Politics of opportunism

THIS refers to Mr S. Sahay’s “Politics of opportunism” (Aug 30). Whatever be the manifesto of political parties or coalitions — with an addition here and a deletion there — they are all practising deception, sheer opportunism. These power-hungry opportunists, called politicians and leaders of the country, honour their agenda and election-time promises more in breach than by making any serious attempt at achieving them. Hence the dilution of the so-called ideology.

During the last three years the common man has lived with an ever-present threat of a collapse of the government, which came true so often. No doubt, therefore, that for politicians the key issue and the core theme has become “stability”, with certain parties even suggesting a fixed time for the Lok Sabha. Of course, the country badly needs a stable government but stability in itself is no goal. A stable Lok Sabha could be more harmful to the system, as it is the fear of facing the electorate so frequently that keeps the leaders in check.

The common man is more interested in a life without harassment. He wants an easy availability of basic necessities in a peaceful socio-political atmosphere. While politicians may agree to forming an “all-in-coalition” with ideologically incompatible parties to bring “stability”, the common man wants “stability with performance”. It is only opportunism, and not conviction that a motley group of allies form coalitions to claim their share in the booty.

VED GULIANI
Hisar

Intelligence problem

This is with reference to the article “Insensitive about Intelligence” by Col Bimal Bhatia (retd) in The Tribune dated Sept 3. He is right in his claim on scepticism concerning intelligence inputs among the top brass. The genesis of this attitude has much to do with the quality of intelligence provided by the various agencies. (Trans-border intelligence sources of military intelligence units and others are often petty smugglers — working for more intelligence agencies than one and for clients on both sides of the border who provide low-grade information. Foreign intelligence should not be confused with this type of work. Intelligence agencies cry “wolf” far too often, mainly to keep their flanks covered, but this approach in a counter-insurgency setting puts tremendous strains on the troops and lowers the credibility of information. Unfortunately, our best officers do not get slotted into intelligence appointments.

The years spent at the height of insurgency in J and K as Chief of Staff of a corps by me were bereft of fruitful intelligence inputs. Successes were more by chance encounters and due to the ingenuity of local commanders.

Finally, to deal with the “impending attack” by the SSG, there was no need to wake up any General, leave alone the army commander. Only forward troops had to be alerted. Remember when the army commander, General Montgomery, was awakened at midnight by his Chief of Staff to inform him that the German attack on the EL Almein lines was in progress, and that the defences had been breached at many places, he was told not to disturb him but instead tell the troops to kick the enemy out.

MAJ-GEN TRILOCHAN SINGH (retd)
Chandigarh

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Air fare war

The fare war between airlines should not be considered as a favour to passengers. For 40 years there had been monopoly pricing by Indian Airlines when fares were periodically increased without exploring operational efficiency. After the advent of private operators, this unjust tariff was allowed to continue. Now fares are coming down to their real level. In fact, there is scope for further reduction.

For the Indian Airlines Corporation, this should be a time for soul-searching. With the entry of private airlines, one out of three passengers walked away from the IAC. The reasons:

(1) Interference in management by politicians, many of whom were birds of passage.

(2) The Civil Aviation Ministry lorded over the IAC on the principle of power without accountability.

(3) Successive CEOs of the IAC surrendered their management discretion to the politicians and bureaucrats. A few brave professionals who tried to assert themselves were literally hounded out.

(4) A major share of the blame should go to the employee unions who forgot that their real “Annadatas” (givers of food) were passengers and consistently took a passenger-hostile attitude. Rudeness and indifference became a norm of behaviour. In real or imaginary disputes between employees and the management, though the passengers were not at all concerned with them, they were put to untold suffering by periodic disruption of flights and delays.

Merely by reducing fares the IAC cannot win over passengers. They can be attracted only by giving them basic requirements, like safety, reliability, punctuality, courteous and efficient ground and cabin service, and reasonable fares. The method of achieving this goal is through customer sensitivity, marketing innovation and employee empowerment by converting the present hierarchical system into a flat structure of management.

M.R. PAI
Mumbai