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Exclude creamy
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Punjab’s poor
show Villagers denied water, houses Punjab ranks 29th in a countrywide survey on the implementation of Central programmes. Manipur is at the bottom and Punjab is one slot above. To add to the shame of Punjab, its neighbours have performed much better. Himachal Pradesh has rather excelled by securing the first position and Haryana is in the middle of the ladder at number 15. Even UP, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand are ahead of Punjab.
India must help Sri
Lanka
As time goes by
Dateline
Washington Venezuela’s
Chinese connection Chatterati
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PSUs sold cheap? The
Comptroller and Auditor-General of India has accused the NDA government of undervaluing nine public sector units (PSUs) during their disinvestment. The global advisers made “conservative assumptions”, competition was limited as only in two cases there were more than two bidders, the asset valuation methodology was faulty, non-core PSU assets were not identified and valued properly and the government delayed crucial decisions, which had impact on the financial health of PSUs, leading to lower reserved prices. The then Disinvestment Minister, Mr Arun Shourie, has rebutted these charges while the CPM says the CAG report has vindicated its stand that profitable PSUs have been sold cheap. The CAG report is set to generate a fresh debate, reviving the disinvestment process. The Manmohan Singh government has already shelved this component of reforms due to the Left’s opposition. This would be unfortunate. A huge amount of public money is wasted on keeping loss-making PSUs operational. Besides, a private takeover can unlock the unrealised potential of a PSU as it has happened in the case of Maruti. Funds thus released can be spent on education, health and infrastructure building. The basic idea behind the PSU stake sale is the government has no business to be in business. Instances of misuse and mismanagement of PSUs are quite common. The CAG report should be viewed in the right spirit. Instead of quibbling over what should have been done, it is better to draw right lessons for future disinvestment. Mr Arun Shourie, no doubt, was in a hurry to push the selloff and show results. Given the hostile environment and opposition to the disinvestment by trade unions, certain PSUs did not fetch the right price. There is a need to make the disinvestment process more transparent, fix accountability for lapses, if any, and set up a disinvestment fund so that the proceeds from PSU selloff are used effectively.
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Punjab’s poor show Punjab
ranks 29th in a countrywide survey on the implementation of Central programmes. Manipur is at the bottom and Punjab is one slot above. To add to the shame of Punjab, its neighbours have performed much better. Himachal Pradesh has rather excelled by securing the first position and Haryana is in the middle of the ladder at number 15. Even UP, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand are ahead of Punjab. The Health Department of Punjab has perhaps saved the state from facing utter ignominy by doing a better job of immunising children and managing the integrated child development scheme, a fact appreciated in the Centre’s survey. Once again it is in providing drinking water to villages that the Punjab Government has badly slipped. The target given was to make potable water available in 800 villages. The government could cover only 417 villages. Earlier, the state had lost a considerable Central grant for failing to use it for arranging water for villagers. Another area in which the state’s dismal performance stands out is in building houses for the poor. Under the Indira Avas Yojna the state could meet only 61 per cent of the given target of constructing 6,730 houses. Of late the Centre has become commendably more proactive in monitoring the implementation of its schemes at the state level. Grandiose plans floated with fanfare quite often lose impact during their execution. Such surveys do help in keeping the states on their toes and separating laggards and performers. However, the Punjab leadership does not seem to have learnt any lesson. Last year the state was placed at number 27. Will the downward journey continue? Actually, development is not a priority with Punjab politicians who waste their time in politicking. The bureaucracy, indifferent and unconcerned by nature, takes it easy. No wonder, the once-progressive state’s growth rate has slipped below the national average. It is a pity. |
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I have never climbed any ladder: I have achieved eminence by sheer gravitation. — George Bernard Shaw |
India must help Sri Lanka New Delhi, one wishes, had made serious efforts to stop the flare-up in Sri Lanka. The Colombo government and even the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in its own way had sent clear messages to India that both were ready for its intervention. President Mahinda Rajapakse came running to New Delhi soon after his election in December last to plead with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to save his country from slipping into hostilities. Mr Rajapakse also sought his help to bring back the LTTE to the negotiating table. India did not want to get involved was the answer. Two weeks ago, Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera brought the same message to Delhi: India should put pressure on the LTTE to resume talks. There was no response. Norway, the facilitator, had also been telling India for the past several months that without its “active interest” the situation could not be saved. New Delhi still remained distant. As for the LTTE, its spokesman at a Press conference in London sought to build bridges with India. It regretted the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi and expressed the desire to forget and forgive the past. It did not say anything specific on the talks with Sri Lanka, but the very fact that it wanted reconciliation was enough of a message. New Delhi did not react. The inevitable has happened. An undeclared war has begun, though in a limited fury. India’s plea to the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE, one could believe, was not to precipitate things. This was neither here nor there. War clouds had already thickened. New Delhi wasted the precious time. It should have talked to both sides in right earnest. True, it burnt its fingers once when it sent the Indian Peace-Keeping Force (IPKF) to Sri Lanka. But that was several years ago. Circumstances had chastened both because they had tasted peace. Still India stayed distant and let Sri Lanka suffer, the only country in South Asia where an Indian is not called an “ugly Indian.” In fact, anger has got built up in Tamil Nadu. The state government has joined issue with Colombo over the bombing of a structure which the LTTE says was an orphanage and which Sri Lanka government describes as a training centre of militant Tamils. Whether the place was an orphanage or a training centre, the killing of Tamils has had serious fallout. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi has dismissed the Sri Lankan clarification that its aerial bombardment had only targeted the LTTE training camp. “If it is wrong for a Tamil to condemn the killing of another Tamil then he will continue to repeat that wrong,” Mr Karunanidhi has said. The Tamil Nadu Assembly has also unanimously passed a resolution to condemn the killing of Tamils. He is probably right when he says that “the plight of Eelam Tamils would have been different if only Rajiv Gandhi had not been killed.” But he should realise that Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination was a consequence, not a cause. For a settlement that cause is the hiatus between the Tamils in the north and the Sinhalese. New Delhi can still put pressure on Karunanidhi. The visit of National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan to Chennai is not enough. The Prime Minister and the UPA chairperson should speak to Mr Karunanidhi, an UPA ally. Dr Manmohan Singh has in Mr Karunanidhi a person who is respected by Tamils all over the world. The LTTE, although opposed to him, will never go against his wishes if it knows what he wants. It will go back to the negotiating table once he says this is what he wants the LTTE to do. India should not shy away from involvement. The reported New Delhi’s advice that Colombo should duplicate the pattern of governance in India cannot work in a unitary system which Sri Lanka pursues. The Sinhalese may come round to agree to some kind of a federation but they are not sure whether that will satisfy the LTTE which has been talking about separation. For Sri Lanka and the LTTE to span the distance, New Delhi will have to have talks with the Sri Lankan government and LTTE leader V. Prabhakaran. Merely advising Colombo or sending a copy of the Sarkaria Commission report on Centre-State relations is not enough. A personal envoy of the Prime Minister, preferably from Tamil Nadu, may have to go back and forth to bring about conciliation. Some years ago, New Delhi’s envoy G. Parthsarathy tried to convince Colombo on the devolution of power but President Jayawardene did not agree to the suggestion. Mr Rajapakse is more reasonable and realises the need for the resumption of talks since hostilities will do no good to Sri Lanka’s improving economy. But he has to reckon with hawks within his own party and the fundamentalist Buddhist monks. Whatever the settlement, it should be a product of the process. This necessitates the return of the LTTE to the negotiating table. New Delhi should see to it. Nepal is another country where India has lost by not getting involved early enough. At first, it was on the side of the monarch. But when he played havoc with the country and stopped listening to New Delhi, our foreign office woke up. Then it got “involved and cut down the monarch to size. But the delay strengthened the hands of the Maoists. Now New Delhi finds that the US, with which it has worked in Nepal, wants the monarch to stay even though as a figurehead. The Maoists who have no love lost for India are determined to convert the monarchy into a republic. New Delhi is confused. Prime Minister G.P. Koirala is with India but some of his colleagues are in league with the Maoists, who may not have Koirala once the Constituent Assembly meets. Had India not allowed things to drift, it could have played an effective role. Now its options are limited. On the one side it is hemmed by America and on the other by China. One wishes New Delhi had a long-term policy towards its neighbouring countries. The confused Delhi has not yet learnt any lesson from its mistakes in Nepal and Sri
Lanka.
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As time goes by WE were talking, my old friend and I, of the trials and tribulations of old age, both of us having left long behind man’s allotted span of three-score and ten. My friend spoke with some bitterness. “I hate it” he said, “mostly because it is such a bore. Everything seems to be passing you by. You find out that you’re not as important to other people as you thought you were. The world moves on and after a while, you become absorbed in the only game left to play. The survival game”. I did not agree with my friend’s gloomy prognosis. Indeed, one is pleasantly surprised at the number of octogenarians going about these days. I meet several of them on my evening stroll. Some carry a walking stick, but not to lean upon. Only to shoo away stray dogs or to shake menacingly at a demented motorist who had narrowly missed knocking one down. And then I remember the intellectual giants — Bertrand Russell, Bernard Shaw, Somerset Maugham — who produced some of their best works at a stage of life when lesser mortals like us would be regarded as living in our dotage. The watershed in a man’s life, I think, comes when he retires from whatever work he was doing to earn a living. For many of us, giving up a 9 to 5 routine can be a trying ordeal. He feels excluded and rejected. For a time, perhaps, he is invited to parties by his former colleagues and, for some years, he and his wife exchange Christmas and Divali cards with them. All these contacts, however, have a touch of melancholy mixed with the happy memories. And, as the years roll by, even these efforts to remain in touch become feebler till they disappear altogether. It is of the utmost importance, therefore, for a man’s physical and mental health to become more self-reliant. But a vital pre-condition for this is to develop some absorbing interest as early as possible after retirement. If one is altruistically inclined this interest can take the form of voluntary social work. On the other hand, if one is seeking a hobby that brings pleasure as well as profit there are several occupations that require only a small investment in terms of money. I can think of poultry farming, market gardening, breeding dogs and the like. In my own case, I opted for freelance writing which, for over 40 years has given me considerable pleasure and a small
income. |
Dateline Washington Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh on August 17 outlined his government’s stand on the
U.S.-India civilian nuclear agreement in an effort to allay critics
from the Left and the BJP. U.S. nonproliferation and South Asia
analysts – Robert Einhorn of the Center for Strategic and
International Studies; Stephen Cohen of the Brookings Institution;
Teresita Schaffer of the Centre for Strategic and International
Studies; and Michael Krepon of the Henry L. Stimson Center –
discussed the significance of Dr. Singh’s remarks to Parliament in
an interview. Both Mr. Einhorn and Mr. Krepon have been critical of
the deal, while Ms. Schaffer and Mr. Cohen have been supportive. Einhorn: The prime minister’s comments to Parliament
are unlikely to have much of an impact on Congressional attitudes. The
comments might energize the U.S. administration to work harder to roll
back elements of the House and Senate bills that Indians find
objectionable. But because most members of Congress do not believe the
current House and Senate bills are inconsistent with the July 2005
agreement, they are unlikely to be sympathetic to changing elements of
the bills in significant ways. Schaffer: In general, the U.S.
and India are trying to make very different points to their respective
parliaments and publics. As a result, every time that one government
or the other spells things out in detail, it causes problems in the
other capital. Krepon: The Congress and the Bush
administration have been extraordinarily generous to India, but I
suspect that even the Bush administration and the Congress will not
support India’s demand for access to reprocessing capabilities and
changes in U.S. public law to lift penalties in the event India
resumes nuclear testing. Cohen: The deal obviously is more
than about nuclear energy, although everyone wants to maintain the
fiction that it is, and therefore a variety of strategic interests
have to be accommodated. Q:. Would the PM’s comment on future
testing cost the deal support? Einhorn: The comments on tests
won’t cost the deal support in Congress. But neither will those
comments alter the Congressional view that U.S. nuclear cooperation
with India should be terminated if India conducts a nuclear test.
Members of Congress do not believe that a U.S. legislative requirement
to terminate cooperation in certain circumstances imposes any
obligations on India. India would still be entirely free to test or
not. But it would be on notice that if it elects to test, it could not
expect continued nuclear cooperation with the U.S. Krepon:
Both Houses of Congress will include language reaffirming existing
U.S. Public Law that calls for penalties in the event of a nuclear
test by India. If anything, the Prime Minister’s presentation in the
Rajya Sabha reaffirms the necessity of the Congress doing so. The
Prime Minister’s insistence that "there is no question of India
being bound by a law passed by a foreign legislature" is true,
but is also besides the point, since members of Congress have the
power to establish laws governing U.S. nuclear commerce to foreign
nations. Schaffer: India has made a unilateral undertaking
not to test. That presumably means that in the best judgment of the
Indian government, its strategic programme does not require a test. I
don’t think that his statements now are likely to cost India the
deal. Q: Would the inclusion of the condition that India support
U.S. policy on Iran be a deal breaker? Einhorn: The proposed
legislation simply says that it is U.S. policy to promote full and
active Indian cooperation with U.S. efforts to stop Iran from
acquiring nuclear weapons. It does not make U.S. nuclear cooperation
with India conditional upon India’s support for U.S. efforts
vis-a-vis Iran. I don’t expect that element of the draft legislation
to change. Schaffer: I know that the administration is trying
to get the reference to Iran removed from the legislation, and think
its chances are good. The key for the administration is what India
does, and on that score the U.S. has nothing to complain about. Q:
Would members of Congress be willing to lift all restrictions on
civilian nuclear trade with India before India places its reactors
under IAEA safeguards? Einhorn: The legislation requires the
President to make a determination that India has concluded an
acceptable safeguards agreement with the IAEA. Thus, the waivers
required to permit nuclear cooperation with India cannot be issued
before the safeguards agreement is "concluded." But the
entry into force of that safeguards agreement could take place at a
later date. I don’t think sequencing should be a problem. Schaffer:
No one wants to move first. They will have to find a way to move
simultaneously. Q: The Prime Minister said the nuclear deal in no
way could affect the Indian strategic programme. Krepon: The
White House has convinced a majority of Members of Congress not to
seek direct constraints on India’s strategic programme by means of a
fissile material moratorium and a CTBT signature. It looks like the
Prime Minister has upped the ante by demanding the lifting of all
restraints on nuclear commerce, including reprocessing, as well as by
demanding a free pass on the resumption of nuclear testing. Schaffer:
The Indian government has been saying this from the start. Some
members of Congress aren’t happy about this but believe that
canceling the deal at this point is a bad idea. Einhorn: I think a
number of Members of Congress will find both the tone and content of
the PM’s remarks a bit worrisome - and an indication that the
Administration’s hopes for close partnership between India and the
U.S. in the future may be overstated. Schaffer: The
key point he made is that he won’t accept anything that deviates
from the July 18 agreement. That is a standard I think the eventual
legislation will be able to meet. There may be issues on which
Manmohan Singh will have to say ‘Well, that interpretation is what
the U.S. Congress says, but our understanding is in the papers we’ve
signed with the U.S. government.’ Ultimately both sides will have to
live with some level of ambiguity.
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Venezuela’s Chinese
connection Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez’s world tour has landed him in China for the fourth time during his presidency. One of his main objectives there is to try to draw China into his global so-called “guerrilla war” against the United States. The former paratrooper was elected president in 1998 and, buttressed by petrodollars, has proclaimed himself the anti-American revolutionary successor to his mentor, Cuba’s Fidel Castro. Chavez, who arrived in China praising the Middle Kingdom as the world’s alternative to American capitalism, has long lauded Mao Zedong as a brilliant guerrilla strategist. Mao theorized about what Chavez is trying to do: coordinate a series of unconventional attacks on the United States that will chip away at the seemingly invincible enemy and prove it to be a “paper tiger.” Beijing is warmly welcoming Chavez, and important oil, mining and telecommunications deals between Venezuela and China are in the works. But China almost certainly will not leap into the vanguard of any Chavez-led offensive against the United States. It has far too much to lose economically by seriously confronting the Americans. Over the last month, Chavez has been roaming the world lining up what are, or he hopes will be, allies in his guerrilla war against the US. He is promoting Venezuela’s candidacy for a seat on the UN Security Council — which Beijing endorsed Thursday. In Russia, President Vladimir Putin sold him advanced military arms and licensed factories for producing Kalashnikov assault rifles in Venezuela, over US objections. And in Iran, Chavez signed important oil-related accords. Members of Congress and military commanders in Hawaii are concerned about Venezuela’s growing links with Russia and Iran, and also by Chavez’s ties to China. Several months ago, while Chinese President Hu Jintao was visiting Washington, D.C., the Pacific Command even conducted a war game in which Venezuela joined Iran and China in a showdown with the United States. But Chavez’s visit to Beijing isn’t likely to be devoted to planning a military attack on the United States. Instead, it will focus on expanding Chinese investments in Venezuelan oil. The always politically driven Chavez is determined to undermine the U.S. in part by denying it access to his country’s rich oil reserves. But right now, the United States is also Venezuela’s main oil market, so Chavez needs to find a replacement buyer. Chavez frequently says that in the future Venezuela will provide as much as 20 percent of China’s total oil import needs. If total Chinese oil imports rise to 7 million barrels a day in a decade, as they might, this would bring Venezuelan sales to China to 1.4 million barrels, about what Caracas currently sells to the United States. Many obstacles remain to Chavez’s reaching his oil delivery goal, including insufficient production, a shortage of tankers, lack of refineries and very long and inconvenient transportation routes. Chavez has tried often to draw China into his disputes with the U.S., without much success. But despite colorful grandstanding, Chavez probably won’t make significant headway on this trip either. The writer is a fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. By arrangement with
LA-Times–Washington Post |
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Chatterati One must admit that the former President of the BJP Venkaiah Naidu has a sarcastic sense of humour. Naidu could not help but take a shot at Sitaram Yechury’s famous threat, “that comrades don’t just bark, they can bite too”, in reference to Finance Minister P. Chidambaram’s policies. At a discussion on the rise of prices of essential commodities, Naidu looked at Yechury and said that Yechury had talked about Left’s bark and bite, but all that one heard was Yechury’s bytes on television! Stalled house When the new Pay Commission was announced for hiking the pay of the babus, some States opposed the move citing a huge burden on the exchequer. However, when the Parliamentarians’ pay was raised, no State opposed it. Such has become the politics of this land that nothing can be debated on merits. Since Parliament represents the voice of the public, it was expected that at least some of them would oppose the increasing perks and privileges. In olden days there were MPs of this genre who would toe the line of austerity and complete devotion towards public good. Not any more! We have a virtual star cast and a business cast in Parliament these days. Some of them look beautiful sitting there, that is, whenever they choose to attend, but hardly any pearls of wisdom are heard. About the businessmen’s contribution, one would need a full committee of MPs to evaluate it. What about the others? Stalling Lok Sabha on petty matters, absenting themselves from afternoon discussions and failing to discuss critical issues concerning the common man - such acts on the part of MPs no longer make headlines. Politics is for politics’ sake. So quotas are for votes and so is the fervent appeal for secularism. Jagat-rakshak It was the Defence Minister’s day out. On Janmashtami, Pranab Mukherjee was invited for an interaction at the Women’s Press Club. Surrounded by women journos, Pranab Da, as he is known in the Cabinet, came in for a lot of ribbing from his colleagues who pulled his leg saying that the defence minister got to play Krishanji for the day! 10 Janpath should be happy he is occupied. Creamy layer The junior doctors are again fighting pitched battles against the police on the streets of Delhi. Very soon such scenes will be witnessed all over the country. When the agitation was called off last time, they expected Dr Manmohan Singh to stand firm on his assurance of studying the matter carefully. A number of intellectuals, policy makers and the public at large, are severely disappointed at the creamy layer not being kept out of the reservation loop. As one newspaper commented, it’s like keeping a patient in hospital much beyond the time required. Obviously, politics and vote banks again came into play. So here we are committing in principle to enforce reservation for perpetuating a privileged class. Obviously it is this class which is vociferously demanding the retention of the creamy layer. |
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From the pages of MEN AND THE MISSION
Since the Janata alliance comprised several groups each having ambitious leaders, difficulties in ministry-making were only to be expected. Thanks to the wise counsel of that father figure, Mr Jayaprakash Narayan, these hurdles have been crossed and tough postures softened. With the C.F.D.’s decision to join the Government, Mr Morarji Desai has a complete, compact and popular team. It should work as a single unit and with missionary zeal. True, only a few members of this team have previous experience of ministerial functioning at high levels. But the devotion to duty, the firm commitment to national welfare and, above all the realisation that they are on trial would surely make up for the experience deficiency. They have to remove the suspicion entertained by supporters of the previous regime that the Janata Government would crumble like a house of cards. |
We know, that He (The Master) is the True One. He reveals Himself in truth and He is described in countless ways. — Guru Nanak Where are you searching for me, friend? Look! Here I am, right within you. Not in the temple, nor in mosque, not in the Kaaba, nor Kailas, but here right within you. — Kabir
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