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Global warning G-4 mission |
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Advantage ‘Inglish’
Hurriyat’s ambitions
The Indian dream
Animal Farm in Bihar Ways to tackle corruption Chatterati
From the pages of
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Global warning THAT the G-8 communiqué on climate change is disappointing should surprise no one. It is not just that the summit was overshadowed by the terror attacks in London. Climate change as an issue has always struggled to obtain the commitment to action it deserves from powerful countries that lead the world in Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. For these countries, it is convenient that the issue lacks the force and immediacy of a terrorist’s bomb. It cannot match the job loss or nationalism issues associated with changes in the patterns of global trade. It cannot even muster the brooding insecurity created by the presence of hostile enemy states, or the ominous shadow of a few thousand thermo-nuclear weapons. For many years, in fact, lobbies in the Western countries have even questioned whether there is any such thing as global warming. Scientists in this area have been derided for only wanting to justify their careers and their research funds. When the body of evidence threatened to overwhelm the naysayer, climate change was finally accepted. Now the dispute is about human agency, about whether GHG emissions are really contributing to climate change. While agonising over the appropriate phraseology in communiqués is part of international diplomacy, witness the extent to which the United States has gone to ensure that the `human agency’ question is kept out. The US would like the world to believe that global warming is a mysterious phenomenon caused, perhaps, by little green men from Mars. Not surprising, considering that the US contributes 20 to 25 per cent of the GHG being emitted every year (its cumulative contribution is around 30 per cent), and it tops the table for the highest per capita consumption along with the Gulf states, Canada and Australia. The issue has been conveniently declared a “long-term challenge”, instead of being acknowledged as a clear and present danger, and a new dialogue promised in November. In the meantime, temperatures rise, seas rise, glaciers melt, rivers overflow and cities choke, and a post-Kyoto consensus is as elusive as ever. |
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G-4 mission INDIA, Japan, Germany and Brazil, together known as the G-4, have taken the first major step in their quest for UN reforms by presenting their draft resolution for the purpose to the UN General Assembly secretariat. For them the reforms will carry little meaning without an expansion of the Security Council by having more permanent members. The G-4 has succeeded in getting the resolution sponsored by 23 members, including France. The viewpoint that the highest decision-making body, the Security Council, must reflect the prevailing global reality, is getting acceptability in most world capitals. That is why the world could notice the upbeat mood of the G-4 Foreign Ministers when they met at Gleneagles (Scotland) on the occasion of the G-8 meeting. They have to maintain solidarity among them, which is the primary requirement for achieving their laudable objective. The African Union has come out with its own demand for the inclusion of two countries from the black continent into the council as and when it is expanded. Indirectly, it has extended its cooperation for the G-4 mission but wants the African grievances, too, to be taken into consideration. The G-4 should take along the African bloc to ensure that the opponents of the council’s expansion do not succeed in their obstructive designs. The P-5, the original permanent members, now have no excuse to come in the way of the council’s expansion after the G-4 countries have agreed to accept permanent membership without the veto power at this stage. The stand of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), which met recently in Astana (Kazakhstan), that any UN reform should be based on the “principle of the broadest possible agreement”, should not cause pessimism in the ranks of the G-4. The views of Russia and China, the two important members of the SCO, have been too well known to upset the G-4 drive. They are for consensus-based UN reforms, saying that no efforts should be made “to impose voting on draft proposals on which major differences exist”. They need to be convinced that this line of thinking is unlikely to achieve the objective of seeing the UN reflecting the 21st-century global reality. |
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Advantage ‘Inglish’ Metaphorically, “carrying coal to Newcastle” is not very different from “taking English to England”. Yet, the two are worlds apart, one as different from the other as coal is from diamond. Just goes to show that terms of expression need to be distinguished by the essence of what they signify and the existential form they embody. If this needed any illustration, it was provided by Dr Manmohan Singh, and where else but in Oxford where he received an honorary doctorate last week. With characteristic modesty, the Prime Minister drove home the point how the English language had been capitalised on by India and Indians to move on and up in the world; and, in the process, made English “just another Indian language”. For good measure, Dr Singh added that while the sun has set on the British Empire, the one phenomenon on which the sun cannot set is the world of English-speaking people, in which people of Indian origin are the single largest component. This is truly a point of pride although English is the subject of much prejudice in India. The prevalent reservations, especially in the Hindi heartland, against the language, be it Inglish or Hinglish, is more a result of parochial politics that refuse to recognise the advantages and opportunities that English offers. No doubt, every language is defined in and by its cultural context. But, at the same time, today English is not only the dominant means of communication with the larger world but also a skill that facilitates education and employment across borders. Being fluent in English is an “international qualification” and can be easily acquired by an Indian to advance his economic prospects. The IT-driven boom has brought to our shores a flourishing BPO industry and, at the same time, opened enormous opportunities for the Indian in the larger English-speaking world. Clearly, the English-enabled Indian enjoys a distinct global advantage. Dr Singh may have been speaking in England, but there is a message for those at home too. |
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What one man can invent, another can discover. — Arthur Conan Doyle |
Hurriyat’s ambitions
THE Hurriyat may object to its recent travels to PoK and Pakistan being called a bus ride to “nowhere”. The objection has a point. After all, Pok and Pakistan gave it a warmer welcome than it has ever had in Delhi, or even in Srinagar for some years. The bus ride thus ended an on-going chill in its relations with Pakistan. It had been given the cold shoulder by Pakistan because its leaders were seen as “moderates”, and by India because they were not seen as sufficiently moderate. So, the welcome they got this time in the lands west of the LoC was like spring water in a desert. But while the Hurriyat is welcome to the comfort it feels, a closer look will show that its joy ride only harmed its ambitions in life. It wants, first, that both India and Pakistan should accept it as a third party; second, that this should make the Hurriyat a bridge between the two countries; and third, that from this bridge it should rise to become the arbiter in the domestic affairs of Kashmir and at least a player in the external affairs as well. But when it got back to Srinagar the Hurriyat was farther from all three objectives than when it boarded the bus. Why ? The reasons follow, and they explain the “nowhere.” During the past quarter century, Pakistan’s voice in the domestic politics of Kashmir has faltered with every change of wind. At first Pakistan invested everything in the gun-totting militant, but only to lose heavily. Kashmir’s own forces checkmated that game, and India’s central forces rolled it back still further. Then Pakistan began to invest in the likes of Geelani, and in its pursuit of that game it indulged in the most offensive disregard of diplomatic decency and protocol, for example at the annual day observances of Pakistan in Delhi. But that also did not get either the Hurriyat or Pakistan any closer to their respective goals. So, Pakistan shifted gears again. It began to insist that it would accept only those Kashmiris as true representatives of the state whom it chose to name as such. But that posture too was disowned by all those who, the world over, recognised the present government in Srinagar to be the product of a genuine election. Left with only unelected “moderates “ to love, Pakistan rolled out the red carpet for them when they came calling by bus. But from the time it began to be planned to the time it ended, the journey only showed that there were even more rifts in the Hurriyat than had been visible earlier. The conflict between the moderates and hardliners had been known before. But now each side to the conflict came to be seen as divided within its own ranks as well. Hence some did not board the bus, others went along but sang conspicuously different tunes during and after the journey. Witness the controversy over who said what about Pakistan’s role in the militancy, and what did it mean. Before that controversy could be forgotten another began, over the way a senior Pakistani minister indicated that he would come over without a ticket. If these be minor details then consider this major one. Assuming that across the border talks will begin one day, a preliminary hurdle will be what will be the shape of the table, who will invite whom, on which side will the guest sit and on which side the host. India will require that all bilateral issues be discussed, and hopefully decided, between New Delhi and Islamabad. The Hurriyat will no more have a role in them than Islamabad will have in matters of bilateral concern to New Delhi and Srinagar, or New Delhi will have in matters which lie between Muzaffarabad and Islamabad. One hopes that one day a stage will come, which it must if there is to be any hope of a “settlement” of this problem, whether it is called “ an issue“ or a “dispute”, when all the “bilaterals” will converge and a solvent which works at one level will help to soften the knots at other levels as well. But whether the Hurriyat as such will have a role to play even then will depend upon what role it develops for itself in the intervening period, which will probably be long. It is conceivable that those in charge of affairs in Srinagar and New Delhi will reach out to the Hurriyat, as they should, and that the Hurriyat will respond in ways that make it a part of the ruling dispensation in Srinagar, because in the bilateral talks between the state and New Delhi there will be only one Srinagar. So far the signals have not been encouraging, and some of the things that happened before, during and after the bus ride have made them worse. For all the sweet words that passed between President Musharraf and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the equation between them seems to have remained so clouded by goodwill that some of the potholes that awaited the bus remained unforeseen. Or else it was the usual story of India relying on goodwill and good intentions, as at the Simla talks in 1972 between Indira Gandhi and Z.A. Bhutto . There too Pakistan, more fleet-footed than far sighted, got away with clever clever moves. Thus, it came to pass that apart from an unspecified “understanding”, the existence of which came to light only after it became known that it was useless, no clear agreement was reached between the two countries, as far as the public knows, regarding the scope, the destination, the route of the bus journey or about the kind of papers the traveller would need either on the outward or the return journey. It was announced in New Delhi with a touch of grandeur that Pakistan would bear the “onus” for violating the “understanding”. But while the violation has become public, the “onus” and the understanding have not. Hence the assumption on the part of a Cabinet Minister of Pakistan that he could also travel without a ticket. The Hurriyat’s highest ambition has been punctured by the Mirwaiz himself with his statement that he would like a third party to be the guarantor of any agreement that might emerge. This runs counter to India’s clear and constant position that it will not accept any intervention by any third party. Therefore, India will not countenance the position the Marwaiz has taken, and unless the Hurriyat disowns it or he retracts it there will be little chance of India accepting the Hurriyat’s presence at any table, let alone a bilateral one. That means the Hurriyat’s highest ambition will remain non-starter, unable to progress on its own or to give a lift to any lesser ambition. |
The Indian dream
I
carried no shopping bag from my wife as I left my house one cold and sunny morning. My wife, bless her heart, never bothers me with these domestic chores. And why should she? All she has to do is to ring up our grocer or baker or butcher or the vegetable market in our locality and the goods are delivered within half an hour. Goods of the best quality, at prices that are announced weekly by our Municipal Corporation whose slogan is: “A Happy Ratepayer is Our Greatest Asset”. Look at the roads for example. They’re like sheets of glass with not a rut or a pothole to jolt your bones or ruin the springs of your car. Shady trees and flowering shrubs on either side with vast playing fields behind them. And it is a joy to drive my new car, made from 100 per cent Indian components. Its gleaming paintwork, shining chromium fittings, luxurious upholstery and its trouble-free engine, purring like a sleek, well-fed cat, give one the feeling of floating on air. The only squeaks and rattles that I can hear come from my own ageing body. I had to call in that morning at one of the stately Bhavans that so gracefully flank the central vista designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. I was in no hurry as the Very Senior Official whom I had rung up for an appointment the previous day had told me to suit my convenience. The man at the reception desk greeted me with a smile. As soon as I mentioned the name of the V.S.O I had come to see he summoned a Class IV employee and directed him to take me up to his room. Some of my foreign friends have been greatly impressed by this polite and helpful attitude among the lower echelons of our bureaucracy. The V.S.O met me with the same courtesy. No sooner was I seated than he sent for a cup of coffee for me. “It’s a cold day” he said, rubbing his hands. “Just as A.I.R had said it would be in their weather bulletin last night. Remarkably accurate, these fellows, I must say.” I could see that the V.S.O was a busy man, so I quickly stated my business. “But why did you take all this trouble?” he said, adding that it was always a pleasure to see me. “You wrote to us last week and I’ve obtained a decision from the minister. In fact, I’ve just signed a letter to you. I would have been on your breakfast table tomorrow morning, but you may take it with you since you have come all this way. I thanked him and made my way down to the exit. The corridors, I couldn’t help noticing, were well-lit and remarkably clean. On my way home I stopped to buy some postage stamps. There were a couple of young men in the middle of an orderly queue outside the stamp vendor’s window. From the books under their arms I could guess that they were students. One of them, in deference to my age, stepped out and led me to the head of the queue as a senior citizen.
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Animal Farm in Bihar The roof is bowed and cracked from years of rain. One of the walls is giving way to a tree, and damage is still visible from an earthquake in 1934. But by the end of the year, Indian authorities say this unassuming location will be transformed into a “world-class heritage site”. Because this is where, on 25 June 1903, George Orwell was born. He was just Eric Blair then, the son of a minor British colonial official put in charge of the local opium industry, but one day he would reinvent himself as a scourge of injustice and one of the most distinctive voices of the 20th century - the author of Nineteen Eighty-Four. For a century, the house where he was born, Public Works Building 2/12 in the town of Motihari, was forgotten. But now the local authorities are planning to transform the area into an Orwell Park, complete with a giant replica of Orwell’s book Animal Farm, with passages from the text inscribed on it. The house will be restored to its 1903 condition. Beside it a new Orwell museum will be built. A 10-acre park is to be planted with trees from Britain, India and Burma, where Orwell also lived. The town’s lake, long silted up, is to be cleaned and restored. “We want the birthplace of Orwell to be a heritage site of international importance,” said L M Singhvi, a former ambassador to the UK and the chairman of the Heritage Foundation of India, which is funding the project. “And we are quite optimistic that by the end of 2006 it will become a hub for all foreign tourists visiting India.” If it does, it will be one of the most remote and unlikely tourist hubs in the world. This is Bihar, India’s most lawless state. The only boom business here is kidnapping. This year there was such a serious spate of kidnappings of doctors that hospitals across the state went on strike to demand Motihari, a dirt-poor town of 150,000 people, lies in one of the worst affected regions. The streets are said to be dangerous even in daylight. People have been kidnapped here for ransoms as low as Rs 3,000 rupees. People in the town are afraid to fit air conditioners in their homes, despite the steamy jungle climate, for fear they will be seen as wealthy targets by the kidnappers. The Indian authorities are desperate to rein in Bihar’s lawless ways and transform the state. Now it appears they have seized on a wave of interest in Orwell’s Indian connections as a chance to create a tourism industry. Motihari is way off the tourist trail at the moment. Only the most diehard Orwell fans ever make it to the town. It is 19 hours by train from Delhi, or a five-hour drive from Patna, the nearest city of any size. The most expensive hotel in town costs £4 a night - and there is no air conditioning. Until a group of academics made the arduous trek out to Motihari in 2003 to mark Orwell’s centenary, almost nobody in the town had ever heard of the author - not even the then occupant of the Orwell house, an English teacher at the local school. The first time that Braj Nandan Rai knew that a famous writer had been born in his bedroom was when the academics came knocking at his door. You cannot buy Orwell’s books in Motihari - but then, you cannot buy many books in Motihari. The authorities plan to change all this. Work on the new Orwell Park is set to begin next month with a budget of five million rupees, an almost unimaginable sum for the people here. Motihari was a pretty out of the way place when Orwell was born here. His father, Richard Blair, was a sub-deputy in a particularly lowly and unassuming branch of the colonial service: he was an opium agent. Opium cultivation was legal in British-ruled India; it was a government monopoly, and the large warehouse that stands next to the Orwell house today with its roof caved in was an opium godown. The Blairs were posted to several remote and unappealing corners of colonial India, including Motihari. Orwell spent the first year of his life in the town, tended, like all British colonial children, by an Indian ayah, or nursemaid. Twice, he nearly returned to India in later life, when he tried to join the Indian colonial police, and when he applied for a job on a paper in Lucknow. But he had a different destiny. — The Independent |
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Ways to tackle corruption
“INDIA Corruption Study — 2005” is the largest corruption survey ever undertaken in the country with a sample of 14,405 respondents spread across 20 states. From each state about 525 - 950 respondents were interviewed. The survey covered 151 cities and 306 villages. The study shows that irrespective of their education, citizens are unable to fill forms and complete procedures on their own. This calls for simplification of procedures, documentation and more education to the users. This will reduce dependence of the users on middlemen and touts. In order to improve the service delivery, there should be fixed and variable components in the staff salary. The variable component should be linked to objective and measurable outcomes. For example, in electricity incentives can be linked to customer satisfaction. Merely setting up users’ committees is not enough. There is need to provide them with certain powers (like report card of teachers, recommend fines for poor service etc) to make departments accountable to them. There are various successful experiments of users committees like parents committees in schools, patients’ committees in hospitals. Public service departments should be purchasing outputs rather inputs whereever possible. For example in hospitals instead of buying x-ray machines, they should buy reports. This will help eliminate several opportunities for corruption. The citizens do not know as to how much money was received, on what purpose it was spent. Research has shown that there is less corruption if the allocations and spending are made public. The right to information is one tool which could facilitate greater transparency in public spending. Public services can use technology to reduce the need for citizens to visit their offices. Various technology-enabled features like toll free lines, websites, or SMS-based application can be developed for better service delivery. For example, E-Seva centres in Hyderabad have helped the common man use technology to avail public services. The Citizen Charters should be drafted in consultation with various stake-holders like service providers, users etc. The charters should have realistic and measurable action standards, and not just statement of intent. The Charters should have penal provisions if the department fails to deliver service in the time-frame mentioned in the charters. The charters should be prominently displaced and easily available to users. An independent agency should survey periodically to prepare a report card of the department. There should be periodic public hearings so that service providers are accountable to users. The government may institutionalise a system where in prominent citizens with unquestioned integrity hold periodic hearings. At the moment the Vigilance Department needs to take many approvals to initiate any serious action. This hampers investigation and action in the case of those found guilty. The department should be given more powers so that it becomes more effective. Regular training needs to be provided to staff on various aspects like how to deal with citizens, manage stress and keep pace with advances in technology so that the staff is more service-oriented. (Concluded) |
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Advani goes to Ayodhya by Devi Cherian IT is amazing! The capital is agog about how Sonia Gandhi literally sent Advani to Ayodhya. Misfortune seems to have really hit the Advani camp. First Jinnah! Now Ayodhya! And to top it all, the leaking of Kulk rni’s e-mail. Now, that is surprising to the Capital’s political circle. They assume it was leaked on purpose. You have to sacrifice some one. The scare of Sonia visiting Ayodhya before the Opposition leader sent Advani running to Ayodhya, to shoot his mouth off once again. After all, she even visited the hospital before him to see Ayodhya’s heroes. Whew! Capital reshuffle The capital is abuzz with rumours about the much awaited cabinet reshuffle. About how the Left wants finance minister Chidambaram’s head. And how the top three ministers are going to have their portfolios swapped. And as to how the UPA chairperson and the Prime Minister are striving to keep a balance among the various favourites. While the UPA does not mind inducting favourite MPs with corruption charges, the clean Prime Minister is trying to avoid it. For many, it’s a reminder of the Punch and Judy show. In the meantime, technocrats and bureaucrats are being accommodated because of loyalty and sycophancy and not because of their ability to deliver. It has been a long wait for many, who are on tenterhooks as to who may go and who may be in. Middlemen and friends are working over time. While two top guns of the Left get accommodated in the Rajya Sabha completely overlooking the state of origin/domicile issue, the powerful Karat couple is giving many a sleepless night to those within the party and to the Congress supremo.
Filmi politics Visits to the Capital really seem to be in vogue these days with the filmi guys from Mumbai. Take Shah Rukh. A couple of years ago his trips were to Vajpayee’s house and other NDA members. Now where ever he is, so are the Vadras. And of course, how can we forget the all rounder Rajiv Shukla. My God! Now this is our man for all seasons! From politics to cricket to Bollywood. Well, to put it simply, where the action is, there is also our ever smiling MP Rajiv Shukla. Shah Rukh was in a pony tail and Rani Mukherjee in specs, but both were dressed in black from head to toe. This visit was for a special screening of the duo’s new film `Paheli.’ Priyanka and Robert Vadra were both in white. Did we think Omar Abdullah seemed to be a bit lost in all this. Yes! We did! And in between all this let me tell you who the real winner is! The real hero is the open, friendly and warm Robert
Vadra. |
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From the pages of Cow-killing in Behar IN reviewing the administration report of the Patna Division for 1892-93, Sir Antony MacDonnell, the acting Lieutenant-Governor, makes some observations on the cow-killing question, which possess more than a local interest. Mr Forbes, the Commissioner of the Division, discusses at some length the subject of the relations between Hindus and Mahomedans in his report under review. He remarked in last year’s report that the Gaurakshini Sabha is in theory a humane and harmless institution, having for its object the protection of the lives of cattle. He pointed out that pinjrapoles had been established in which a considerable number of neglected and starving cattle are housed and cared for. Mr Forbes now states that the Gaurakshini Sabha does not content itself with doing this; that there is a tendency in some places among its promoters to promulgate its doctrines in an ostentatious and aggressive manner; and that this has resulted in exciting much ill-feeling between the Mahomedan and Hindu communities. The demand for the absolute prohibition of cow-killing, we fancy is not, perhaps more unreasonable than that of the fanatics of the Anti-Opium Society, for the total suppression of the poppy culture in India. But while the Government has appointed a costly commission to consider and report on the absurd proposal put forward by Sir Joseph Peace and his friends, it has undertaken a crusade against the agitation connected with the Cow-Protection Movement, and determined to put it down by all means in its power. This fact speaks for itself. |
It is indeed difficult for a student to find the Truth; for it comes shrouded in layers and layers of man-made pleasures, horrors, desires and frustrations. The only way is to listen, think and try to understand what the sages say. —Book of quotations on Hinduism Evil thoughts do not grow alone in mature heads. They spring up like weeds in the minds of children too. Parents and guardians of such children should keep watch over the development of such children. —The Mahabharata Old feuds are like potent poisons. With age, they mature and grow virulent. From father to son, the hatred is passed on like life itself, to be chrished and nursed for the day of revenge. —The Mahabharata How can you deny God, since you were dead and God gave you life; and will then kill you, and then bring you to life; then you will be returned to God. —Book of quotations on Islam There is no place in the whole world where death cannot overcome the mortal. Neither the sky, nor the sea nor deep mountain caves can provide him a refuge from death. —The Buddha By listening to the inner voice of the Master and dwelling His name, man begins to understand the cardinal principle of the virtuous life, becoming holy as a religious leader. —Guru Nanak Do not hesitate before doing good things. Always remember, that many others will look at your example and at least some of them will follow you. In this way good will spread through the world like ripples in a river. —Book of quotations on Hinduism  |
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IN a nondescript Indian town hammered by the monsoon rains, hundreds of miles from the nearest city of any size, a small, unimpressive-looking house is slowly falling down.