about letting thousands of crores slip through fingers as N.P.A for special patrons, dig their heels in when it comes to their common run-of-the mill clients: they show great zeal in denying these clients even what is clearly their entitlement under the law. Perhaps the officials’ rather selective sense of duty comes alive only when, for the public at large, it is the wrong time. (However weak the case the advice of the law department is as a matter of course in favour of litigation which after all its bread and butter. Cases are fought with the bank funds and if a case fails it makes no difference to the staff. What matters to them is that they should have a healthy volume of litigation to handle, and in that the ‘advice’ to fight
helps).
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Avoid a knee-jerk reaction
WHAT happened in Manipur on July 11 last is indeed shameful. The whole nation was shocked at the death of Manorma Devi, allegedly at the hands of Assam Rifles. While the investigations are still on to identify those guilty of wrongdoing, one hopes that the culprit/s will be given exemplary punishment that acts as a deterrent. One also hopes that the mistake is committed only by one or more over-zealous individuals and does not indicate an organisational failure. The unfortunate incident has sparked a debate regarding continuance or otherwise of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), promulgated in 1958 to strengthen the hands of security forces in tackling the difficult problem of insurgency. There is a great need for caution before taking any hasty action under pressure from the agitating public. While they have all the popular sympathy, the national security cannot afford to be put at risk. Those recommending repeal of the AFSPA have based their argument mainly on the plank that since the Act has not been able to solve the problem in over four decades of its operation, its ineffectiveness is empirically proved. Unfortunately, such arguments betray a lack of knowledge of the role and charter of the security forces deployed to handle insurgency. Besides, this line of argument does not also take into account the causative factors leading to an insurgency situation. India has been beset by internal dissension ever since the country gained Independence. Nagaland — then Naga Hills District — was the first region to go up in arms in the early fifties. This was followed by Mizoram in 1966. The problem has also occurred in Assam, Tripura, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, and to a lesser degree in some other parts. I am deliberately leaving out J & K from the discussion because the militancy there, though far more lethal, is a byproduct of the proxy war unleashed by our neighbour, and its intensity, ebb and flow is largely controlled from across the borders. In almost all other cases, the underlying cause of insurgency has been political. The economic difficulties and social isolation may have further fanned the fire of the movement against the Centre. It is merely stressing the obvious to say that the insurgency can only be eliminated when the cause fuelling or sustaining it is removed. In other words, the solution has to be political and the decision-makers in this regard are the political masters in Delhi and the state concerned. However, this is not to say that our armed forces have no role to play in an insurgency situation. They do, but in most cases they cannot eradicate it on their own. They can merely contain it, help establish some degree of normalcy and play an important role in the overall counter-insurgency effort, which primarily must include political and other aspects outside their control. In most cases, to combat an insurgency, a concerted and joint effort has to be made concurrently on political, economic, social, psychological and security fronts. In this matrix, the security forces can handle only the security and to some extent the psychological front. In our democratic set-up, a uniformed man does not, should not and cannot influence political decisions. It is, therefore, unfair to blame the security forces for not having “solved” the insurgency problem in various parts of the country. No uniformed force can solve a problem that is essentially political in nature. They can at best create conditions where the agencies involved on other fronts feel secure to carry on with their respective work. This has been successfully done in all the regions affected by internal disturbances. If that had not been so, the country would have disintegrated long ago. Even on the psychological front, the security forces have made commendable contribution by undertaking developmental activities and humanitarian work related to winning hearts and minds of the people. While the now well-known term “Sadbhavna” may have been picked up by the national media recently, this kind of work has always been undertaken whenever and wherever the security forces have been inducted. For an Army soldier, who has been trained, conditioned and equipped to fight an easily identifiable foe from across the national borders in a conventional combat, fighting insurgents is a major change and is perhaps the most difficult task. There is neither a demarcated border, nor front, flanks or rear. There exists no identifiable “enemy”. Besides, the insurgents follow no rules or convention commonly adopted during war. Instead, the soldier is required to operate against his own people, and, unlike in war, has to accomplish his mission with several restrictions that are inevitable while dealing with own people, armed or unarmed. The task of the security forces is rendered more difficult due to the difficult terrain obtaining in many insurgency areas, particularly in the Northeast. The special powers given to them enable them to deal with a situation speedily and hence more effectively. The security forces are strung out on numerous posts in remote areas, mostly accessible only on foot along arduous tracks. To take a simple example, supposing a post commander gets information of presence of armed insurgents in a remote village, which mandates a search and cordon operation. In the absence of special powers, he has to seek clearance from a Magistrate or other established authority located far away in terms of distance and time. “Clearly, it would be impracticable to do so. Admittedly, the special powers have been misused in some cases. However, considering the total number of security personnel involved in counter insurgency operations throughout the country, such aberrations are insignificant. Also, the guilty are always punished. No commander can run his unit efficiently and effectively if he even condones, leave aside encourages, breaches of law and discipline. Repeal of the AFSPA will seriously negate the effectiveness of the security forces in dealing with a very difficult and delicate situation, which may in turn be very detrimental to national unity and security. Such major changes in our policy must never be carried out without a deliberate and thorough analysis and discussion, and certainly not in a knee-jerk reaction to one incident, however shocking and deplorable that might have been. Insurgency is an extraordinary situation, and special provisions are needed to handle it. |
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From Pakistan
LAHORE: The Punjab government is currently undergoing the worst ever human resource crisis in its administrative history, as the province has fallen short of over 300 officers required to be posted against administrative posts in grade 17, directly linked to the delivery of services. This much number of posts are lying vacant in various district and provincial departments owing to the apathy of the Punjab Finance Department, which is using delaying tactics to approve the cadre strength of the newly constituted Provincial Management Service (PMS), under which these vacant posts are to be filled. As per sources, the S&GAD cannot give a go-ahead signal to the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) to start the process of fresh recruitment under the PMS, unless Finance Department approves its cadre strength as required under the rules. The said department is sitting over the relevant summary for the last over three months raising one objection or the other, thus causing severe human resource problem for the government, they maintained.
— The Nation
Warning on water
ISLAMABAD: The Indus River System Authority (IRSA) has forecast “a looming calamity” during the forthcoming Rabi season owing to erratic and low inflows which may trigger an “unprecedented situation throughout the post-Tarbela Dam period”. According to the latest meteorological prognosis, Pakistan has entered into a drought phase because no significant rainfall was received during the monsoon season and nothing much is expected during the remaining period, IRSA Secretary Sohail Ali Khan said after a meeting of the authority. “This has caused critically low water levels in major reservoirs of Pakistan. The erratic and low inflows triggering the situation are unprecedented throughout the post-Tarbela Dam period,” he said.
— The Dawn
Plan to protest
against 9/11
LAHORE: The Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan, said it would observe September 11 as “protest day” to express resentment against global terrorism. “We strongly condemn terrorism, be it the 9/11 incident in New York, genocide in Iraq, Afghanistan or Palestine. We have decided to observe September 11 as protest day against global terrorism,” JI chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed said this while addressing a reception hosted in his honour by the JI workers of Allama Iqbal Town here at Mansoora.
— The News
Baloch leader warns govt
KARACHI: Balochistan National Party President Sardar Akhtar Jan Mengal warned on Tuesday that the people of Balochistan could go to “any extreme” if the government continued with the policy of denying their rights and “pushing them to the wall”. The BNP leader was addressing a news conference at the Karachi Press Club. He refuted a claim made by Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Mohammad Yusuf that “RAW had set up training camps in the province” and was fomenting trouble through funding and equipment. “Such allegations are made by both India and Pakistan against each other’s secret agencies because they are the best scapegoats. The Chief Minister has said this to cover up his incompetence,” said Mr Mengal, emphasising that the Baloch people were exercising their democratic right of protest.
— The Dawn |
When you move amidst the world of sense, free from attachment and aversion alike, there comes the peace in which all sorrows end, and you live in the wisdom of the Self. — Sri Krishna in Bhagavad Gita Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress. — Mahatma Gandhi Good is attractive; evil is disgusting. A bad conscience is the most tormenting pain; deliverance is the height of bliss. — The Buddha Reason is like an officer when the King appears. The officer then loses his power and hides himself. Reason is the shadow cast by God; God is the sun. — Jalaluddin Rumi If there were no future life, our souls would not thirst for it. — Richter |
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