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Bunch of old
thoughts Tinkering
with reforms |
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Terminating
harassment
The rise of Kurds
The stiff upper-lip
Follow
Up Anti-Japanese
sentiment sweeps China
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Bunch of old thoughts IT is difficult to believe that age alone was the consideration for RSS chief K.S. Sudarshan when he advised Mr A.B. Vajpayee and BJP president L.K. Advani to "move aside" to make way for younger leaders in the party. That Mr Sudarshan has never been favourably disposed towards Mr Vajpayee is well known as he was one of his critics when the latter was the Prime Minister. What is surprising is that he has clubbed Mr Advani with the elder leader when he pleaded for a younger leadership. He has reason to be peeved with Mr Vajpayee as the latter did not kowtow to him when he was in power. Though the RSS Sarsanghchalak enjoys a unique position in the Sangh Parivar, Mr Sudarshan does not have the seniority or stature compared to Mr Vajpayee. If there is an element of surprise in Mr Sudarshan's demand, made in the course of a freewheeling interview telecast by NDTV, it is in his treatment of Mr Advani. The BJP chief is known to be closer to Nagpur right from the days he espoused the Ayodhya cause in the eighties. The only inference possible is that Mr Advani may no longer be in the good books of the RSS. In this context, it is difficult to overlook the dilemma before the BJP as evident during the recent silver jubilee celebration of the party. It was apparent that an effort was made to moor the party to Hindutva on the specious plea that it was its refusal to play the Hindutva card that resulted in the BJP's defeat in the last Lok Sabha election. Obviously, the RSS does not want to stay neutral when it comes to Hindutva. While demanding that Mr Vajpayee and Mr Advani step aside, the RSS chief strongly supported Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Worse, he paid handsome compliments to Mr Modi's leadership qualities. The only drawback he found in him was that he did not meet partymen collectively as he met them only "separately". Such praise for a man, who has caused considerable embarrassment to the party and the nation, is a giveaway. Whatever the clarifications being given by the RSS, it wants senior leaders to step down so that younger, more doctrinaire leaders like Mr Modi can take over. Age is just a ruse for Mr Sudarshan, who is himself 74 years young and who is not subject to the rules of retirement that he himself preaches. |
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Tinkering with reforms ON the face of it, the Union Cabinet’s decision to set up an Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) to streamline the country’s public administration is well-intentioned. The ARC-II (the ARC-I was headed by Morarji Desai in 1966-70) is in tune with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s efforts to put the issue of civil service reforms on the top of his agenda. It is expected to suggest reforms in important areas like the organisational structure of the Central government, personnel administration, financial management systems, e-governance, protection of public order and crisis management. More important, it will look at the Centre’s plan to change the methods of recruitment and training of IAS officers at various levels in greater detail. Even though the decision per se is appreciable, it is doubtful to what extent the ARC-II would live up to the expectations in the light of the Centre’s poor track record in implementing the recommendations of various committees. Clearly, successive governments have been interested only in setting up committees and winning some brownie points. The civil services have been politicised to such an extent that even the recommendation for a fixed tenure for the District Collector by the ARC-I is yet to be implemented! The Centre’s refusal to implement the National Police Commission Report (1979-81), popularly known as the Dharma Vira report, is yet another example. Over the years, a system has evolved in which the politician uses the threat of transfer, tempts the bureaucrats with lucrative postings and exploits their desperation for in-service and post-retirement sinecures. Obviously, when some of them — at the Centre and in the states — align themselves with the ruling party in anticipation of rewards, the doctrine of political neutrality gets diluted and wreaks havoc on the system. Intellectual capability or performance is at a discount because officers get postings on the basis of their political leanings. Undoubtedly, if the civil service needs to deliver in a just and transparent manner, there should be an attitudinal change among both the politicians and the civil servants. Bureaucracy can function fairly and objectively and carry out the tasks assigned to it effectively only when it is unhindered by political pressures. |
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Terminating harassment The
government has sent out a strong signal by deciding to terminate the services of C. Venkataramana, chairman and MD of National Aluminium Company Ltd (Nalco), who was found guilty of sexual harassment by an independent inquiry committee appointed by the Centre. The case had come to light in February last year, when a senior Nalco executive complained that Venkataramana had tried to sexually harass her when he had met the woman at Mumbai to ostensibly discuss her promotion, which had been pending for several years. The woman said Venkataramana invited her to a hotel, where he offered her drinks and later tried to molest her, though she managed to escape. It is unfortunate that an internal Nalco probe gave a clean chit to its CMD. Of late, the government has been taking a serious note of such charges. Recently, a director at RAW was dismissed after an internal probe found him guilty of sexual harassment. An official of the Punjab Aids Control Society was shifted after women employees accused him of harassing them. Some time ago, the then Infosys director, Phaneesh Murthy, paid $ 8,00,000 in an out-of-court settlement. Unfortunately, this problem is worldwide. However, most western nations are now ensuring more gender sensitisation to independently address complaints by victims. Often, victims of sexual harassment do not take the case to its logical conclusion, and many do not even file a case. While there are some cases in which the complaints are found to be malicious, it is known that sexual harassment exists and is rampant. It is not just a male problem; complaints against women are rare, but there have been cases of sexual abuse by women. The issue is more to do with misuse of power and position than sex and can only be addressed by a proper mechanism for lodging a complaint and ensuring that justice is done. Such a facility exists only on paper and gender sensitisation is a rarity in government offices or even corporate India. Though the firing of senior executives will, hopefully, have a deterrent effect, much more needs to be done to ensure the safety and security of women employees. |
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The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.
— Thomas Szasz |
The stiff upper-lip AS a schoolboy, and well into my college days, I was an avid reader of the novels of P.C. Wren, a name as unfamiliar to the young people of today as that of Marie Corelli or Ruby M. Ayres. There was a certain sameness about Wren’s heroes. They were cast in a mould that was common with British novelists who wrote at a time when the sun never set on the Empire. All, or nearly all, of them had been to Eton or Harrow, from where they were sent up to Oxford or Cambridge if they were elder sons and if they were not, to Sandhurst. But all of them, elder or younger, shared the proverbial British reserve coupled with an aptitude for self-effacement so amply displayed in their peaceful withdrawal from the countries, spread across half the globe, where their presence was no longer considered beneficial either to themselves or to the people they had ruled for centuries. So too, with their love affairs. Wren’s hero didn’t hang around begging and grovelling when his strictly honourable intentions were repulsed by the object of his devotion. The unfortunate young fellow would quietly disappear from the scene of his unhappy love affair and cross over to France where he signed up with the French Foreign Legion. All the time he displayed another British characteristic, the stiff upper-lip. After several years spent under the gruelling African sun during which he bore with cool disdain the jibes and insults of a brutish NCO (invariably German, not French) he returned to England, home and beauty to find that he needn’t have left them at all. The earlier unresponsiveness of his lady-love was due to a stupid misunderstanding which could have been cleared if only he had unbended enough to argue the point with her. The same sort of self-effacement can be seen in some of Somerset Maugham’s short stories. The difference is that Maugham’s hero usually betook himself to one of Britain’s distant colonies or “protectorates”. Being of a more practical turn of mind than Wren’s young men, he soon set up house with one the local belles who sometimes provided him with a string of coffee-coloured brats. In all other respects, however, Maugham’s self-exiled young Briton was careful to uphold the dignity of the Empire. Even if he had gone “native” to the extent of dining at home in a vest and sarong he never failed to observe with due solemnity occasions such as the birthday of his sovereign. Nor did he miss reading a single column of the “Times” albeit it was several months old. We Indians are made of softer stuff. Tears come easily to our eyes which, judging from the products of our film studios, does not prevent our bursting into songs of unrequited love. Nor does our film hero take himself off from the scene. He sticks around making sheeps’ eyes at the heroine harbouring murderous thoughts against his temporarily successful rival. ‘Temporarily’ because in nine cases out of ten the latter turns out to be the villain of the piece from whose clutches the hero saves his beloved in the nick of
time.
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Follow Up by Reeta Sharma
DR Narinder Singh Kapany is among the 10 most renowned Sikhs in the world. He has also earned the title of “Father of Fibre-Optics”. He was named one of the seven “Unsung Heroes” by Fortune magazine and called Businessmen of the Century in its issue of November 22, 1999. Born in Moga, Kapany graduated from Agra University and did advanced studies in optics at the Imperial College of Science and Technology, London. Finally, he received his doctorate from the University of London in 1955. Migrating to the USA, he bloomed as a scientist. Dr Kapany’s research on fibre optic communications, lasers, bio-medical instrumentation, solar energy and pollution monitoring led him to gather more than 100 patents. He became a member of the US National Inventors’ Council. Name, fame and awards began pouring in. At present, he is a Fellow of numerous scientific societies, including the British Royal Academy of Engineering, the Optical Society of America and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1960, he founded Optics Technology Incorporation and served as Chairman of the board, President and Director of research for 12 years. In 1967, the company went public with numerous corporate acquisitions and joint ventures in the US and abroad. In 1973, Dr Kapany founded Kaptron Incorporation and was its President and CEO until 1990, when he sold the company to AMP Inc. For the next nine years, Dr Kapany was an AMP Fellow, heading the Entrepreneur and Technical Expert Programme and serving as Chief Technologist for Global Communications Business. As an academician, Dr Kapany has supervised research activity of postgraduate students. He was Regents Professor at the University of California, Berkeley and at the University of California. At Stanford University, he has been a Visiting Scholar in the Physics Department and Consulting Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering. As an author and lecturer, Dr Kapany has published over 100 scientific papers and four books on opto-electronics and entrepreneurship. But for his already known background, I would have mistaken him as the man next-door when I met him in his California office recently. Unassuming and restless, Dr Kapany is basically a man in love with life. Brimming with a sense of satisfaction, he often breaks in full-throated laughter and has an appetite for good food. As a philanthropist, Dr Kapany endowed a Chair of Opto-Electronics at the University of California in 1999. He is also a trustee of the Menlo School in Menlo Park, California. Dr Narinder Singh Kapany is one of those few persons who can look beyond one’s self. After establishing his credentials in the world of science, he returned to his roots. He realised that the potential of Sikh art has remained unexplored. In 1967 he founded the Sikh Foundation to pursue this cause. In collaboration with international institutions, the California-based Foundation publishes authentic research works on Sikhism. It has also established Sikh Studies Chairs and Fellowships in leading universities in North America and long-term and permanent Sikh Arts exhibits. In 1998 Dr Kapany funded a Chair of Sikh Studies at the University of California in memory of his mother, Kundan Kaur Kapany. Dr Kapany’s achievements are remarkable. As founder of the Sikh Foundation, he has introduced to the First World aspects of Sikhism through books, calendars, posters, greeting cards and exhibitions. A library of 300 books on Sikhism, including 55 scholarly works, and a children’s library of 20 books have been established by his Foundation. The Foundation also undertook a pioneering project of Sikh architectural preservation. In collaboration with UNESCO, the Foundation has restored “Guru-Ki-Maseet”, a Muslim mosque built by Guru Hargobind in Sri Hargobindpur in Gurdaspur. To celebrate 25 years of the Sikh Foundation, Dr Kapany in March, 1999, gifted $ 500,000 to the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco to establish a Sikh arts gallery, which is named after his wife, Satinder Kaur. He has donated over 100 historical and rare Sikh art works from his personal collection to this gallery. He has also donated an equal number of Sikh art works to the Sikh Heritage Gallery at the Smithsonian Institute at Washington, DC. In March 1999 the Sikh Foundation organised an exhibition of “Arts of the Sikh kingdoms”. This was followed by “Splendours of the Punjab: Sikh Art and Literature in 1992” organised in collaboration with the Asian Art Museum and the University of Berkeley. The Foundation also sponsors a Punjabi language studies programme at Stanford University and the University of California. Currently plans are being drawn to start a Sikh high school. Dr Kapany is trying to negotiate an agreement with the Victoria and Albert Museum, London to endow a permanent annual lecture series on the Sikh Arts. The Foundation is also taking steps to counter the current problem of mistaken identity of the Sikhs in America. Recently, the Sikh Foundation also collaborated with a group of Sikhs in Toronto to organise the first-ever Sikh Film Festival. |
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Anti-Japanese sentiment sweeps China FuelLed by anger over unfinished historical business, an anti-Japanese wave continued rippling across China on Sunday, a stone-throwing, flag-burning rampage that shows the grip old grievances and violence still hold over Asia's greatest powers. Japan called in China's ambassador in Tokyo to demand an apology and compensation for vandalism against Japanese targets in several Chinese cities. But the widening anger of the Chinese street against Japan, which most observers say has arisen with the tacit consent of Beijing, represents a collision of nationalist forces in both countries. Fury has been building in China as well as in South Korea since last week, when Tokyo approved new junior high history textbooks that soften previous descriptions of Japan's wartime brutality across Asia. Both countries complain that Japan is methodically recanting admissions of guilt for crimes committed during its imperial conquests of the first half of the 20th century. But strains between Japan and its neighbors have intensified over other long-standing issues, including rival claims to islands in the East China Sea and the Sea of Japan, and Tokyo's recent pledge to help the U.S. defend Taiwan in the event of an attack by Beijing. The disputes have left Japan's official relations with China and South Korea in a fevered state, embarrassing Tokyo's conservative government and knocking it off stride as it tries to reassert itself as a global actor. In particular, the protests have raised doubts about Japan's ability to win wider support in its bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. Attacks on Japanese government buildings and private businesses spread to more Chinese cities Sunday, with a crowd of 10,000 chanting anti-Japanese slogans in Shenzhen. Earlier in the day, another 10,000 demonstrators surrounded the Japanese consulate in Guangzhou. Those protests followed Saturday's raucous demonstrations in Beijing, where stones were hurled at the Japanese Embassy, and Japanese supermarkets and restaurants were attacked. Tokyo called the attacks “gravely regrettable” and summoned China's ambassador to demand a formal apology, as well as guarantees of protection for Japanese businesses and citizens in China. Wang Yi, China's ambassador to Japan, told reporters in Tokyo that Beijing did not endorse the violence. But he did not apologize. Seoul's streets boiled over last month when a Japanese prefecture sought to commemorate the nation's claim to rocky islets known as Takeshima to the Japanese and Dokdo to Koreans. Tokyo describes South Korea's presence on the tiny islands as an “illegal occupation,” and the move revived Korean anger over what is seen as Japan's lack of contrition for its brutal 40-year occupation of the Korean peninsula that began a century ago. Then, last Tuesday, Japan's Education Ministry, a bastion of nationalism, authorized schools to use any of eight newly revised history textbooks. Among other changes, all but one of the texts have dropped references to “comfort women,” the term referring to the thousands of Asian women forced to provide sexual services for Japanese troops. These irritants aggravated the festering psychological sore of Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni shrine and his declared intent to return. The private war memorial in Tokyo honors the souls of Japan's war dead, among them major convicted war criminals who led Asia into disaster. Yet the raft of disputes has provoked little soul-searching in Japan. Koizumi has never publicly addressed the substance of the Chinese and South Korean complaints. Last week, amid the roiling anti-Japanese protests, he simply urged the other capitals to “control emotions and consider bilateral friendships.” The debate in the Japanese media has focused more on the anti-Japanese backlash than on the forces that triggered it. Newspapers and magazines have matched the hardening national mood in recent years, with the powerful conservative Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper calling Seoul's complaints “interference in the internal affairs of Japan.” Observers note that many Japanese believe the Chinese and South Korean governments are merely stoking public animosity to divert attention from their own political problems. The first casualty of the furor may be Japan's bid for a Security Council seat. Tokyo is the second-largest contributor to the United Nations after Washington, and has allied itself with Germany, India and Brazil, the other rising regional powers, in pushing for permanent status on the world body's inner council. Washington, which counts Tokyo as one of its closest allies, supports Japan's bid for a permanent seat on the council. But the hostility from its neighbors has brought Japan's suitability under scrutiny. South Korea issued a surprisingly cutting declaration this month, promising to campaign energetically among other member states against Japan's bid. Many of the protesters in China chanted slogans declaring Japan unsuited for permanent Security Council membership. Activists have said they intend to gather 30 million signatures on an Internet petition opposing Japan's application, a move aimed at pressuring their own government to use its veto in the Security Council to block Tokyo's bid. — LA Times-Washington Post |
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Delhi Durbar BJP President L K Advani’s statement during the just concluded party’s National Council in the national Capital that he wanted to accord top priority to the revival of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh has triggered speculation about the possibility of party General Secretary Raj Nath Singh taking over as the new chief of the party’s Uttar Pradesh unit replacing Kesri Nath Tripati. Raj Nath Singh has now started visiting Uttar Pradesh frequently and is getting a good response from the party cadres there. However, a top party insider said though the BJP High Command is keen on a leadership change in the state, it will not take any hasty step and prefer an overall revamp of the state unit instead of a cosmetic one. So, till then it will be a wait and watch game for Singh, who has always been keen to get back to his home state. Jaswant on the rise As the leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Jaswant Singh is doing things differently than before. BJP insiders would have us believe that he is firmly on the forefront of the second-generation leaders in the party after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and party President L K Advani. There is a marked change from his nose in the sky and aloof approach of the past. He is now speaking to a wider section of scribes and recently hosted a dinner for journos. He also held a press conference on the US offer to sell F16/18s to India and was critical of what he described as Washington’s patronising attitude. More interestingly, the BJP’s media cell has
suddenly started sending SMS to journos about his engagements. What a radical change from the past! There is, however, one black spot in his impressive report card: he lacks the support of the RSS. Indo-US
relations US Ambassador to India David C Mulford is convinced that relations between the United States and India have "never been better" and that "these are exciting times for US-India relations". While giving credit to the "vision and leadership of President Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh", Mulford said that the transformation that has occurred has its roots in "our common values and interests" and described the recent visit of US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice as a landmark event in US-India relations. Painting Capital Red Suporters and party workers of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) have painted the national Capital red with flags and banners to mark the 18th party congress. Red banners glisten in the April sun at main traffic islands in New
Delhi, much to the annoyance of saffron supporters. At the CPI (M) Parliamentary Party office near Le Meridien, party workers have put up larger-than-life posters of
CPI (M) General Secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet and former Chief Minister of West Bengal Jyoti Basu. The pictures are captioned "Living Legends". The flattering and prominent display of such pictures is a tribute to the two leaders, who have been nominated to the party Politburo. Fuelling retail
boom The government may not have yet opened the floodgates for foreign investment in the country’s retail sector, but the domestic retail industry certainly has earned the attention of policy-makers with Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath providing some benefits for the sector in the recently unveiled Foreign Trade Policy supplement. The reasoning is why should Indians hop over to Bangkok or any other plush mall in some exotic locale in the Asian neighbourhood to shop. After all the same products with similar
qualitative features are available in India. Therefore, the argument is to strengthen the domestic retail industry. Logical as the theory may appear, one, however, is left wondering whether this could well be the precursor to something else. After the dose of strength pill, the big boys from overseas may come knocking down — sooner, rather than later. Contributed by S. Satyanarayanan, Triti Nath and Gaurav Choudhury |
Conquer anger by forgiveness, pride by humility, deceit by straight-forwardness and greed by contentment. — Lord Mahavira God is like a hill of sugar. A small ant carries away from it a small grain of sugar, and a bigger one takes from it a considerably larger grain. But in spite of this, the hill remains as large as before. So are the devotees of God. — Sri Ramakrishna By hearing the name of God, truth, contentment and divine wisdom are bestowed. — Guru Nanak Till heaven and earth pass, one jet or one title shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. — Jesus Christ O man, take refuge in God! Take refuge in Him! Then alone Mahamaya will be gracious and clear the way for liberation. — Sarada Devi Keeping company with My devotees, always serving Me and My Bhaktas, fasting on Ekadesi, celebrating the festivals connected with Me, hearing, reading and expounding My glories, worshipping Me with continuous devotion, and singing of My excellences — if one follows these precepts daily, one gets pure devotion. — Sri Rama  |
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