The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Defence deal with Russia

INDIA'S defence capability will receive much-needed boost with the signing of a nearly $ 3 billion deal with Russia under which the country will purchase 310 T-90 S tanks, go into production of 150 SU-30 MKI fighter planes and acquire the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov. Coming from state enterprises, the arms and armaments that India is to get are considerably cheaper compared to equivalent models available in the West. Yet, there is need to reassure the country that this is the best deal available under the circumstances. Equivalent does not mean equal in defence parlance and the planes and tanks that the country is set to acquire ought to be more than a match for what its traditional rivals have or are likely to have. The nation needs to be convinced that its security will not be compromised in any way by going in for more economical models. The question marks that have arisen about the safety level of certain old MiG planes should not haunt the weaponry sought to be acquired now. Beyond the economy factor, there is also the question of upgradation, compatibility and availability of spares. The overall package needs to be assessed in that wider perspective. As it is, doing business with Russia is not quite as lucrative as dealing with the Soviet Union was. For one thing, the payments now have to be made in hard currency. The quality of armament is also not what it used to be. The fragmentation of the country has hit its R and D badly and many items coming from Russian factories are found wanting in reliability as well as sophistication. Such shortcomings may not matter in consumer goods but when it comes to state of the art technology, it can be a matter of life and death. For instance, in avionics technology has been surging ahead at a fantastic speed and it will require the trained eye of independent experts to ascertain whether the Sukhoi planes are indeed the best option.

Through the signing of this biggest-ever deal, the two countries have become partners in developing avionics for the latest versions of Sukhoi. That indeed is the dawn of a new era. Expertise gained in this regard may lead to positive spinoffs in India’s own defence R and D. It is no secret that its efforts to indigenously produce advanced helicopters, jet trainers and tanks have met with extremely limited success. What is even more significant is the fact that the cash-strapped Russia may even be willing to allow India to invest in its defence industry. That can open tremendous vistas and is an opening well worth exploring. There are two other vital segments of the agreement. One, it envisages the setting up of an inter-governmental commission on military-technical cooperation. That should bring the countries that much closer, considering that so far, defence cooperation between the two was at the joint working group level. Defence Minister George Fernandes is not known for his friendliness towards Russia but is not creating any problems either. Two, and most significant, President Vladimir Putin has given the go-ahead to a long-term plan to intensify bilateral cooperation in the peaceful use of atomic energy. This may be the big breakthrough that India, which has been suffering because of the international nuclear blockade, may have been praying for. The power-starved country just has to accelerate its nuclear power generation programme. These efforts were being scuttled by the international rules on the sale of nuclear power reactors. The cartel of advanced nations called the Nuclear Suppliers Group had stipulated in 1992 that nuclear sales to India must be followed by complete international control over the entire Indian atomic programme. New Delhi has been opposed to such “fullscope safeguards” although it is willing to accept facility-specific safeguards. How Russia gets past its current obligations is not clear but if it does, it will mark a quantum change in the atomic energy exploitation in India.

Post-mortem of gross neglect

LIKE a slow-motion re-run of a particularly ghastly accident, the expert report on the death of Rangarajan Kumaramangalam pinpoints the wrong decisions hour by hour and also lack of care, all in excruciating detail. It also makes painful reading. His death could have been and should have been avoided. But no one individual is responsible and the tragedy was a collective goof-up. But in the main, the late Minister, popularly known as Ranga, was to blame. Like most Indians, he had convinced himself that death dared not covet him and anyway that was a very distant possibility. For three months he and those he trusted administered him wrong or innocuous medicines even while he was losing the protection which nature had provided. Several little signs surfaced but a composite picture eluded even super specialists. When he finally entered the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) it was too late. The six leading medical men, who investigated the medical record, now say that he died because his immunity had crumbled, making his body extremely vulnerable to death even of simple fever. For nine days in April he was in Apollo Hospital undergoing a variety of tests by many senior doctors. Ironically, he was also treated for a variety of ailments, from malaria to tuberculosis. There was one weak alarm bell; white blood cells were normal in number but the differentials were not. That matter needed more investigation but Ranga, a workaholic, went back to his ministry but not to the hospital for further examination. This failure concealed the fact that he had cancer of the lymphnodes, a sort of network of body fluid, which can be easily treated but which when left untreated can easily kill. And it killed him.

An appalled Union Health Minister, who holds a foreign postgraduate degree in surgery, clung to the wrong diagnosis of AIIMS and virtually threatened to cancel the licence of Apollo. Now he denies it, but given his knowledge and position, a threat is as good as public punishment, no matter how vigorously the hospital denied the implied charge. It says it is vindicated, but not fully. Medical ethics demands that a doctor prod and pursue a patient and not leave it to him to decide how best to cope with his condition. An ailing man goes to a doctor to be cured, not to be attended to. Rules and the law do not recognise this responsibility but the larger morality of medicine does. AIIMS too went wrong. It treated Ranga for leukemia while he was actually suffering from a form of cancer. But this mistake is understandable. His ministerial status and critical condition (scepticaemia or fatal infection of the blood) must have upset their normal equanimity.

There is a clear warning for ordinary people in all this. The report points out that for three months Ranga took anti-TB drugs without any improvement. He did visit Apollo one day but that was to have a chest X-ray. All the while he was losing weight, in all about 10 kg. Something was really eating him but he did not pay much attention. He was losing his normal energy for work but tried to overcome it with a powerful pep pill. That was taking the body for granted despite its repeated distress calls. This is not unknown; many sick people follow this routine and seek help only at the last minute. Health Minister C.P.Thakur wants to initiate three steps, two of which are to make it mandatory for doctors and hospitals to hand over all medical records and to ask doctors to undertake a test every five years. The first already exists but the second remedy will evoke either a yawn or derisive laughter since there is no institutional set-up to take up this giant job. Instead he should try to educate the people to take their ailments more seriously and to provide for affordable medical check-up at periodic intervals.

STATE OF EDUCATION IN INDIA
Where has the country gone wrong?
by K. K. Khullar

THE history of education for the last one thousand years will reveal that Indian society has always accorded a very high priority to it. Our ancient scriptures define education as that which liberates — provides the instruments for liberation from ignorance and oppression. In the modern world it would naturally include the ability to read and write since that is the main instrument of learning. Hence the crucial importance of education. There is an old Indian proverb which lays down that if you are planning for a year, plant rice, if you are planning for 10 years, plant timber. But if you are planning for a 100 years educate your children.

The last millennium opened in India with an excellent system of education with “pathshala” at the primary level, “gurukul” at both primary and secondary levels leading to a “vishwavidyala” at the university level. The curriculum included the education and training of mind, body and soul. With the advent of Islam, we had the “maktab”, the “madarsa”, and “dara-ul-uloom” which provided instruction in theology, sciences and arts. The Indian universities of Nalanda, Taxila, Vikramsila, Ujjaini were among the best universities of the world where students sought admission from all corners of the earth. In times of the nation’s crisis Indian educationists and intellectuals led the country. The Indian education system, therefore, continued to evolve, diversify and extend its reach and coverage. It also continued to express and promote its unique socio-cultural identity to meet the challenges of the times.

Alberuni, who came to India many times with the invading forces of Mahmud of Ghazni, says that the Hindus were excellent mathematicians, astronomers, astrologers, masters of algebra, geometry and trignometry. They were well versed with the rules of the chord. Similar tributes have been paid by travellers such as Ibn Batuta, Bernier, Tavernier, Peter Mundy and Diaz who visited the Vijanagar Empire. The Italian scholar Petro Della Valle, who came to India in the 17th century, gives interesting descriptions of a village school run by the local panchayat in South India where fine sand spread on the floor was used for writing by children and learning was by rote.

There is strong evidence that the standard of literacy in different parts of the country was quite high. “May you excel in scholarship and public debates” was the “ashirvad” of the father at the time of his daughter’s wedding.

The 250-year rule of the British in India was the darkest period of Indian education and culture. The English language, which was forced down the throats of the Indians, still hangs around their patriotic necks as an albatross. The industrial houses and India’s business community want the English language to continue not for cultural but for commercial reasons. And it is a sad commentary on our character and culture that many of us have started describing English as an Indian language although it is still not included in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution. And yet it is the second alternative official language of India.

During my visits abroad, many important foreigners asked me: “Don’t you have your own language?” I lowered my head in shame although I told them that we have 1652 mother tongues in our country yet English prevails. There is demand for the so-called English-medium schools even in the villages of India. Incidentally, the Indian writers who want English to continue are those who failed writing in their mother tongue. It is a pity that the mother tongue instruction, even at the primary stage, is extinct in India except in some municipal schools where no educated Indian sends his children. People had great hopes pinned on the new government but it too has not changed the old language policy.

British rule annihilated the character of Indian education. Macaulay’s famous remark that a single poem of John Milton can cancel the entire literature of the East was so insulting to the Indian genius that the two could never meet. The result was that illiteracy increased. Only the English-knowing babus were considered literate. The scholars of Sanskrit, Persian and Arabic became illiterate overnight. Only one child out of every four attended the school. Girls education existed only in name. In no time, India, which had given scripts to half of the world, became an educationally backward country; the educated unemployed roamed about in the streets like beggars.

During the past 53 years India had made investments in education next only to defence. We produce the largest number of graduates and we have the largest number of primary schools in the world. Yet the number of out-of-school children in India is also the largest, the number of adult illiterates is also the largest. According to the National Sample Survey, the literacy rate has reached 62 per cent (in 1997) but the number of illiterates is not arrested.

It is too well known that adult illiteracy is the direct outcome of our failure to universalise elementary education. The challenge of the future is, therefore, the twin curse of out-of-school children and its offshoot, the adult illiterates. The Supreme Court judgement to make elementary education a fundamental right of every child upto the age of 14 would require an additional Rs 20,000 crore per year for the next six years. To say that by creating a new Department of Elementary Education and Literacy at the Centre, we will eliminate illiteracy from the land is just like saying that by putting a chapter on poverty alleviation in the Ninth Plan we have eliminated poverty.

Something drastic has to be done. We tried non-formal education but it turned out to be the poor cousin of the formal system, a second rate system of education meant for the weaker sections. In the past 1000 years, therefore, education was the God that failed. We have to create a god that succeeds. We must have a crash programme in education, opening more and more primary schools. Do not open any new college or university. Levy an education cess and increase the fees for higher education.

Incidentally, the college and university fees in general education have remained static in the last five decades. Higher education is the cheapest in India. But at whose cost? Technical education and other professional education is highly subsidised. The irony is that the beneficiaries do not serve their country after completion. No more liquor shop be opened. The money saved should be invested in schools.

Let the nation realise that its wealth does not lie in the Reserve Bank of India but in the primary schools. Let us read the signs of time before it is too late.

Indonesia in turmoil
by V. Gangadhar

GREAT expectations are seldom realised in political trouble spots. The world was relieved when the corrupt strong man of Indonesia, General Suharto, finally quit office and was succeeded by the more gentle and popular, Abdurrahman Wahid. It was hoped that the memory of Suharto would remain a distant, bad dream.

Obviously, Indonesia is not so lucky. Powerful military Generals who had milked the nation to the tune of billions of dollars were not satisfied remaining in the shadow. Even after Time magazine carried a devastating expose of Suharto’s corruption and the government said it was ordering an inquiry, Suharto and some of his favourite Generals continued to play their games.

Their role was accentuated by the raging civil war in the country which pitted Muslims against Christians. Violence was unleashed in several provinces. The worst of this, a bomb attack, ripped through the Jakarta Stock Exchange on September 13 and killed 15 people. The nation was shocked and trading came to a halt. The bombing came a day before Suharto was to appear in the court to answer corruption charges. It was a slap in the face of President Wahid and showed that Suharto continued to play a key role in Indonesia, particularly in creating unrest.

But this time Wahid did act. He personally ordered the arrest of Tommy or Hutamo Mandala Putra, the youngest son of Suharto. The cheers which greeted this action soon stopped because the police said it could not arrest Tommy because they had no evidence. To rub salt on the wounds, the 38-year old Tommy voluntarily turned up at the Jakarta police headquarters and confidently predicted that he would be out in no time. And that was what happened exactly. The police chief clarified that the President did not provide him with any evidence and that Tommy had clarified the issue to his satisfaction.

It was an astonishing situation. Indonesia faced two major problems. Who was responsible for the bomb attack? Was the President finally waking up from his stupor and taking a hold of the turbulent situation? But his action asking for the detention of Tommy was yet another instance of ad hocism. Of late, Indonesia had been plagued with bombing incidents which along with violent communal clashes in the provinces had made life insecure. The leader of the nation was expected to be stern and take some positive action. This had not been forthcoming so far.

It was clear the security forces had been infiltrated by forces loyal to the former President and were prepared for any eventuality to stop him from being tried in public for corruption charges. Such rogue elements had pushed President Wahid to the wall. His earlier soft approach of gradually taming the armed forces and simultaneously introducing the new order had not worked at all. What Indonesia needed was a strong dose of medicine, but that had not been forthcoming. Wahid had been exposed as a weak, vacillating dreamer.

Everyone in the nation talks of the infiltration of the military by rogue elements, but was there any proof of this? The Jakarta police had recently been given additional powers to investigate the matter. But it was obvious that at least for the time being it did not want to entangle with the armed forces. The investigation into the September 13 bombing had not made headway because of this reason only though responsible Indonesian government officials definitely suspected the hand of the rogue elements.

There had been enough evidence in the past on this issue. Last July, a bomb went off in a crowded street in Jakarta, hours before the police and the Attorney-General’s office began questioning Tommy on corruption charges. Another bomb went off inside a bus just as Suharto was scheduled was to appear in court on charges of embezzling $ 750 million of the state funds. When Suharto failed to appear in court pleading ill health, the judge, who was not amused, ordered a state investigation of his health. But before it could be carried, the stock exchange bomb went off. All these could not be coincidences.

Tommy was Suharto’s favourite son but was intensely disliked by the people for his arrogance and flaunting his wealth. For long he had skated on thin ice, almost breaking the laws, but getting away with it. He floated bogus firms, captured the cloves market and drove around in fast cars.

How was it that the rogue elements enjoyed so much power and affluence? Former President Suharto, the members of his family and their cronies still possessed huge amounts of wealth both within the country and abroad. They were the only people who were capable of providing money and security to the renegade elements. The rogue elements had been operating with the latest, most sophisticated weapons, which had been smuggled into Indonesia at great cost. Who footed the bill? Obviously, Suharto and his cronies.

The Jakarta blast had also focused international media attention on the state of anarchy in the country. Prospective investors are now asking themselves twice if it was worthwhile to spend money in such a turbulent nation. The international community, which had clamoured for taking strong action against the atrocities committed by the security forces in East Timor, was now demanding the restoration of peace in the mainland. An editorial in Jakarta Post said that the West, particularly the USA, was concerned at the increasing violence in Indonesia and the timid responses by the government.

Indonesia cannot afford to go back to its bad old days and allow the military to snuff out democracy which resurfaced with the election of President Wahid. The West was keen to help the government but it wanted the President to wake up to the harsh reality and be less somnolent. While the renegades acted unchecked, the Indonesian parliament kept on sniping at the President suggesting the setting up of parliamentary panels to probe into corruption charges against the President.

Wahid had reasons to get desperate. With foreign funds drying up, the country was facing economic ruin. The gaping disparities between the poor and the affluent, which he had promised to bridge, were still wide open. Besides the antics of Suharto and his family, Wahid had to face ethnic strife in the provinces. International agencies were keen to sign the agreement between East and West Timor and facilitate the passage of refugees, but that action also got stalled because of internal problems. Senior army officers in West Timor were ready to do anything to save their colleagues who would be put on trial for atrocities committed in independent East Timor.

Indonesia’s present tragedy is in sharp contrast to the feeling of euphoria experienced at the time of Wahid’s coming to power in October, 1999, after the first democratic election for nearly 45 years. The poll was peaceful. The new President promised democratic reforms, crusade against corruption and a stop to the military from interfering with the running of the government. But the promises remained only on paper. Wahid, no doubt, had good intentions, but did not show the will to implement them. He remained a dreamer.

Indonesia is like any other developing nation where the process of democracy got stalled immediately after the elections.

No change in the logic of Indo-Russian ties
By M.S.N. Menon

PUTIN has come and gone. It was a significant visit. It proved one thing: that the logic of Indo-Russian relations has not changed in all these years. It remains as strong as ever.

And yet Moscow and Delhi have flirted with it and even tried to tamper with these time-tested relations, with disastrous results in the case of Moscow and with even worst possible results in the case of Delhi.

But, first, on the usual game of mis-information. (This has been happening with every Russian visit from the fifties). We know its authors. They want to mislead the public and spoil India’s relations with Moscow. But they failed, for the media, with few exceptions, did not pick up the planted stories.

Nations follow their self-interest. But interests keep changing. That is when new alignments are born. As the saying goes, a nation has no permanent friend or permanent enemy. So, Indo-Russian relation is not something sacred. It can change. But the change can come out of follies.

Such was the case when Yeltsin scrapped Moscow’s foreign policy and put his country under American tutelage, only to discover before long that he had made a big blunder. And Kosyrev, his Foreign Minister, outbid his master in the follies and did much damage to Indo-Russian relations.

During Moscow’s Afghan war, India stood by the side of Moscow, in spite of grave criticism. And yet when Moscow decided to ditch the Naguibullah regime, it did not take India into confidence. It was a grave blunder of history to let the Taliban take over Kabul.

We have thus created a major global problem. (Of course, America is to be held primarily responsible for this). Moscow might have had its reasons for what it did, but India felt hurt.

Similarly, when Central Asia gained independence, Moscow was worried about the moves of the Central Asians and their impact on the Muslim autonomous regions of the Russian Federation. It was primarily worried about the interference of Turkey, Pakistan and Iran in Central Asian affairs. Moscow wooed them all to forestall any hostile moves. This brought Moscow and Islamabad closer. Moscow took a series of steps to placate Pakistan. These were inimical to Indian interests.

Happily, the communist and nationalist parties of Russia came to dominate the Russian Duma (Parliament). They opposed Yeltsin’s foreign policy shift, particularly the tilt to the West. They forced him to change.

By the end of 1992, Moscow was disillusioned with the West. It resented US efforts to browbeat it and was disenchanted with Western aid. Moscow began to assert that it is an independent power.

It was soon realised that the USA was the real threat to the integrity of the Russian Federation and Central Asia, for it not only encouraged the Central Asians to assert their independence, but also the Chechens to revolt against Moscow. Moscow realised then that to counter the US threat, it was necessary to establish strategic relations with both China and India. Thus was Kosyrev booted out. But, by then, he had done some damage to Indo-Russian relations.

What do these episodes show? They show that nations can make serious errors in their judgement. Both Russia and India are not above such weaknesses.

The USA could have won over India at this time, but President Clinton chose to tilt against India. Naturally, Indo-US relations plunged to a new low.

Clinton’s first moves were designed to isolate India from Moscow by cutting off Moscow’s defence supplies to India. He used both threats and even blackmail (through IMF). But Moscow stood firm. It was in the face of this defiance by Moscow, I submit, that Clinton decided to try his charm on India. This explains why Clinton went out of his way to dramatise a new era of Indo-US relations. And India swallowed the bait. It was overwhelmed by the effusiveness of it all. And our Prime Minister, who should know better (remember, he supported the Indo-Soviet Treaty while his Party was against it), proclaimed India and the USA as “natural allies”, a phrase with a long pejorative history. Does this mean that India’s relations with Moscow are not natural? Moscow was incredulous.

It is pertinent to recall here that Balraj Madhok, president of the Jana Sangh, was in favour of an alliance of India and the USA. And he opposed non-alignment. Even today the industrialists who are pro-America, and the nationalists co-exist in the BJP in an uneasy relationship.

I have pointed out earlier that Clinton, who had promoted secessionism in India, cannot be a true friend of India. India should be cautious. America is a super-power; now, the only power. It has its own logic.

If, however, we go headlong in our folly to put our faith in Washington (this is against our own objective of a multi-polar world), then we should not blame Moscow if it chooses a different course. And one course I can think of is what Samuel Huntington feared: the coming together of China, Russia and the Islamic world. If such a combination emerges, it will make India’s position dangerously precarious. We cannot expect Washington to stand by us in that case.

I can hear some demur. Even sneer. Please think, for this is a serious matter. Whoever has control over the Gulf and Central Asian oil and gas will rule over the world during this century and beyond. The stake is high. The reward is even higher.

If Moscow, Beijing and the Islamic world truly join forces, no one will dare to challenge them. More likely, the Western world will then work for an accommodation. In that case, Moscow will have the upper hand. And the Islamic world will be triumphant.

The Muslim world is largely anti-West. It cannot perpetuate Western power by letting the West dominate oil politics. China will exploit this sentiment to advance its own ambitions. And Moscow will try to secure a measure of control over Central Asia in order to resolve its own pressing economic problems. Pakistan can be a partner in this grand scheme. Karachi will become a hub of oil and gas.

Of course, I do not think that this is going to happen because, if anything, the Russian people are ethical. They adhere to values. But they are deeply divided today. We are not sure which way this will turn.

India has for long been under some dope or other. No profound insight into history guides the Indian people. Nor has it an acute consciousness of the historical process. It is time India woke up to realities We cannot sit on the lap of Uncle Sam and have a tete-a-tete with Moscow. This is not possible. This is not natural. We should maintain our neutrality. Moscow and Washington are still rivals. To throw our weight on the side of one or the other is to promote bi-polarity, to bring back the cold war. This cannot be our intention.

It is true our ruling class has a huge stake in the West. So have the NRIs. But they should not expect the nation to sacrifice its interests for them.

What happened in Washington recently during the visit of Prime Minister Vajpayee was a demonstration of our naivete. We crossed the Lakshman Rekha under Clinton’s blandishments. It thought that the BJP and RSS want India to become a super power. Surely, this will not be possible if they agree to become a Man Friday to Uncle Sam.

Yielding place to new

THE benefits of newspaper-reading — that used to be a favourite topic with teachers when I was a school student half a century ago. I remember a rival-friend having collected almost a hundred points which he could rattle off like machine-gun. I used to envy that phenomenal memory of his. I wonder if he can still perform that feat. As for me, I have forgotten completely even my own list although it was pitiably shorter. I think my focus was on news and views — on the newspapers making us more knowledgeable and, therefore, wiser. Somehow, despite its brevity, my essay had clicked more with our teacher who applauded my having grasped the crux of the issue in hand. As he elaborated my points in the class, he went lyrical and declared rather rhetorically that my views could be summed up in a single phrase — the cultivation of sense and sensibility. To be frank, I didn’t quite understand then what sensibility meant; now when I do, I am not sure if it was really apt enough.

A decade later, bitten by the journalistic bug, I started writing articles for the newspapers, but they had the nasty habit of coming back like the proverbial bad coin — of course, not totally empty-handed but with Editor’s compliments. A senior colleague tried to educate me on the latest trends in journalism: “Send them stories with human interest; editors these days are not bothered about ideas, knowledge, etc. The stress is now not on head but on heart — on sensitising the people, making them aware of the human situation, the human problems. The keyword today is sensitivity, not sensibility any more.” The advice did work, but not for long. I needed no friend or teacher to make me realise that the trend had changed again. The new models were “Blitz” and the like — full of scams and scandals. Obviously, sensitivity had graduated into sensationalism.

A decade ago, I had a feeling that my favourite newspaper was going sensuous — creating additional pages for health, physical culture, sports, changing lifestyles, objects of desire, interior decoration, entertainment, hobbies, etc. As it implied more space for art and culture as well, it suited me not only as a reader but also as a writer. But, alas, I was not prepared for the next logical step. I should have known that only a thin line separates the sensuous from the sensual. Oh, the current spate of pullouts flaunting bare-bodied filmstars and models in titillating poses! Surely this trend is helping the newspapers attract the young readership, but the puritan in me is violated every morning. What consoles me, however, is that even this would change some day — “yielding place to new.”

What would be that new — that next? Who can tell in this age of the computer when things are changing so radically every day — nay, every hour? Anyway, I have two hunches — one bordering on superstition, the other on conviction. First, to sum up the next phase, the epithet would start with “sense”, as it has always done heretofore. “Senseless,” did you say? Well, yes, it might as well be that — and why not? As it happens, it has the advantage of implying not one but two possibilities — nonsense, and dying. My second hunch is that, hopefully, I shall not be there to know if my first hunch was right.