O P I N I O N S

EDITORIALS

Father of reforms
Rao was known by the company he kept
FORMER Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao was a bundle of contradictions. He had retired from politics when destiny catapulted him to the leadership of the country. He did not enjoy majority support in the Lok Sabha but he provided political stability to the country and completed a full term. 

Another Tehelka
Shows how justice is sought to be derailed
Just when everyone was wondering what compulsion was making Zaheera Shaikh, the star witness in the Best Bakery carnage case, change her statements repeatedly, came the Tehelka expose which lifted the lid off the mystery.

Second Green Revolution
Centre must walk President’s talk
President Abdul Kalam, on a visit to Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday, called for a second Green Revolution. This is bound to raise the question: was the first Green Revolution a success? The dominant view is: yes, it was.

• Thought for the day

ARTICLE

India as Japanese see it
A perception based on emerging reality
by Sunanda K. Datta-Ray
Nary a word did Japan’s Ambassador, Mr Yasukuni Enoki, breathe, when speaking in Kolkata under Bengal Initiative auspices, about the far-reaching defence policy guidelines unveiled in Tokyo only a few hours before. He could get away with it only in a city where, as a senior European diplomat once said unkindly, all that people know of foreign affairs is what the British published a decade ago.

MIDDLE

One never knows 
by Raj Chatterjee
The man who prides himself on knowing women like the back of his hand, is a braggart who is not to be taken seriously. Possibly, he has at sometime or other, had his cheek slapped by a woman, an incident he is careful not to reveal to his listeners.

OPED

Marshal’s magnificent gesture
by Roopinder Singh
Marshal of the Indian Air Force, Arjan Singh, DFC, has always had a larger-than-life image, and this is one person whose deeds continue to justify it. The Indian Air Force’s only Field Marshal has inspired generations of flyers ever since he joined the IAF in 1939 and was posted to IAF’s Number 1 squadron at Ambala in January 1940, flying in frail Westland Wapitis.

Asians raise their voice in UK Parliament
by Tripti Nath in London
When Paramjit Dhanda first arrived at the House of Commons, aged 29, in 2001, he was sometimes stopped by securityman who would ask him if he was really an MP. “When the securityman saw my green and white pass, he was startled,” he said.

Delhi Durbar
PM’s wife hosts lunch for ladies
It is not often that a Prime Minister’s better half hosts an exclusive get-together for spouses of those in the corridors of power. That is what Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s unassuming and nose-to-the-ground wife Gursharan Kaur did the other 

 

REFLECTIONS

EDITORIALS

Father of reforms
Rao was known by the company he kept

FORMER Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao was a bundle of contradictions. He had retired from politics when destiny catapulted him to the leadership of the country. He did not enjoy majority support in the Lok Sabha but he provided political stability to the country and completed a full term. He set in motion economic reforms at a time when his party leaders still laid great store by the public sector. The foreign exchange reserves had hit the rock bottom when he gave his hand-picked Finance Minister who is now the Prime Minister a free rein to the economy. By the time he left power, the foreign exchange reserves were overflowing. If today India is considered an emerging economic powerhouse, he is entitled to a fair share of the credit.

On the debit side, Mr Rao will be remembered for the shenanigans of the people around him. His friendship with notorious Chandraswami, who is allegedly involved in several heinous acts, did not give lustre to his image. Nor was the revelation that he managed to win a crucial vote of confidence in the Lok Sabha by literally purchasing the support of some MPs. He also could not keep a check on the activities of some of his family members who were involved in questionable deals. As Prime Minister he could not do anything to prevent the demolition of the Babri Masjid while he did everything to prevent a siege of Delhi that the BJP planned when four states ruled by the party were brought under President’s rule. Earlier, as Home Minister he did precious little to contain the 1984 riots. At one point, it seemed he had made a virtue of inaction.

Mr Rao was a loyalist of the Nehru-Gandhi family which went to a large extent to explain his meteoric rise in politics. He failed to build a base for himself despite controlling the government. Small wonder that by the time he left office, he was left with few friends in politics. The hawala case he got registered against some leading Opposition leaders when he was in power could not have endeared him to them. He spent his time reading and writing fiction. Verily he had lost touch with reality. The Congress party’s return to power made little difference to Mr Rao for he had already become an “Outsider” as in Albert Camus’ famous play.

Another Tehelka
Shows how justice is sought to be derailed

Just when everyone was wondering what compulsion was making Zaheera Shaikh, the star witness in the Best Bakery carnage case, change her statements repeatedly, came the Tehelka expose which lifted the lid off the mystery. The evidence may seemingly appear to be tell-tale but in the cesspool of today’s politics, even seeing is not believing. This is not the first time such a sting operation has been carried out. But the main culprits in the previous expose are moving scot-free. That gives rise to the apprehension that even the present fixers may escape nailing. The apex court should intervene to get to the bottom of things. As far as the common man is concerned, he seems to be convinced about the dirty game that is being played. In fact, the script is moving along expected lines. First came the threats and the use of muscle power to ensure that nobody dared to depose against the butchers who went on a killing spree in the wake of the Godhra carnage. When the Supreme Court intervened to stop this blatant miscarriage of justice by shifting the case out of the State, threats perhaps gave way to inducement, with dramatic results.

One hopes that the kind of cover-up job which followed the earlier Tehelka expose in which the then BJP chief Bangaru Laxman was caught on tape accepting money would not be allowed to take place this time. What needs to be noted is that while in the previous instance, money was actually shown to be changing hands, this time there is only the indirect admission of guilt. Real truth can be established only if a comprehensive probe is ordered.

Zaheera Shaikh has now become the fall woman. But a thought must be spared for her compulsions. The poor woman has lost her family along with her means of sustenance. Seeing that the unthinkable had already happened and she still had to make both ends meet, perhaps she had no option but to fall a prey to the all-powerful vultures. The public revulsion should be directed not against her but those who tempted and cajoled her. Her plight is a classic instance of the existential dilemma of the downtrodden.

Second Green Revolution
Centre must walk President’s talk

President Abdul Kalam, on a visit to Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday, called for a second Green Revolution. This is bound to raise the question: was the first Green Revolution a success? The dominant view is: yes, it was. The country became self-sufficient in foodgrains and was spared the ignominy of importing wheat from the US. Starvation deaths became rare and famines disappeared altogether. With the painstaking efforts of Mr C. Subramaniam, high-yielding seeds were imported. Agricultural scientists rose to the occasion. Farming got mechanised. Fertilisers became easily available. Farmers prospered as wheat and rice production multiplied.

But Punjab and Haryana, which led the revolution, have paid a heavy price. The overuse of chemicals has polluted underground water sources. The extensive paddy cultivation has lowered the watertable to alarming levels. The quality of soil has deteriorated. The rivers have got polluted. The whole environment stands endangered. Many have begun to wonder if the Green Revolution benefits were worth the price paid. With a glut in foodgrains, the Centre has ditched the two states. The FCI is retreating from procurement. The minimum support prices for wheat and rice are not raised despite increases in input costs. Returns from agriculture have declined and unrest among farmers is growing.

The President’s call for a second Green Revolution should be seen in this context. He has suggested value additions to farm produce, soil characterisation and water management for improving the lot of farmers. Where is the money for all this? The state governments are financially bankrupt and are ruled by non-visionary, rather self-serving leaders. The other day protesting farmers suggested agriculture to be put on the Central list. Returns from non-foodgrain produce are uncertain. First cotton, and now potato, have few takers. The President should use his influence to get the Centre put his ideas into practical shape. Mere words of wisdom are not enough.

Thought for the day

A thick skin is a gift from God. — Konrad Adenauer

ARTICLE

India as Japanese see it
A perception based on emerging reality
by Sunanda K. Datta-Ray

Nary a word did Japan’s Ambassador, Mr Yasukuni Enoki, breathe, when speaking in Kolkata under Bengal Initiative auspices, about the far-reaching defence policy guidelines unveiled in Tokyo only a few hours before. He could get away with it only in a city where, as a senior European diplomat once said unkindly, all that people know of foreign affairs is what the British published a decade ago.

Irrespective of that, a strategy that is pegged on concerns about China and North Korea is not without openings for India. We may, in fact, be witnessing the birth of a Concert of Asia that for the first time formally excludes the United States of America though it will remain powerfully involved behind the scenes. Nine months ago Mr Enoki set the cat among the pigeons by suggesting that “trilateral” India-Japan-China cooperation — he shies away from “axis” which sounds anti-American and recalls First World War belligerence — would be “important for (the) stability and prosperity of Asia.” Worries about China “trying to expand its scope of naval activities” probably make Japan more anxious than ever to co-opt India. Like its engagement with the Association of South-East Asian Nations, this may be Japan’s way of entering a polite caveat to the fashionable assumption that the future belongs to China.

The guidelines, issued the day after Japan committed troops to Iraq for another year, despite the kidnapping and murder of a Japanese civilian, stress a determination further to reinforce robust ties with the US, especially to develop a missile defence system. It follows that only an India that enjoys American confidence would be acceptable. No less important is India’s economic record. For all Mr Enoki’s tributes to “Chandra Bose” and “Behari Bose”, they are as irrelevant to Tokyo’s contemporary diplomacy as the Hindu deities in the Japanese pantheon he also invoked.

Here and earlier in New Delhi, Mr Enoki emphasised the significance of his Foreign Minister, Mr Yorika Kawaguchi, visiting India two years running. If so, it must be even more revealing that no Japanese Prime Minister set foot in this country for 23 years. Before that, when newly independent India was expected to blaze an Asian trail, two Japanese premiers, Mr Nobusuke Kishi and Mr Hayato Ikeda, came calling within months of taking office. Two visits in quick succession, the long interval broken at last by Mr Yasuhiro Nakasone, and then a shorter gap of six years, provided a thermometer of India’s economic health. Discussing this neglect, a Tokyo official laughingly told me that the Japanese regarded as Asian only those countries that their army had occupied during World War II.

All that has changed. The wrath in which Japan withdrew its ambassador and cut off aid after Pokharan-II is forgotten even if Tokyo still pays obeisance to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Comprehensive Test Ban treaties. Last year India overtook China, with which Japan’s stormily intense love-hate relationship continues, as the biggest recipient of Japanese assistance. Kolkata flyovers and Delhi’s underground are visible symbols of the “global partnership” pledged in 2000. Recognising India as the “most important country in South Asia”, Japan supports the claim to a Security Council seat and promises to push for its membership of the ASEAN Plus Three (China, Japan, South Korea) summit at the 10th anniversary meeting in Kuala Lumpur. Observer status at the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation, which Japan is also seeking, would give it additional diplomatic flexibility.

That China “is pushing forward its nuclear and missile capabilities and the modernisation of its navy and air force” (to quote the guidelines again) partly explains this shift. Apart from historical problems and the continuing dispute over maritime gas fields, Japan complains of increasing Chinese marine activities. A Chinese survey ship venturing into the exclusive economic zone of Okinotori island, Japan’s southernmost territory, followed the intrusion of a Chinese submarine into Japanese territorial waters in November. Yet, whereas the guidelines describe North Korea as “a major factor of instability” in the region, references to China are guarded. Japan is China’s largest trading partner with a $130 billion turnover, and only the US has a bigger trade volume with Japan than China. This is not a relationship that can be jeopardised. But Japan will not yield precedence either.

Once called an economic giant and political pygmy, Japan now faces a faltering economy, mainly because of reduced exports to China and the US. That makes it even more necessary to increase its political profile and expand its options. A more inclusive Concert of Asia might provide strategic ballast to economic imbalance and contain regional ambitions. Even before the European Union came into being, Europe gained coherence and security from organisations like the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. Asia has no equivalents. Nor would a formal framework of military collaboration be feasible. But there would be fewer objections to economic cooperation to reinforce security and strengthen the status quo.

That is modern East Asia’s answer to the old American strategy of military pacts and blocs. But the US has shot down initiatives like Mr Mahathir Mohamad’s East Asian Economic Caucus that would have excluded it from the Asian theatre. Another proposal for an Asian Economic Community surfaced formally in June when the Japanese Foreign Ministry circulated a 16-page document at the Jakarta meeting of ASEAN Foreign Ministers. Divided into three papers, East Asian Community, Functional Cooperation and East Asia Summit, the document recommended membership for not just India but also Australia and New Zealand. It acknowledged, “It is probably the first attempt in history to create a community on this scale in a region in which people are so diverse, and the traditional ties among countries are so weak.”

Whatever they might feel about the proposed expansion, the Chinese enthusiastically supported Mr Enoki’s original suggestion of trilateral cooperation. “China and India are both countries with ancient civilisations,” wrote a scholar at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. “China, Japan and India should strengthen their ideological and sentimental connections by promoting oriental cultures; particularly, they should strengthen the harmony of relationship by developing the Great Harmony idea; and jointly pursue the grand realm of sustainable development by carrying forward the oriental idea of the ‘Integration of Man and Nature’ “.

At a less esoteric level, the author pointed out that while China and Japan face the problem of an aging work force, 47 per cent of Indians will be between 15 and 59 years old by 2020. “By then India will be a country with the largest working population and the biggest number of consumers in the world. This may become a very important reason for the possibility of India’s economy to maintain a fairly fast growth in the future as well as a vital factor that gives rise to economic complementarity among China, Japan and India in the sense of time coordinates.” The People’s Daily set its imprimatur on the paper by translating it into English and placing it on its website.

Reiterating that argument in Kolkata, Mr Enoki also warned that a growth rate of 10 per cent or more could be politically dangerous for Indian democracy. India cannot hope to take its place in a Concert of Asia unless it continues to prosper. But too much prosperity — inevitably in patches — will breed discontent. As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh knows better than anyone else, reconciling economics with politics is the most difficult task for any Indian government.

If an exclusively Asian Concert of Asia does now emerge, it will be because the US trusts both Japan and India (Japan more naturally) and also tacitly supports the strategic expectations that produced the Japanese plan. With bases and troops in Japan and South Korea, facilities in Singapore and a naval presence in Asian waters, the US is not to be exorcised. It will remain a presence like Banquo’s ghost at Macbeth’s feast.

MIDDLE

One never knows 
by Raj Chatterjee

The man who prides himself on knowing women like the back of his hand, is a braggart who is not to be taken seriously. Possibly, he has at sometime or other, had his cheek slapped by a woman, an incident he is careful not to reveal to his listeners.

I have never laid claim to such knowledge believing firmly, as I do, in the saying of a wise man quoted in the Book of Proverbs in the Bible: “There are three things which are to wonderful for me, yea, four, which I know not. The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock, the way of a ship in the midst of the sea and the way of man with a maid.” Perhaps Soloman the Wise felt much the same way as I do for it says elsewhere in the Holy Book, “And he had seven hundred wives, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart.”

In the ’60s, when I was stationed in Calcutta, my wife and I shared the same landing in a block of flats in Alipore with a childless couple in their mid-thirties. The man was an amiable fellow, working in a bank. His wife, a pretty woman, with a good figure, earned a bit of pocketmoney by giving yoga lessons to about half-a-dozen ladies who came to her flat. Some of them were of odd shapes and sizes and perhaps they believed that a knowledge of this esoteric art would help them to look more desirable to the male eye.

It was this yoga that surprised me and my wife. From the little I knew about it, the practice, if followed diligently, is supposed to bring peace of mind to the practitioner, apart from keeping his or her body in fine fettle.

Strangely, however, two or three times a month, with unfailing regularity, we were subjected to the din of a terrific row going on next door. It usually began after dinner and continued intermittently for an hour or so.

We were unable to make out the words, as neither of us was familiar with (UN) chaste Urdu, but we did understand the abusive part of the shouting match which was invariably in English. Occasionally, we could hear the sound of a slap though we were left guessing as to who had slapped whom.

The amazing part of it was that whenever we invited the couple over for a drink, or went across to them we found them to be on the best of terms with a ‘dear’ or a ‘darling’ thrown into almost every sentence they exchanged. We just could not imagine a more ‘lovey-dovey’ couple and their conversation often reminded me of the first three years of our own marriage.

One morning the husband and I met in the lift on our way to work. I was concerned to see him with a black eye and I asked him how he had acquired it. He smiled rather sheepishly and said that he had walked into a cupboard in the dark.

And so, at last, one mystery had been solved for us. We now knew which of the two was the aggressive partner. Perhaps her yogic exercises had given an additional dollop of punch to her fist!

OPED

Marshal’s magnificent gesture
by Roopinder Singh

Marshal of the Indian Air Force, Arjan Singh, DFC, has always had a larger-than-life image, and this is one person whose deeds continue to justify it. The Indian Air Force’s only Field Marshal has inspired generations of flyers ever since he joined the IAF in 1939 and was posted to IAF’s Number 1 squadron at Ambala in January 1940, flying in frail Westland Wapitis.

The man who led the IAF in the 1965 war has sold off his farm near Delhi, and entrusted a corpus of Rs 2 crore to a trust devoted to the welfare of retired Air Force personnel. Known for personal probity and punctiliousness, the MIAF has set a wonderful example in using personal wealth for the welfare of others.

“This is leadership from the front, which the IAF has seen right from the time he joined it in 1939, the gallantry in the Imphal campaign of 1944 and the conflict of 1965. It is unprecedented and completely selfless, which is what his actions have been throughout,” says Pushpinder Singh, editor of the Vayu Aerospace Review.

The Marshal of Air Force and Mrs Arjan Singh Trust will seek to open avenues of financial relief for ex-IAF personnel and their dependents who need assistance.

The money has been invested in RBI bonds and it is expected that the returns from it will be Rs 16 lakh and “15 per cent of the interest will be added to the corpus and the rest disbursed to those applying for assistance,” says the MIFA.

MIAF Arjan Singh, his wife Teji Arjan Singh and their son Arvind Singh will be the trustees for life, but it will be run by the president of the Air Force Association and other ex-officio members of the IAF.

“I had full support of the family,” says Arjan Singh. His wife, Teji recalls that when she asked him, why he had put her name on it, he replied: “If you hadn’t agreed, how could I have done it?”

The farm that MIAF Arjan Singh sold was the last link he had with land, which was very dear to him. His grandfather, Risaldar-Major Bhagwan Singh, had a farm near Lyallpur, now called Faislabad, in Pakistan, where the young Arjan Singh spent his childhood, watching planes and dreaming of flying one, someday.

After Partition, the family was allotted 80 acres of land in Churwali village, near Adampur, Punjab. “I was also allotted a pucca house. Kartar Singh, a good man, used to look after the land and when I sold it, I gave the house to him. I sold off the land because I could not take care of it as I was in service. In fact, when I told Sardar Swaran Singh (the then External Affairs Minister), in whose constituency my land fell, how much I had sold it for, he chided me for selling it below the market rate,” he said in an earlier interview when this writer wrote his biography. The family also had land in Terai, which was tilled by his father Kishan Singh and other family members.

“I am no longer a Jat. as you said in the book, I have no land now,” said Arjan Singh, recalling a comment made in the book, written two years ago, that the Jat in him was kept alive by the farm.

For this Aulakh Jat, giving up his land is a great gesture, and by setting up a trust for the welfare of others, Arjan Singh has set a shining example in a nation where such things have become rare. He has also instutionalised the trust by ensuring that family members do not run it. IAF officials “who are more in touch with the current needs” control it. This makes it even more important that his example be emulated. For this a climate has to be created, where such trusts are encouraged.

The founder of The Tribune Dyal Singh Majithia set up a number of trusts to serve the public, including The Tribune Trust, Union Academy (later known as Dyal Singh School and Dyal Singh College), Lahore, Dyal Singh Library and Dyal Singh College, New Delhi. The nation, on the whole, had gained a lot from philanthropic trusts like the Dorabji Tata Trust, which helped set up the first cancer hospital in Asia, and the Birla Educational Trust that runs hundreds of primary schools and colleges.

Unlike these luminaries, MIAF Arjan Singh comes from a service background. His father, Kishan Singh, a civil engineer, worked in Ceylon Railways. However he has always been large-hearted, and eventually it is not what you have that counts, it is what you give that makes a difference. The IAF will surely remember this magnificent gesture of its Field Marshal for a long time.

Asians raise their voice in UK Parliament
by Tripti Nath in London

When Paramjit Dhanda first arrived at the House of Commons, aged 29, in 2001, he was sometimes stopped by securityman who would ask him if he was really an MP. “When the securityman saw my green and white pass, he was startled,” he said.

Lord King of West Bromwich, a fellow labour Peer, a Sikh from a small village in Punjab, is more exercised about Asian issues. Tarsem King (born Tarsem Singh Kang) cut his teeth in local politics in Sandwell in the West Midlands where he was elected a local councillor in 1979. “It was a Conservative Party seat,” he said. “I was the first leader of Sikh origin to be elected to any borough council in the UK. I was re-elected seven times.” In the Lords since 1999, he raises many of the subjects that he used to deal with as a councillor. “We have raised cases about Asian brides deserted by NRI grooms, and visa questions.” But he also raises problems that affect the whole community such as pensions.

Delhi Durbar
PM’s wife hosts lunch for ladies

It is not often that a Prime Minister’s better half hosts an exclusive get-together for spouses of those in the corridors of power. That is what Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s unassuming and nose-to-the-ground wife Gursharan Kaur did the other 

It was variously described as a power lunch far away from the prying eyes of the media.

The invitees included Sonia Gandhi, the women in the Prime Minister’s Council of Ministers and spouses of ministers.

The venue was the official Race Course residence of the Prime Minister. What did the discussions veer around at the luncheon hosted by the gracious Gursharan Kaur?

Few were willing to dwell on that except to say that the food was sumptuous and tasty. However, a few of the wives rarely in the spotlight said it was a nice gathering to meet and exchange pleasantries with those whom they rarely have a chance to meet. Gursharan Kaur has set a pleasant precedent indeed.

Congress plans for Bihar

Congress leaders believe that the iron is hot for them to strike a proper deal with RJD supremo Laloo Prasad Yadav on the distribution of seats in Bihar.

Laloo Prasad is on a sticky wicket in the wake of the Election Commission issuing a show-cause notice to him following the disbursement of money to Dalit women. Congress leaders Arjun Singh and Ahmad Patel have been asked to work out the seat distribution with the RJD in Bihar.

The Opposition is bound to gain political mileage with the Election Commission coming down heavily against the RJD supremo necessitating the postponement of his much-touted rally.

CBI questions Bhujbal

Was Maharashtra’s Public Works Minister Chhagan Bhujbal questioned by the CBI in the Telgi stamp scam? There are indications that this was the case when Bhujbal was in the Capital recently.

It is learnt that Bhujbal was urged to come to Delhi and questioned about the incriminating evidence in the possession of the premier investigative agency. The CBI remained mum about what transpired at the questioning session as the agency has to submit a report to the Mumbai High Court, which is monitoring the scam investigations.

Speaker pats MP

Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee was all praise for BJP MP Girdhari Lal Bhargava from Jaipur for giving a proper notice in raising a matter of urgent public importance. Bhargava pointed out that the government should improve the transmission quality of the Doordarshan Kendra in Jaipur as its programme cannot be viewed in Barmer and Jhalawar districts as also parts of his own constituency.

This assumes importance as the people in the frontier areas of Rajasthan were easily able to watch propaganda on Pakistan TV. Chatterjee observed that the people of Jaipur were very fortunate to have an MP like Bhargava.

Vaiko makes a request

MDMK leader Vaiko met Dr Manmohan Singh the other day and expressed reservations about the proposed Indo-Sri Lanka accord. He impressed upon Dr Singh that Defence Minsiter Pranab Mukherjee should have a meeting on the issue in South Block rather than Parliament House.

Vaiko made this unusual request because he has taken a vow not to enter Parliament till he is duly elected to the Lok Sabha. Vaiko, a known supporter of the LTTE, apprised the Prime Minister of the high-handedness of the Sri Lankan army. Vaiko was in Vellore jail in Tamil Nadu for nearly 19 months under POTA.

Contributed by S Satynarayanan, Prashant Sood, Gaurav Choudhury and R Suryamurthy.