Hegde’s win and woes
THE Union Commerce Minister, Mr Ramakrishna Hegde, has earned the gratitude of exporters by offering an additional subsidy of about Rs 2000 crore. In the process he has also invited the wrath of the Finance Ministry as well as the Labour Ministry for offering concessions.

Concession for NRIs
EVER since Dr Manmohan Singh as Finance Minister in the Narasimha Rao Government introduced the policy of liberalisation non-resident Indians have become a key component of the country’s economic growth.

A FRAGMENTED POLITY
Social conscience missing
by Hari Jaisingh
The land of the Buddha. The home of the greatest and oldest university—Nalanda. The first great kingdom of India—Magadha. That is Bihar for you. And shockingly though, it is India's sick state today. Not that other Indian states are socially, politically and economically healthy in the real sense of the term. Bihar's failures are, however, total and they are a sad pointer to the collapse of the politico-administrative system as a whole.

New role for NAM
by P. Raman
THE massive attacks by the NATO forces on Yugoslavia will have much wider ramifications on the world polity than most of us had anticipated. The show of brute force by the USA and its European allies on another sovereign country further confirms the boldness with which the thesis of pax americana is being pushed through in this increasingly unipolar world.

Is a new spectre haunting Europe?
By M.S.N. Menon
YES, the spectre of the New Left. Can it take the world out of the cul-de-sacs and give it a new vision to work for a different destiny? It is perhaps too early to answer that. The New Left has won almost all elections held recently in the West, more so in Europe. Out of the 15 members of the European Union, 13 are already New Left. Only Spain remains conservative. And the rest of Eurasia, including Russia and Central Asia, is steadily going back to the Left after an interlude of free market experiments. And so is India. There are no takers for the free market that Wall Street wants to sell.

Life after 63?
by I.M. Soni
GEORGE Bernard Shaw has said: circumstances alter cases. So they have, in my case, at least. I had thought that the mandatory retirement from service would present mental as well as emotional hazards. I did not realise that a practical philosophy of life makes the change smooth and small pleasant surprises fill the vacuum. And these enable one to fulfil himself as a human being.

75 Years Ago

India and Japan
WE whole-heartedly associate ourselves with the appeals which have been issued by His Excellency the Viceroy on behalf of the Government and Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya on behalf of the people for subscriptions in aid of the millions who have been rendered homeless or destitute or have been left without their bread-winners by the recent earthquake in Japan, perhaps the most terrible natural visitation that has afflicted our race within the memory of man.

Hegde’s win and woes

THE Union Commerce Minister, Mr Ramakrishna Hegde, has earned the gratitude of exporters by offering an additional subsidy of about Rs 2000 crore. In the process he has also invited the wrath of the Finance Ministry as well as the Labour Ministry for offering concessions. The Planning Commission too has pooh-poohed his new policies. It just goes to show how impossible it is to satisfy all. He has won his 15 minutes of fame by thinning down the banned list of imports — by as much as 894 items. Another 414 items can now be brought in by exporters. After this mass transfer, only 667 items are in the prohibited list, down from over 2700 barely two years ago. There is, however, more of symbolism than substance in this pruning. Among those things that can now be freely imported are brussels sprout, mango pieces in brine and strawberries! (Will someone demand a JPC to probe how these humble farm products attracted the restriction?) Mr Hegde has dragged his Ministry kicking and screaming into the e-mail era, so that getting an export licence will be less time-consuming and also less costly. There is one more procedural finetuning. He is appointing ombudsman in all ports to settle exporter-customs disputes. If the ombudsman is given wide powers, the Minister can even succeed in goading the normally obstructive customs men to make exports a pleasant activity.

For the rest he has relied mostly on duty reduction to lift exports from the abysmal performance last year. The plastics, chemicals and textiles sectors can now import duty-free equipment costing as low as Rs 1 crore. Until now the threshold for this concessional rate was Rs 20 crore. In spite of his overtly friendly feelings, he is appalled at the gross misuse of the duty entitlement pass book scheme and has decided to restrict its scope. Last year the duty draw-back soared to Rs 2335 crore, up from Rs 470 crore the previous year. This is plain subsidy, but the ugly word is reserved only for the agricultural sector but banned in the Commerce Ministry. It is elegantly dubbed “revenue forego” and in the Finance Ministry the same action blooms into reforms! The various export promotion schemes caused a revenue loss of Rs 14,000 crore and is likely to go up to Rs 16,000 crore this year. As a share of the customs revenue, the “forego” works out to a whopping 40 per cent.

Mr Hegde has refused to set a target for export growth. Last year he went on claiming a 20 per cent increase and actually it is a measly 0.4 per cent. He, however, hopes that his revamped policy should give a 10-per cent boost. The Planning Commission is not impressed. In the absence of a target, there is no focus on any sector to push up exports. He hopes that the gem and jewellery, diamonds, chemicals, drugs and pharmaceuticals, plastics and textiles sectors will do well. The commission feels that in the improving global situation, an imaginative policy package can take exports up. It is also annoyed at the provision of Rs 500 crore to the states for infrastructure improvement. It is an encroachment on its territory. The Labour Ministry is against any separate laws in free trade zones that will abridge the rights of workers. It has threatened legal action. The Finance Ministry says it will not notify the juicy concessions. Mr Hegde has reasons to be unhappy.

Concession for NRIs

EVER since Dr Manmohan Singh as Finance Minister in the Narasimha Rao Government introduced the policy of liberalisation non-resident Indians have become a key component of the country’s economic growth. Of course, it would be ideal to encourage foreign direct investment in key sectors. However, successive Union Finance Ministers have virtually discarded, rightly or wrongly, the basic elements of the Manmohanics approach to economic salvation. The resultant conflicting signals have discouraged both the foreign investors and the NRIs from accepting the bait of doing business with India as it is done in developed economies — without red tape and bureaucratic hassles. Whether the introduction of a “Person of Indian Origin” (PIO) card would help remove the earlier misgivings among NRIs keen to make investments in Indian projects would depend on the “after sale service” of the government. Even the best scheme fails to deliver not because of any apparent flaw in it but because of what the market calls the absence of the “after sale service” facilities. It is one thing to invite the unsuspecting NRIs to the parlour and another to see their enterprise earning rich dividends for themselves and the country. The introduction of the PIO card is part of the promise of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition to the NRIs wanting dual citizenship. Those who may see a hidden agenda because the benefits of the PIO card would not extend to the citizens of Pakistan and Bangladesh deserve only to be pitied for seeing phantoms where there are none. Without the essential exclusion clause virtually every citizen of Bangladesh and Pakistan would qualify for the PIO card benefits available up to the fourth generation people of Indian origin.

Launching the PIO card Union Home Minister L.K. Advani said the scheme was meant to reinforce the emotional bonds of Indians who have made other countries their home, but who are now yearning to renew their ties with the land of their origin. A typical American response to this would be “cut out the claptrap and get down to brasstacks. What is there in the scheme for me?” Logically most NRIs should want to transfer most of their wealth to India because the dollar-to-rupee conversion would assure them a lifestyle which an average well-to-do Indian cannot even dare to dream of. However, past experience shows that once the dollar-rich NRI walks into the parlour the bureaucratic spider tries to make a meal of him. The political leadership should realise that reforms in key sectors are not possible without changing the basic structure of the Indian bureaucracy. It has been fashioned out of the colonial apparatus meant for a subject nation. The average bureaucrat is not too happy with having to surrender his control over the levers of powers because of the policy which seeks to knock down the road blocks to economic growth through liberalisation, deregulation and delicensing. If somehow the bureaucracy could be banished from India, the entry points to the country would be choked with foreign investors and the NRIs would descend in droves on the land of their birth with or without the PIO card.

A FRAGMENTED POLITY
Social conscience missing

by Hari Jaisingh

THE land of the Buddha. The home of the greatest and oldest university—Nalanda. The first great kingdom of India—Magadha. That is Bihar for you. And shockingly though, it is India's sick state today. Not that other Indian states are socially, politically and economically healthy in the real sense of the term. Bihar's failures are, however, total and they are a sad pointer to the collapse of the politico-administrative system as a whole.

Poor political leadership. A distorted response mechanism of politicians, bureaucrats and other functionaries. The growing tentacles of mafia raj. The nexus of a section of the police force, politicians and bureaucrats with criminal elements. A breakdown of law and order. The naked display of caste and class wars resulting in the mushrooming growth of private armies. Rampant corruption. Exploitation of the poor and the have-nots. An atmosphere of terror and fear.

Name any malfunctioning, it is there in Bihar with all its sinister dimensions. What is ironic in this jungle raj is that unscrupulous politicians like Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav and Mr Jagannath Mishra are thriving in the name of democracy.

I have nothing personally against Mr Yadav and Mr Mishra. By any reckoning, Lalooji must be among the most sought after politicians in the country. He has an earthy common sense and draws the media's attention by his ready wit laced with smart rustic phrases. In a way, he continues to be a novelty for media personnel. He gives them good copy. On television, he carries the day even in embarrassing situations.

The Laloo phenomenon probably needs a serious study. This will help us appreciate the working of democracy in Bihar. For the sophisticated he is tainted with the fodder scam . He is said to have "swallowed" fodder worth crores of rupees. And mind you, this fodder was meant for cows and buffaloes!

Since this matter is still under the scrutiny of court, one would not like to comment on the extent of Mr Yadav's involvement. One thing, however, must be said to his credit. He is a man of guts. By his sheer lung power and mannerism he can show even the most sophisticated person his place. From all accounts, there is no downslide in his popularity.

Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav could get President's rule undone in Bihar. He could bring back his wife Rabri Devi as Chief Minister. He does not suffer from any guilt conscience. He is bold, goes for his target and does not mince words once he gets convinced as to where his interest lies. However, this supposedly successful politician has in no way helped solve Bihar's manifold problems.

Of course, Mr Yadav's is not a typical case of failure. A large number of his predecessors had fared equally badly or even worse. Indeed, Bihar remains where it was 40 years ago. There is no progress worth talking, though in terms of mineral and human resources it is easily the richest state in the country. What is the use of mineral resources if they only help middle men, operators, politicians and their collaborators, including mafia elements, and not the common Bihari?

How come leaders in different walks of life are insensitive to these hard facts? How come they tolerate the spectre of violence and killings of people belonging to different castes and classes? How come Sarvodaya leader Jayaprakash Narayan is remembered only in name? JP's stamp is no longer visible on the political, social and economic systems in the state. JP apart, there have been other stalwarts from Bihar starting with the first President of India, Babu Rajendra Prasad.

Most of the leaders only helped themselves politically or otherwise without involving the grassroots to ameliorate the conditions of the poorest of the poor in the state. What can be more shameful than this? The answers to Bihar's problems have to come from people. But they cannot find answers if they throw up unscrupulous leaders who think and act for themselves and their collaborators and sycophants.

Viewed in this light, it is not clear how far the Centre's Rs 500- crore package for Bihar will help the violence-prone state to meet its manifold challenges. The idea behind this package is to put in motion a bureaucratic reform process which is supposed to be independent of political initiative. But isn't the bureaucracy as much responsible for the mess that Bihar is in today as are politicians of various shades and hues.

The failures in Bihar are fundamental in nature. Even the law- enforcing authorities have failed to instil a sense of confidence among the common people. The Bihar police is known to be corrupt and inefficient. The force is divided on caste and class lines and is used by those in power for their dirty work. In fact, the rise of private armies in itself is a poor reflection on the law and order machinery in the state.

The massacre organised by one sena group or the other shows that unless radical reforms are brought about in the system and attitudes of those at the helm change for the better, mere pouring in of money can hardly improve things. Indeed massacres occur simply because both the Naxalite groups and the Ranvir Sena are flexing their muscles. In this violence-prone atmosphere the Laloo- Rabri Devi regime is perceived to head a backward caste government that is gunning for upper caste persons. This has only added to the tension. Perhaps it suits Laloo to have different disparate groups fight among themselves. No one knows how long the bloodbath will continue in Bihar's caste-class conflicts fuelled by economic and social disparities

The roots of the present crisis in Bihar go far beyond the problem of law and order. The problem is skewed in social-economic realities. Bihar is the country's most illiterate state. With just 30 per cent literacy among men and 16 per cent among women, it is an area of darkness.

Development and welfare activities have been neglected in Bihar since funds have been pocketed by politicians, corrupt officials and their collaborators. Lack of land reforms have only made things worse.

Most of the states in India have carried out land reforms. It is a state subject. West Bengal and Kerala have done a good job as have Punjab and Haryana. Other states have carried out these reforms with varying degrees of success. In the process higher caste groups have been affected. But they have taken the changes in their stride. Only in Bihar, the reforms have not been thorough. In any case, the varied caste-based interest groups have been fighting it out with guns and with disastrous results. No wonder, violence has become a way of life in Bihar.

The 51 years of Independence seem to have made no difference to the influence of caste on the body politic. If anything, caste affinities have got consolidated. That is the reason why political games these days cannot be delinked from the existing social realities. What is disquieting is that caste labels are dangerous to national interests.

Caste groups today act as the "most potent pressure groups", clamouring for more favours and benefits for their caste. Here the problem arises when petty caste games are pursued in utter disregard of the needs and sensitivities of other sections of society. Such a pursuit sows seeds of tension, often culminating in an open confrontation and violence. Bihar is a burning example of such mad acts.

The problem here is not merely one of finding a political consensus. Equally pertinent is the lack of political will and willingness to tackle the issue firmly and in an unbiased manner.

Most political parties are honest enough to admit that casteism is rampant in each of them, and that every one of them is responsible for the current situation by an active consent or default. So, all talk of a political consensus and measures to tackle the problem of atrocities will remain a dead letter or empty rhetoric.

Ironically, the BJP and other parties are only interested in fishing in the troubled waters of Bihar in order to create vote banks. Bihar is seen as vital to seize power at the Centre, for the state sends 54 members to the Lok Sabha.

In the long run, only the awakening of social conscience can extirpate the evil of caste from Indian society. As Dr B.R. Ambedkar once put it: "Rights are not protected by law but social and moral conscience of society." Here the challenge lies in arousing social and moral conscience. Equally vital is the drive for total literacy and equality and ensuring the rights and opportunities of the oppressed sections of society.

There is no dearth of protective laws and constitutional provisions. However, the tragedy of the nation is that there is no law to make our political leaders behave as responsible members of society!

New role for NAM
by P. Raman

THE massive attacks by the NATO forces on Yugoslavia will have much wider ramifications on the world polity than most of us had anticipated. The show of brute force by the USA and its European allies on another sovereign country further confirms the boldness with which the thesis of pax americana is being pushed through in this increasingly unipolar world. Earlier, Iraq has been the “rogue” country which suffered similar kind of combined US-British bombings for allegedly violating the UN resolution.

Now it is the turn of Yugoslavia. If the logic on which the USA and its allies justify their open interference in the affairs of another country is applied in other cases, any country can hereafter be proclaimed as “rogue” and its sovereignty violated. This is no more a far-fetched interpretation of the NATO attack. The very arguments put forth by those who have launched the joint attacks on Yugoslavia signal the possibility of such a threat to the comity of nations. After what had happened to Iraq and Kosovo, any free country anywhere in the world which chooses to defy the US line, will ultimately have to face either sanctions or an armed subjugation.

Apparently, this is the price the world had to pay for the collapse of the Soviet Union. For, throughout the cold war era, there has been not a single case of the super powers transgressing the sovereignty so brazenly. At least they had to undergo the drill of having been invited to provide military aid and intervention on behalf of one party or other. The golden rule that international action against any country could be initiated only after due authorisation by the United Nations was duly adhered to. The delicately maintained balance of power between the super powers had forced them at least to respect the inviolability of the frontiers.

In the present mindless attacks by NATO, the USA had violated at least three golden rules that respect the integrity of the independent countries. First, they sought to arrogate to NATO the powers otherwise enjoined upon the UN. Powers to arbitrate on such controversies should not in any way be left to a cold war military alliance like NATO. The UN Security Council alone is the proper forum of conflict resolution. Not only this. The USA and the NATO allies had under their peace plan insisted that their “peacekeeping forces” should be posted in the troubled Yugoslavia at least for three years.

Thus for the first time NATO has sought to usurp the legitimate role of the UN peacekeeping which was, apparently, viewed with suspicion by Serbs. Understandably, they feared that the global police role for a partisan cold war military alliance would turn Kosovan autonomy into secession. If the US intentions were fair, it could have readily agreed to a peacekeeping arrangement under countries like India, Sweden, Nepal, etc. Incidentally, the Yugoslav government had not opposed giving autonomy to Kosovo.

Second, the bombing of Serbia transgresses the UN charter which prohibits any use of force, except in self-defence, unless it has been specifically authorised by the UN Security Council. Under no stretch of imagination, NATO’s bombing could be justified as self-defence. It neither has the direction of the Security Council whose two permanent members, Russia and China, had made it clear that they would veto such a move if brought before it. The USA and Britain have argued that the council’s recent resolution had given them the right to militarily interfere if the Serbs failed to follow the resolution. This is far from reality. The resolution of September 23, 1998, makes it clear that if the Serbs disobeyed it, the council would meet again.

Third, the NATO, by its unilateral action, has violated its own founding treaty. It says that it could use force only when one of its members came under attack. Under such circumstances, the other partners could join the victim of attack and use force. In the present case, none of the NATO countries had come under attack by any country. After the cold war, NATO itself has become an anachronism. The other military alliances like CENTO and SEATO were rightly wound up. Instead of following them, NATO seems to arrogantly proclaim that it was no longer bound by the UN, and would act as world’s policeman.

Another disturbing trend has been that it has now become a pattern for the USA and its allies to launch an offensive and then seek subsequent ratification from the Security Council. This makes it a mockery of this most important UN body. The same had happened in the case of the attack on Iraq. There is every reason to fear that NATO’s adventurist course may have serious repercussions. Russia and others have viewed with suspicion recent expansion of NATO by including three of its former Warsaw Pact allies — the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland.

The US efforts to develop an anti-missile system has also caused much apprehension among others, especially Russia and China. Further negotiations on arms reduction are at a delicate stage. Also, the Russian Duma is yet to ratify START II and the CTBT. The new intimidatory role being assigned to NATO will only cause further hurdles in the process. There are already signs of a harder line by China. The US preparations for developing a more deadly anti-missile system, along with its unchallenged hegemony, is bound to prompt others like Russia and China to resort to their own build-up. All this is bound to make the non-aligned movement once again relevant.

Life after 63?
by I.M. Soni

GEORGE Bernard Shaw has said: circumstances alter cases. So they have, in my case, at least. I had thought that the mandatory retirement from service would present mental as well as emotional hazards.

I did not realise that a practical philosophy of life makes the change smooth and small pleasant surprises fill the vacuum. And these enable one to fulfil himself as a human being.

Retirement is an escape from a death-dealing routine. The responsibility of a job hanging around the neck is no longer there because freedom from bondage does mean a freedom from stale routines and stabbing associations.

It affords an opportunity to enter into new and rewarding activities removing mental cobwebs. I feel free and fresh. Instead of experiencing retirement blues which I had apprehended, I am revelling in pinks. There is a lark in my heart. I had never felt so lighted and delighted as now.

There is a welcome change and also a challenge to adjust to a new life. Having a lot more time to indulge in “intellectual loafing”, I fulfil myself in many thus-far unknown ways. I feel I have a new lease of life.

Vast stretches of leisure, the gold-dust of time, afford me pleasures which I had always yearned for.

One plus point from this leisure has been the cultivation of the habit of having a dialogue with my own soul. This has led me to the conviction that a person who is constantly seeking company or excitement, is at heart, weary of himself.

Books have added to my contentment. What a “sovereign” remedy they are for the distempers of the mind as well as body! They protect me from the modern world’s sordid malady — boredom. I shall never forget the exquisite delight of my first-time recent perusal of Khalil Gibran.

Books have become my leisure-time companions. They are comforting, alternative worlds where all discords are resolved, by philosophy, or by art. They have taught me to reconcile myself to the troublesome, trecherous world.

The more I try to learn, the more ignorant I seem to myself. I am now convinced that if I do not use my learning(?), I am a mere beast of the burden — like the ass who does not know whether he is carrying a bag of gold or garbage.

I have time enough for music which Mazzini called “the harmonious voice of creation; an echo of the invisible world”. It affords me lots of sensual gratification.

In the past, I opened the eyes in the morning and jumped out of bed like a strung toy. Now, I rest for 10 minutes!

Is a new spectre haunting Europe?
By M.S.N. Menon

YES, the spectre of the New Left. Can it take the world out of the cul-de-sacs and give it a new vision to work for a different destiny? It is perhaps too early to answer that.

The New Left has won almost all elections held recently in the West, more so in Europe. Out of the 15 members of the European Union, 13 are already New Left. Only Spain remains conservative. And the rest of Eurasia, including Russia and Central Asia, is steadily going back to the Left after an interlude of free market experiments. And so is India. There are no takers for the free market that Wall Street wants to sell.

Is the world then going back to the Left? Perhaps, yes. But the progress will be slow. True, it has not taken long to realise that capitalism and free market cannot create a saner world. Even globalisation has proved to be disastrous and chaotic. Not that it has nothing to commend itself. It has. But it also carries the dangers of endemic crises.

Dr Kissinger says that the frequency of international financial crises suggests structural problems. According to him, hedge and pension funds have aggravated the crisis. That is one view.

George Soros, a leading speculator, who ought to know better of the disease, admits that the capitalist system need “deliberate and persistent efforts” to correct and contain its weaknesses. “That is where”, he says, “I am at loggerheads with the laissez-faire ideology, which contands that free markets are self-sustaining and self-correcting”. They are not, he says. Soros asserts that we know little on how financial markets operate. And yet the USA has the gumption to demand unregulated capital movement!

The New Left is neither pink nor red. In North America, it is liberal. In Europe, closer to red. But it is radical enough to give the world a new ideology. It combines the ethical concerns of socialism, the fears generated by a growing adverse environment and the need for the autonomy of diverse cultures. Together they give man a comforting ideology that is not beyond realisation.

In the meantime, there is a new alignment of forces in the Western world. The triumphant Reaganites and Thatcherites are in retreat. The new mood is reflected more by Clinton. Tony Blair (UK), Jospin (France) and Schroder (Germany). Of course, they differ widely on many issues. Flexibility is the essence of the new approach.

This New Left alignment can change the nature of global politics. And there are other forces which will force the pace of change. To mention one: women.

Unless we take to the New Left ideology, new storms will devastate the world. Signs of these are already there. For example, the trade war between the USA and EU, USA and Japan and the growing protectionism of the developed countries. More are in the making: an incipient Brazilian crisis, continuing crisis in S.E. Asia, and near breakdown of the WTO. And, of course, a crisis can hit Japan or China any time.

The ultimate issue is: should we regulate economic life? The Willi Brandt Commission says yes. Many more authorities say yes. But the USA says no, because freedom from regulation suits the US MNCs and speculators. “In the world, as in nations”, says the Brandt Commission, “economic forces left entirely to themselves tend to produce inequality. Within nations, public policy has to protect the weaker sections. The time may come to apply this precept to relations between nations within the world community”. That time has come. But how it is to be done, it is for the world body to decide.

There is a growing feeling in Europe that the Anglo-American formula for a new world order runs counter to Europe’s notion of a fairer and prosperous society. An opinion poll revealed that 66 per cent of the French prefer the European safety net. As President of a French conglomerate said: “Here social security and social solidarity weigh more than efficiency”. There is the answer to those who used to talk about efficiency.

The ruling German party, SDP, says: “We can’t allow globalisation to lead to an unreasonable erosion of the social security system”.

Capitalism, which is driven by the profit motive, has little scope for idealism. Which is why under conservatives, the social gains of society are generally whittled down in order to raise profits.

A new world cannot, however, emerge unless the old world is slowly dismantled and new structures put in their place.

The creation of an expanding European Union, the launching of the Euro, a new international currency, and thoughts on a European security system can be steps in this direction. The world economic agenda no longer depends on the USA. Euro, if it succeeds, can organise a new world. It has the promise of changing the entire economic and financial system of the world. It can create a zone of exchange stability. And the sheer size of the unified European market (it is expanding into Eastern Europe) can influence global development. Euro would become an important reserve currency and a denominator of world trade, thereby limiting the privileges enjoyed by the dollar.

The point is: an alternative to the US-led system is emerging, even though slowly. The world will have an alternative choice. Socialism was once that alternative. But the men behind it proved to be inadequate.

But a new economy is not enough to take the world out of its present impasse. It is necessary to liberate it from political mire. The French defiance of America was the first assertion of European independence. France understands better the significance of nuclear weapons in today’s politics. That explains why it is opposed to a unipolar world. Both Yeltsin of Russia and Jiang Zemin of China are also opposed to a unipolar world.

But Germany is the key to European developments, being the most powerful country in Europe. The German people have recently voted for the Social Democrats. It marks a significant change in their outlook. Schroder, the new Chancellor, is not a radical. But the SDP is. As Schroder depends on the green party, which is radical in its social and environment agenda, he has little leverage in the present circumstances. The Greens have already the satisfaction that they have forced the governments of Europe to give up the option of nuclear energy. Their case was: nuclear waste will destroy environment for centuries to come.

But there are limits to the social agenda. The Mastricht Treaty has put a limit of 3 per cent of the GDP on Budget deficit. And there is the threat from industry that it will move out of the country. It is obvious that the New Left cannot move very far.

German academics admit that Germany has no foreign policy, that it cannot manage its security outside NATO. As a result, Germany has to follow the USA blindly — even to its disadvantage. This was true of the Christian Democrats. But the SDP carries the legacy of Willi Brandt — of friendship with the East. How Schroder will translate that legacy is yet to be seen.

The Greens are also in favour of nuclear disarmament. They prefer to have an expanded role for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) in Europe. They say NATO should be subordinate to OSCE. But the extension of NATO to Poland, Hungary and Czech republic tells a different story. Surprisingly both Poland and Hungary are ruled today by former Communists!

France wants Germans to be less close to the USA. It even offered nuclear cooperation to wean the Germans. But the Germans do not want a situation to arise when they have to choose between France and the USA. But it is also clear that if the SDP wants a measure of independence (and they do) this is possible only through Europe’s assertion of independence. This assertion is already there: in launching the Euro, in seeking a European security system, in expanding the EU to the East. Germany has contributed much to all these.

In conclusion, we see some impediments to the emergence of an alternative system in the world. But it is also true that such a system has taken shape already in Europe.

75 YEARS AGO
India and Japan

WE whole-heartedly associate ourselves with the appeals which have been issued by His Excellency the Viceroy on behalf of the Government and Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya on behalf of the people for subscriptions in aid of the millions who have been rendered homeless or destitute or have been left without their bread-winners by the recent earthquake in Japan, perhaps the most terrible natural visitation that has afflicted our race within the memory of man.

That India sympathises profoundly with Japan goes without saying, but the sympathy must be given a tangible, material shape. Of course, India cannot give out of her abundance, as the United States and other countries have given or are giving. She is an abnormally poor country in the best of times, and for the last few years she has experienced a succession of calamities which have materially reduced her power of rendering help to other nations even in their hours of need.

But she must do everything that it is humanly possible for her to do. In this connection, we draw prominent attention to an admirable suggestion which has just been made by the “Bombay Chronicle”.

Our contemporary writes: “It is not enough that a verbal message of sympathy is sent from India to Japan by the Indian National Congress or the Viceroy. Some more tangible token of India’s heart-felt sympathy is needed. We would suggest that besides organising a relief fund, a shipload of rice, contributed by the rice merchants of India and Burma, should be sent immediately to Japan as an earnest of India’s determination to do all she can, out of her poverty, to relieve the suffering of the people of Japan”.

We commend this suggestion for immediate consideration by the rice merchants of Bombay.