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N. Korea does it again
One more scam |
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Honour the turban
Why ‘composite dialogue’?
Doomsday 2012
Revitalising economy, improving education
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N. Korea does it again
THEe third nuclear test conducted by North Korea, in defiance of international opinion, is believed to be more alarming than its previous two tests --- in 2006 and 2009. The latest test gave a better yield, indicating that the poverty-stricken communist country is not far from acquiring the nuclear weapon capability. The earlier tests gave indications that North Korea had crude plutonium devices, capable of giving a very low yield. The world, however, needs to find out the exact position of Pyongyang’s controversial nuclear programme. The way the latest test was conducted, after informing some world capitals, shows that the North Korean leadership is not bothered about the international sanctions imposed on it. Now it may be more difficult to revive the six-nation dialogue to force North Korea to abandon the nuclear path. Or it may demand a far greater price to cap its nuclear programme. Condemnation of the nuclear test is not enough. There is need to reach a consensus to launch a fresh UN-led drive to stop the emergence of another nuclear-weapon nation. The failure to do so will encourage Iran and other aspirants of nuclear power to defy world opinion and continue to have their controversial programme. The countries involved in the six-nation initiative should learn to speak in one voice. China and Russia, which have not been as harsh in condemning North Korea as the US, India and some other countries, should realise that their attitude will only encourage Pyongyang to keep its dangerous plan intact. What is, however, more worrying is the suspected Pakistani role in the North Korean nuclear ambitions. It is believed that the latest device was made with enriched uranium supplied from Pakistan. This needs to be established by the international community so that action is also taken against Pakistan for promoting nuclear proliferation. Gen Pervez Musharraf had admitted the role played by the father of Pakistan’s nuclear programme, AQ Khan, in helping North Korea, Iran and Libya (no longer in the race for nuclear power) to acquire nuclear weapon capability. Nuclear proliferation is the most serious threat to peace and stability. It must be handled with the seriousness it deserves.
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One more scam
While one should wait for the outcome of the CBI probe into allegations of corruption in the Rs 3,546-crore deal to procure helicopters from Italian aerospace and defence company Finmeccanica, a scam possibility cannot entirely be ruled out since defence procurement involves huge sums and deals are non-transparent and dilatory. The government ordered the inquiry after the CEO of the Italian firm was arrested. The controversial deal was signed in February 2010 for the purchase of a dozen AW101 helicopters for the use of India’s President, Prime Minister and other dignitaries. Though a section of the media, quoting an Italian inquiry report, has hinted at the involvement of a former Air Force Chief, the latter has denied any wrongdoing and Defence Minister A.K. Antony says he would rather wait for the probe report. India is one of the largest defence spenders in the world and top manufacturers fiercely compete for orders. Red tape irritates arms suppliers, who sometimes resort to short-cuts. The latest scandal is likely to further delay the ongoing process to acquire tanks, artillery guns, missile guns and machine guns for the Army and new frigates and submarines for the Navy. Last year the then Army Chief, Gen V.K. Singh, had claimed that an arms lobbyist had offered him a bribe of Rs 14 crore. George Fernandes had to quit as Defence Minister after a close aide was caught on tape boasting about collecting bribes from arms dealers. The scandalous Bofors deal, the most infamous of all, tarnished the reputation of Rajiv Gandhi and is blamed for his party’s electoral defeat in 1989. Yet no lessons have been learnt and shady deals keep surfacing. Cases drag on and culprits go scot-free. Once again, the UPA will be in the dock and Opposition parties will clamour for action. Instead of making the usual noises to disrupt the functioning of Parliament, political leaders should insist that a transparent and foolproof defence procurement process is put in place, while those found guilty — no matter how high — are sternly dealt with.
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Honour the turban
Sikh children can wear turbans to schools everywhere in the world except in France. They could do so till 2004 when a French law banned students from wearing any religious symbol at school. As a result, students could not wear a cross around their neck, or other religious markers like a headscarf around the head. The turban too was disallowed, and since then all Sikh children studying in French schools have had to go bare-headed to school. The origins of the ban are easy to understand, since it springs from the principle of the separation of the church and the state. What is not so easy to understand is how a vibrant modern democracy like France interprets this principle in a rigid manner. The global village that the world has become today acknowledges, indeed, celebrates diversity. Most modern democracies welcome the richness of various traditions that come with the migration of people, and indeed, go out of the way to ensure that they ease the transition between the original and host cultures. The Sikh disaspora is now spread all over the world. As India and France expand their business ties, various cultural and other issues that have become irritants also need to be looked into. Perhaps during the forthcoming visit of President Francois Hollande to India, some measures can be discussed so as to ensure that the fundamental right of education and the right to dignity are not impinged upon in the case of Sikh children studying in French schools. It is also distressing that Sikh drivers and others who get a French identity card too have to remove their turban, not only during the process of getting themselves photographed for the identification documentation, but also whenever asked to do so by the authorities. A turban is not a hat or a baseball cap. Removing it in public is embarrassing for any Sikh. The French authorities surely know it. They, however, need to show that they are sensitive to the issue and address it.
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To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness. —Bertrand Russel
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Why ‘composite dialogue’? FOR nearly a decade, the UPA government has depended exclusively on two pillars to deal with Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. The first is a pillar called the "composite dialogue process", which has been proclaimed as "irreversible" and "uninterruptable". The second pillar is the belief that fearing further terrorist attacks, after the 9/11 strikes on New York and Washington, the Western world, led by the US, will pressurise Pakistan to end its support for groups promoting terrorism in India, Afghanistan and beyond. We are told that there is no alternative to the "composite dialogue"' for peace and security. Is this really true? Pakistan's sponsorship of terrorism, described as "low-intensity conflict" in military manuals, assumed serious dimensions in Punjab in the 1980s. This was followed by a resort to terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir since 1990. Terrorism spread across India after the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts, personally approved by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. By 1995, Chief Minister Beant Singh had effectively quelled militancy in Punjab. But even today, Punjab militants who were not eliminated live comfortably in Lahore. Encouraged by the antipathy of the Clinton Administration towards India, Benazir Bhutto ended all dialogue with India in 1994. Terrorism in J&K continued unabated, but the Pakistanis soon discovered during the tenure of Prime Minister Narasimha Rao that acts of terrorism elsewhere in India resulted in violence in populated centres like Karachi and Lahore. Terrorism in Indian urban centres thereafter declined and virtually ended. Inder Kumar Gujral then came to preside over the Indian foreign policy. Knowing his nostalgia for his land of birth and keenness for dialogue, Pakistan came forward with a proposal in 1997 for a "structured dialogue". Rather than insisting on giving priority to terrorism, Gujral agreed to a dialogue process giving priority to issues like Jammu and Kashmir, while discussions on terrorism were downplayed and combined with issues of drug smuggling! The Pakistani aim was to ensure that discussions on Jammu and Kashmir inevitably failed and to then seek internationalisation of the issue. When Vajpayee assumed charge and international pressures grew after the nuclear tests, the NDA government was left with little choice but to go ahead with what Gujral had initiated. It agreed to a "composite dialogue process" with Pakistan — a process where terrorism was merely the fourth item on the agenda, clubbed with drug smuggling. It is important to note that in the four years between Benazir Bhutto's decision to end dialogue with India and its resumption, when Gujral assumed office, Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in Punjab ended and was virtually non-existent across India, except in Jammu and Kashmir. This was largely because of measures taken by Narasimha Rao to ensure that Pakistan paid a high price on its territory for sponsoring terrorism in India. The resumption of the composite dialogue in 1998 coincided with the emergence of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) as a major terrorist group. The Kargil conflict commenced shortly after the first round of the composite dialogue. This was followed by an attack on the Red Fort in Delhi in January 2001 by the LeT and the attack on Parliament on December 13, 2001, by the Jaish-e-Mohammed. After a tense military standoff, clear signals of Pakistan backing off from terrorism came, when Musharraf proposed a ceasefire across the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir in November 2003. He thereafter agreed in January 2004 that he would not permit any "territory under Pakistan's control" to be used for terrorism against India. The offer of ceasefire across the LoC meant that Pakistani troops would no longer provide "covering fire" to facilitate infiltration. The UPA government is responsible for discarding the explicit linkage between terrorism and continuation of the dialogue process, agreed to in 2004. In its anxiety to continue the dialogue at all costs, New Delhi insisted that the dialogue process was "irreversible" and even shed tears that Pakistan itself was a "victim of terrorism". The diplomatic fiasco in Sharm-el-Sheikh, at a time when the wounds of 26/11 were still raw and the decision to effusively welcome Pakistan's Prime Minister in Chandigarh during a cricket match, convinced Pakistan that India was ready to forget and forgive what transpired in Mumbai and the ISI-backed attacks on Indian nationals and diplomats in Afghanistan.. Pakistan also appears to be confident that the other main thrust of Indian foreign policy on getting the Americans to pressurise it to act against terrorist groups is floundering. Heavily dependent on Pakistan for its withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Obama Administration has bent backwards to grant immunity from prosecution to former ISI chief General Shuja Pasha, who had been summoned by a Federal Court in New York in a case in which he had been named for his involvement in the 26/11 attack. The request for the reduction in imprisonment for David Headley was yet another manifestation of a calculated American decision to go easy on Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. The new Secretary of State, John Kerry, has been effusive over what he claims is cooperation received from Pakistan in dealing with terrorism. This is so despite the diametrically opposite views expressed earlier by President Obama and outgoing Defence Secretary Leon Panetta. The American Ambassador to Pakistan, Richard Olson, met Pakistan's Air Chief on January 21 and thereafter visited Shahbaz airbase, where upgraded American supplied F-16s are based. The US Embassy in Islamabad announced that "'both sides reaffirmed their commitment to a strong defence relationship". Pakistan's confidence about continuing US support is evident from the nonchalant manner in which it reached an agreement with Iran on the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline and virtually handed over the strategic Gwadar port to China. General Kayani will demand a high price for facilitating American withdrawal from Afghanistan. Pakistan now has a "lame-duck" government. It will take at least four to five months for a newly elected government to assume office. The main pillars of India's Pakistan policy, comprising "uninterruptable" dialogue and American backing on terrorism, are falling apart. The very least that needs to be done is to discard the "composite dialogue process" and replace it with a process of engagement that focuses significantly on our concerns on terrorism. Widely publicised summit meetings at multilateral events like SAARC summits should be avoided. They give an impression of unwarranted bonhomie and demean us in the eyes of other SAARC countries. A crackdown and retaliatory measures on the infiltration and smuggling of forged currency by Pakistan through Nepal and Bangladesh should be undertaken. Moreover, we should recall how Narasimha Rao ignored dialogue and made the sponsorship of terrorism costly for
Pakistan.
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Doomsday 2012 For over a year skeptics across the world have pondered over the prophecy of the Mayan Calendar. The world was to end in December; in fact, even a date was set — December 21. Most of us scoffed at the very idea of complete annihilation, others feared the worst and still more waited with bated breath. December 21 dawned like any other day, the sun wasn't any brighter and the winds weren't any stronger. The day passed off peacefully and everyone heaved a sigh of relief. We shrugged off our fears and apprehensions and decided to get on with our lives. But Doomsday did arrive and unknowingly touched us and left us all a little broken. As a young 23-year-old girl was brutally gang-raped in Delhi, a part of us died too. It was a day when humanity fell to an all-time low. There has been an outpouring of grief, anger and outrage at the incident. Cynics say that rapes happen every day, but this heinous crime was really the last straw that broke the camel's back. While we try and look for harsher laws and faster judgements, I wonder what the root cause of this problem could be. I believe that part of the problem lies in how we bring up our children. Indian society has changed in leaps and bounds as far as bringing up its daughters is concerned. We have left no stone unturned to ensure equal opportunities, equal right, equal love and support for our daughters. Today the young Indian girl is as much an equal as anyone else. But along the way, we forgot to change the way we were bringing up our sons. They continue to be brought up as the proverbial "ghar ka chirags". They are led to believe that they have a greater right to life. So, when faced with young, courageous, capable girls, they don't know what to do. For them women are mere sexual objects. The only way they can show their superiority is by violence. Yes, rape is nothing but a form of violence, intended to subjugate and humiliate the victim; destroy the very essence of her being. Just when I thought that the gang rape was Doomsday enough, I stared with dismay at a news flash — the government had shut down nine metro stations near India Gate, obviously in an effort to minimise the protests. They did not want the young and angry students to hold peaceful protests in the heart of Delhi. Here was a rape of another kind. The rape of the most basic human right — the right to be heard. The rape of our basic democratic right to protest. Today we have been raped at many levels. First, the ghastly gang rape that leaves a young girl fighting for her life, then the collective rape of a youth that wants to stand up and be counted. How much lower do we need to fall and what else are we waiting for? If this isn't Doomsday, then what
is?
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Revitalising economy, improving education
President Barak Obama talked about raising the minimum wage, increasing spending on infrastructure, attacking climate change, streamlining immigration and passing gun-control legislation in his State of the Union Address, which he delivered on February 12. Edited excerpts:
Fifty-one years ago, John F. Kennedy declared to this chamber that “the Constitution makes us not rivals for power but partners for progress.” “It is my task,” he said, “to report the State of the Union—to improve it is the task of us all.” Tonight, thanks to the grit and determination of the American people, there is much progress to report. After a decade of grinding war, our brave men and women in uniform are coming home. After years of gruelling recession, our businesses have created over six million new jobs. We buy more American cars than we have in five years, and less foreign oil than we have in 20. Our housing market is healing, our stock market is rebounding, and consumers, patients, and homeowners enjoy stronger protections than ever before. So, together, we have cleared away the rubble of crisis, and we can say with renewed confidence that the State of our Union is stronger.
Manufacturing, a priority
Our first priority is making America a magnet for new jobs and manufacturing. After shedding jobs for more than 10 years, our manufacturers have added about 500,000 jobs over the past three years. Caterpillar is bringing jobs back from Japan. Ford is bringing jobs back from Mexico. And this year, Apple will start making Macs in America again. Tonight, I’m announcing the launch of three more of these manufacturing hubs, where businesses will partner with the Department of Defence and Energy to turn regions left behind by globalisation into global centres of high-tech jobs. And I ask this Congress to help create a network of 15 of these hubs and guarantee that the next revolution in manufacturing is made right here in America. We can get that done. Now, if we want to make the best products, we also have to invest in the best ideas. Every dollar we invested to map the human genome returned $140 to our economy—every dollar. Today, our scientists are mapping the human brain to unlock the answers to Alzheimer’s. They’re developing drugs to regenerate damaged organs; devising new material to make batteries 10 times more powerful. Now is not the time to gut these job-creating investments in science and innovation. Now is the time to reach a level of research and development not seen since the height of the Space Race. We need to make those investments.
Energy & climate change
Today, no area holds more promise than our investments in American energy. After years of talking about it, we’re finally poised to control our own energy future. We produce more oil at home than we have in 15 years. We have doubled the distance our cars will go on a gallon of gas, and the amount of renewable energy we generate from sources like wind and solar—with tens of thousands of good American jobs to show for it. We produce more natural gas than ever before—and nearly everyone’s energy bill is lower because of it. And over the last four years, our emissions of the dangerous carbon pollution that threatens our planet have actually fallen. But for the sake of our children and our future, we must do more to combat climate change. Four years ago, other countries dominated the clean energy market and the jobs that came with it. And we’ve begun to change that. Last year, wind energy added nearly half of all new power capacity in America. So let’s generate even more. Solar energy gets cheaper by the year—let’s drive down costs even further. As long as countries like China keep going all in on clean energy, so must we. I’m also issuing a new goal for America: Let’s cut in half the energy wasted by our homes and businesses over the next 20 years. We’ll work with the states to do it. Those states with the best ideas to create jobs and lower energy bills by constructing more efficient buildings will receive federal support to help make that happen.
Education
Study after study shows that the sooner a child begins learning, the better he or she does down the road. But today, fewer than 3 in 10 four year—olds are enrolled in a high—quality preschool program. Most middle—class parents can’t afford a few hundred bucks a week for a private preschool. And for poor kids who need help the most, this lack of access to preschool education can shadow them for the rest of their lives. So tonight, I propose working with states to make high-quality preschool available to every single child in America. That’s something we should be able to do. Every dollar we invest in high-quality early childhood education can save more than seven dollars later on-by boosting graduation rates, reducing teen pregnancy, even reducing violent crime. Four years ago, we started Race to the Top—a competition that convinced almost every state to develop smarter curricula and higher standards, all for about 1 percent of what we spend on education each year. Tonight, I’m announcing a new challenge to redesign America’s high schools so they better equip graduates for the demands of a high-tech economy. Now, even with better high schools, most young people will need some higher education. It’s a simple fact the more education you’ve got, the more likely you are to have a good job and work your way into the middle class. But today, skyrocketing costs price too many young people out of a higher education, or saddle them with unsustainable debt. Through tax credits, grants and better loans, we’ve made college more affordable for millions of students and families over the last few years. But taxpayers can’t keep on subsidising higher and higher and higher costs for higher education. Colleges must do their part to keep costs down, and it’s our job to make sure that they do.
Immigration
Our economy is stronger when we harness the talents and ingenuity of striving, hopeful immigrants. And right now, leaders from the business, labour, law enforcement, faith communities—they all agree that the time has come to pass comprehensive immigration reform. Now is the time to do it. Now is the time to get it done. Now is the time to get it done. Real reform means strong border security, establishing a responsible pathway to earned citizenship, and fixing the legal immigration system to cut waiting periods and attract the highly-skilled entrepreneurs and engineers that will help create jobs and grow our economy. In other words, we know what needs to be done. And as we speak, bipartisan groups in both chambers are working diligently to draft a bill, and I applaud their efforts. So let’s get this done.
Violence against women
But we can’t stop there. We know our economy is stronger when our wives, our mothers, our daughters can live their lives free from discrimination in the workplace, and free from the fear of domestic violence. Today, the Senate passed the Violence Against Women Act that Joe Biden originally wrote almost 20 years ago. And I now urge the House to do the same. Good job, Joe. And I ask this Congress to declare that women should earn a living equal to their efforts, and finally pass the Paycheck Fairness Act this year.
US troops in Afghanistan
Tonight, we stand united in saluting the troops and civilians who sacrifice every day to protect us. Because of them, we can say with confidence that America will complete its mission in Afghanistan and achieve our objective of defeating the core of al Qaeda. Already, we have brought home 33,000 of our brave servicemen and women. This spring, our forces will move into a support role, while Afghan security forces take the lead. Tonight, I can announce that over the next year, another 34,000 American troops will come home from Afghanistan. This drawdown will continue and by the end of next year, our war in Afghanistan will be over.
Korea, Iran and Russia
America will continue to lead the effort to prevent the spread of the world’s most dangerous weapons. The regime in North Korea must know they will only achieve security and prosperity by meeting their international obligations. Provocations of the sort we saw last night will only further isolate them, as we stand by our allies, strengthen our own missile defence and lead the world in taking firm action in response to these threats. Likewise, the leaders of Iran must recognise that now is the time for a diplomatic solution, because a coalition stands united in demanding that they meet their obligations, and we will do what is necessary to prevent them from getting a nuclear weapon. At the same time, we’ll engage Russia to seek further reductions in our nuclear arsenals, and continue leading the global effort to secure nuclear materials that could fall into the wrong hands-because our ability to influence others depends on our willingness to lead and meet our obligations.
Cyber attacks
America must also face the rapidly growing threat from cyber-attacks. Now, we know hackers steal people’s identities and infiltrate private emails. We know foreign countries and companies swipe our corporate secrets. Now our enemies are also seeking the ability to sabotage our power grid, our financial institutions, and our air traffic control systems. We cannot look back years from now and wonder why we did nothing in the face of real threats to our security and our economy. And that’s why, earlier today, I signed a new executive order that will strengthen our cyber defences by increasing information sharing, and developing standards to protect our national security, our jobs, and our privacy.
Gun violence
Of course, what I’ve said tonight matters little if we don’t come together to protect our most precious resource: our children. It has been two months since Newtown. I know this is not the first time this country has debated how to reduce gun violence. But this time is different. Overwhelming majorities of Americans—Americans who believe in the Second Amendment—have come together around common-sense reform, like background checks that will make it harder for criminals to get their hands on a gun. Senators of both parties are working together on tough new laws to prevent anyone from buying guns for resale to criminals. Police chiefs are asking our help to get weapons of war and massive ammunition magazines off our streets, because these police chiefs, they’re tired of seeing their guys and gals being outgunned. Each of these proposals deserves a vote in Congress. We may do different jobs and wear different uniforms, and hold different views than the person beside us. But as Americans, we all share the same proud title—we are citizens. It’s a word that doesn’t just describe our nationality or legal status. It describes the way we’re made. It describes what we believe. It captures the enduring idea that this country only works when we accept certain obligations to one another and to future generations, that our rights are wrapped up in the rights of others; and that well into our third century as a nation, it remains the task of us all, as citizens of these United States, to be the authors of the next great chapter of our American story.
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