E D I T O R I A L   P A G E

EDITORIALS

Kanishka: end of a long wait
WITH the arrest of two key Canadians — Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri — believed to be involved in the blowing off of Air-India's Kanishka plane in 1985, killing all 329 passengers on board off the Ireland coast and causing the death of two persons at Tokyo by planting a bomb in another flight, the 15-year-long investigation process has come to a close.

A titan bows out 
INDIAN politicians do not retire voluntarily. They are thrown out and leave kicking and screaming. That is why the resignation of West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu has excited the nation as a whole. Also the unanimous opposition of the Left Front and his very long innings at the helm. His party, the CPM, had twice rejected his request to step down or persuaded him to stay on. The last instance was in September last but he stayed on to weather the storm unleashed by Ms Mamata Banerjee and the Centre’s initial readiness to take some drastic steps.

OpinioN

The Arab-Israeli Dispute
Need for realism in India
by G. Parthasarathy
NOSTALGIA and sentimentality are two attributes that seem to constantly influence intellectual and political thinking in the conduct of foreign policy in India. Slogans like “solidarity of developing countries” and “support for the Arab cause” are freely touted, with scant regard for the fact that Nasser and Tito have been long buried. 

No cure for UN financial illness
by A. Balu 
THIS is an old story — but worth repeating — involving the United Nations that only recently held with great fanfare and pomp the Millennium Summit. The world organisation has a chronic ailment of financial stringency that has been much talked about in recent years, but with no cure in sight.

Coordinated digging! 
by S. Raghunath
DELHI Telephones (DT), Delhi Water Supply and Sewerage Board (DWSSB) and Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB) have decided to set up a high-power committee to “coordinate” their road digging plans so that the people are not inconvenienced.

by Anupam Gupta
For and against big (Narmada) dams
SIX years after it was mounted in the precincts of the Supreme Court by Medha Patkar’s army of the displaced, the big challenge to big dams in India has failed. And failed miserably.

by Humra Quraishi
National day celebrations galore
HOW does Vice President Krishan Kant manage to sit there all relaxed and smiling, playing the chief guest’s role at almost all receptions hosted by the various embassies, on the occasion of their country’s national days? If I am not mistaken New Delhi has over 100 High Commissions and Embassies. Last week, the two national day receptions which I attended — Hungary’s national day (October 23) and the national day of Austria (October 24) — he was the chief guest on both occasions.

Kanishka: end of a long wait

WITH the arrest of two key Canadians — Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri — believed to be involved in the blowing off of Air-India's Kanishka plane in 1985, killing all 329 passengers on board off the Ireland coast and causing the death of two persons at Tokyo by planting a bomb in another flight, the 15-year-long investigation process has come to a close. With this has also come to an end the long wait for the victims' families to file their claims for compensation from the Canadian authorities. Earlier the process for deciding compensation could not be initiated because no one could prove where the plan was executed and where the killer bomb came from. Now that the riddle has been unravelled by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Canadian authorities will have to prepare themselves for handling a flood of petitions from the kin of the Kanishka disaster victims. This will amount to parting with millions of dollars by the Canadian government which it never expected because of the strongly-held belief that the bomb's origin was India. Canada has already spent over $30 million on the investigation of the heart-rending incident in which it lost 278 of its citizens, mostly of Indian origin. It is a big jolt to Canada, but it will also enable the people, specially of British Columbia, home to nearly 50 per cent of the two lakh Sikhs living in that country, to heave a sigh of relief that "the most significant crime in the history of Canada is finally going to be dealt with", as the Premier of the province, Mr Ujjal Dosanjh, has said.

In fact, the arrest of the two Canadian Sikhs of Indian origin is not the end of the 15-year-long investigation. More arrests will follow. Then it will lead to a legal process involving over 900 witnesses. It will also bring into focus the dreaded phase of Punjab terrorism which nobody wants to remember. The truth is that both Malik and Bagri have been associated with extremist movements. Bagri, a former saw-mill worker, had been helping in various ways Talwinder Singh Parmar, founder of the Babbar Khalsa International, till the latter was shot dead in India on October 15, 1992. Malik, an established businessman and quite popular among the Canadian Sikhs, has been actively associated with the Akhand Kirtani Jatha and the World Sikh Organisation. The two controversial outfits along with the Indian Sikh Youth Federation and the Babbar Khalsa International have been identified as the main conspirators in hatching the plot for bombing the Montreal-New Delhi Air-India flight on June 23, 1985. All this is embarrassing for Canadian Sikhs, but things are moving in a manner that the incident is going to be treated as a destructive act of certain misguided individuals. This is a healthy approach. There is also a clear message that anyone indulging in terrorist activity will finally find himself in the grip of the law. But the development has reopened the wounds of those who have lost their near and dear ones in the Kanishka tragedy. They had by now reconciled themselves to their fate. Yet in the interest of justice the perpetrators of the crime must get the harshest and exemplary punishment possible under the law.

A titan bows out 

INDIAN politicians do not retire voluntarily. They are thrown out and leave kicking and screaming. That is why the resignation of West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu has excited the nation as a whole. Also the unanimous opposition of the Left Front and his very long innings at the helm. His party, the CPM, had twice rejected his request to step down or persuaded him to stay on. The last instance was in September last but he stayed on to weather the storm unleashed by Ms Mamata Banerjee and the Centre’s initial readiness to take some drastic steps. Now the air is friction-free and also the CPM has updated its programme at the special meeting earlier in the month. Mr Basu has been a consistent champion of these changes like taking part in a future government at the Centre if a situation arose, giving up the age-old opposition to private ownership of property and the entry of foreign companies to set up shop in this country. His presence and cogent arguments at Thiruvananthapuram and his patient pleadings at closed-door meetings were a key in effecting the changes. In fact, a section of the media, which tends to see a sensational angle in every action or statement, linked Mr Basu’s September offer to quit as a pressure tactic to soften hardliners who were blocking the new policy. Actually it was the crisis created by Ms Banerjee’s charges and demand that held the veteran back. The leader who dubbed his party’s blunt no to him to accept the office of Prime Minister offered by the United Front a historic blunder, has finally taken a historical decision to hand over charge to the already chosen deputy, Mr Buddhadev Bhattacharya. The new leader is 30 years younger and hence his elevation represents a generational change. Interestingly, many ministers, from the CPM as well as Left Front allies, are contemporaries of Mr Basu rather than Mr Bhattacharya. Some of them will not like to work under a Chief Minister junior to them in age and political work. There are indications that a few of them will follow Mr Basu and retire. Already Mr Somnath Chatterjee, CPM parliamentary party leader, wanted to give up as chairman of the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation, though he has agreed to reconsider the move.

More than those in other parties, the Marxists believe in a rigid hierarchy. Seniority matters a lot, as much as the Civil List which is the Bible of IAS officers to know their precise rank. And hence it is premature, if not imprudent, to expect infusion of younger blood at all levels. But Mr Basu has brought up the issue of making way for a new set of leaders not only in the CPM but in other Left parties as well. At a time when the Left, confined to West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura, is struggling to maintain its base in those states where it once had pockets of influence, a radical restructuring of the leadership may impart just that degree of dynamism in the cadre. As speakers pointed out at the special meeting, the role and relevance of left-of-centre politics have vastly increased because of two reasons. One, the ongoing liberalisation and globalisation programme is adding burden on the people, including the middle class. Two, the non-Marxist practitioners of left-of-centre policies have faded away because of a variety of reasons. With the WTO threatening agriculture, farmers too will feel the pinch and will need mobilisation. There is a widening political space for parties like the CPM and other Left formations. The seminar at Thiruvananthapuram was an attempt at reviving the third front. Mr Basu has promised to work for the party, which should include pursuing the third alternative idea.

The Arab-Israeli Dispute
Need for realism in India
by G. Parthasarathy

NOSTALGIA and sentimentality are two attributes that seem to constantly influence intellectual and political thinking in the conduct of foreign policy in India. Slogans like “solidarity of developing countries” and “support for the Arab cause” are freely touted, with scant regard for the fact that Nasser and Tito have been long buried. Their successors now have policies, priorities and programmes that have nothing in common with those the likes of Nasser, Tito and Nkrumah espoused a few decades ago. No lessons also seem to have been learnt from our experiences during the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations that led to the establishment of the WTO. Espousing the cause of solidarity of developing countries, we were left out in the cold, when other developing countries individually and regionally ensured that their interests were safeguarded, by striking separate deals with the European Union and the USA.

On April 9, 1995, Nehru’s India and Nasser’s Egypt signed what was then labelled as a historic friendship treaty. India rendered unflinching support to Egypt during the Suez crisis in 1956. When Nasser mobilised Egyptian forces with the avowed aim of throwing Israel into the sea in 1967, we again supported our Egyptian friends as we had done earlier. Thereafter, when Sadat threw all talk of “Arab unity” out of the window and signed the Camp David Accords with Israel, we again lent our support to Egypt, by opposing the moves to expel it from the nonaligned movement for violating its resolutions on the Arab-Israeli dispute. The Egyptians are, however, hard-headed realists who have no time for sentimentalism. Egypt has realised that its interests lie in wooing the USA and supporting American moves to broker West Asian peace that would naturally guarantee Israel’s security, while seeking to address Palestinian grievances. Jordan has done likewise. Given a chance, Syria’s new President would also follow the same path. Most importantly, Mr Yasser Arafat now believes that he has no option but to seek American good offices and assistance if there is to be any movement at all in getting the Palestinians a progressively better life.

While we have spared no effort to please Israel’s Arab neighbours, what has their response been? In 1995 the Narasimha Rao government conferred the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for Peace and International Understanding on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, in recognition of his contribution to peace and reconciliation in West Asia. Though five years have elapsed, President Mubarak has not yet found time to visit India to receive this country’s highest award. During the Charar-e-Sharief crisis in Kashmir the Egyptian government conveniently forgot that Egypt itself was a victim of terrorist violence flowing from the activities of religious extremists trained and armed in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Egyptain Embassy in Islamabad had been reduced to rubble in a terrorist attack. One would, therefore, logically have expected the Egyptian government to condemn the Harkat-ul-Ansar for violating the sanctity of the holy Kashmiri shrine, by occupying it by resort to arms. The Egyptian government, however, chose to express regret about New Delhi’s policies and in fact called on India to protect Muslim shrines. Cairo’s approach to issues of nuclear non-proliferation also seems to show scant regard for India’s security interests or imperatives. Egypt naturally has to show greater sensitivity to the concerns of Washington, rather than those of New Delhi. Finally, one would be really living in a dream world if one believed that Egyptian support was forthcoming for India’s candidature for a permanent membership of the UN Security Council.

Cairo is not alone in the Arab world in adopting an approach to relations with India that is radically different to that adopted in the heyday of the nonalignment movement and the Cold War. While India supported the Palestinian cause in world forums, the Palestinian leadership has been an active participant in Islamic forums where there has been strident criticism of India. Individual Palestinian leaders have made comments about Kashmir that would evoke the same resentment in India that a statement by us justifying new Israeli settlements would cause to the Palestinians. We are regularly told by the Egyptians and Palestinians that we should not get unduly concerned by such criticism. They assert that they do not nationally subscribe to the views expressed in Islamic forums. But those who claim to be India’s friends should realise that friendship and amity cannot continuously be a one-way street.

While there is a tendency to regard the Arab countries as a monolithic grouping there are really three distinct Arab groupings. There are the Arab Gulf countries comprising Iraq and the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The GCC members are generally oil rich and depend heavily on British and American security guarantees. Their primary external security concerns flow from the policies and ambitions of Iran and Iraq. Then there are the countries in Israel’s immediate neighbourhood like Egypt, Jordan and Syria. These are countries directly affected by the effects of the disastrous 1967 conflict. Egypt and Jordan have thriving diplomatic and economic ties and are believed to even have covert security links with Israel. They share Israel’s concerns about religious extremism and Islamic fundamentalism. Finally, there are the Arab countries of the “Maghreb” — Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco — that are closely linked to France, but politically involved in the Middle East Peace Process (MEPP). A little known fact even within India is that we have extended active support to the multilateral track of the MEPP, by participating in the working groups on regional economic development, arms control and regional security, the environment and water resources.

India’s main political, economic and security interests lie in our relations with the Arab Gulf countries located in our neighbourhood. Given the fact that the Gulf region contains two-thirds of the proven reserves of oil and one-third of the gas reserves of the world, the region is of crucial strategic interest not only to us but also to the USA, Europe and Japan. Sadly, successive governments in India have paid less than adequate interest to high-level exchanges with our neighbours in the Gulf. While there is a competitive rivalry between the Gulf Arab States and Iran in voicing support for the Palestinian cause (Arabs and Persians have historic rivalries), countries like Kuwait view the Palestinians with considerable suspicion and place severe restrictions on the immigration of Palestinians. Oman has developed trade and economic ties with Israel and has taken a moderate and low-key line on Arab-Israeli issues. As the USA and Iran seek to mend their strained relations, it is important for New Delhi to strengthen its ties with Iran and simultaneously forge new strands of cooperation with the member-states of the GCC. We will have to get both our public and private sectors to be more active in seeking investment collaboration, especially in the oil, petro-chemical and fertiliser sectors throughout the Gulf region, including Iraq. Given our growing demand for phosphatic fertilisers, a similar effort needs to be mounted in Jordan, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. In a globalised world economy, it is economic cooperation that ultimately determines the course of relations among various countries. We should not forget that despite all our solidarity with and support for Arab causes, most Arab countries preferred to vote for Japan (which has had close diplomatic ties with Israel for decades) rather than for India when the Gujral government embarked on its disastrous quest for a non-permanent UN Security Council seat in 1997.

The recent spurt in violence in the West Bank and Gaza has predictably led to demands that we should play an “active role” in defusing tensions. One hopes that we will be realistic enough to recognise that in the present circumstances the USA alone has the power to move the Israelis and the Palestinians on the road to reconciliation. We should lend broad support to these US efforts. While there is natural sympathy in India for the travails and tribulations of the Palestinians, there is also recognition that after its experiences in the 1948, 1967 and 1973 conflicts, Israel will make no compromise on the issues it considers vital for its national security. One hopes that like the Israelis the Arab countries will also, in their own enlightened interest, cooperate positively with New Delhi in dealing with the scourge of religious extremism and terrorism. While we have abided by our commitments in the nonaligned movement while addressing the Palestinian issue in the United Nations, we should continue to develop our relations with Israel and it’s Arab neighbours in a manner that best serves the interests of our own national security.

The writer is a former High Commissioner of India to Pakistan.

No cure for UN financial illness
by A. Balu 

THIS is an old story — but worth repeating — involving the United Nations that only recently held with great fanfare and pomp the Millennium Summit. The world organisation has a chronic ailment of financial stringency that has been much talked about in recent years, but with no cure in sight.

The story is best told in the words of the representative of Singapore at a recent session of the UN General Assembly’s Fifth Committee dealing with administration and budget in New York. It is a great paradox, Mr Gerard Ho told the committee, that the UN was the only organisation in the world that could draw world leaders from 150 out of 189 member states to attend a Millennium Summit. Between them, they controlled or managed a global economy which now exceeded 30 trillion dollars. Yet, between them, they were not able to produce the 1.25 billion dollars that the UN needed to keep its finances in order.

Mr Ho narrated a simple but vivid analogy to explain the paradox. A man was drowning at sea. A boat came along with leader after leader stepping up to the side of the boat and expressing their deep concern about the drowning man. Then the boat sailed away without throwing a single life jacket to keep the drowning man afloat.

That was exactly what had happened at the 40th session of the General Assembly, at the 50th session, and regrettably, at the Millennium Summit, the Singapore diplomat noted. The UN, he suggested, should insist that each leader who came to address the General Assembly should first produce a cheque paying up the amount his country owed the UN — in full and on time and without conditions.

Mr Ho was only one of the several members of the fifth committee that voiced serious concern at the failure of some member-states to pay up the arrears From India, Mr Vaiko, member of Parliament, pointed out that the debate assumed urgency, taking into account the fact that the total arrears due to the UN were in the order of $ 2.1 billion, more than half of that being peace-keeping arrears. That figure, along with the fact that the UN owed more than 19 countries, including India (which leads the list with $ 80 million), over $ 20 million each, reflected the seriousness of the situation.

The villain of the piece in this arrears business was, of course, the USA, the largest contributor to the UN budget. There were several missiles thrown at the biggest delinquent, including one that came from France, on behalf of the European Union and associated states. The French representative put the pertinent poser: if a permanent member of the Security Council refuses to assume its special responsibility, how was it possible to call on other member-states to meet their financial responsibilities?

The US response was, as before, on familiar lines. The American representative, Mr Donald Hayes, argued that excessive reliance on one country was not in the best interests of the world organisation which was based on the principle of equality of its member-states. If all member-states could join in adjusting the methodology of the scale of assessments, substantial amounts would be paid to the UN, and this would allow the organisation to reduce its debt to member-states. Mr Hayes said his country was committed to finding a solution this year to the arrears situation.

The picture that Mr. Joseph E. Connor, UN Under Secretary-General for Management, presented should no doubt cause serious concern and worry among member- states on how the UN’s increasing activities, especially peace-keeping operations, could be handled in a situation which was undermining the financial stability of the organisation. According to Mr Connor, as on September 30, 2000, unpaid assessments — regular budget and peace keeping — totalled $ 3.094 billion. Unpaid peace-keeping assessments alone had reached the staggering high level of $ 2.5 billion. At the beginning of this year, debt to member states for troops and equipment totalled $ 800 million. The USA owed 61 per cent of the amount outstanding. Fourteen other major contributors accounted for 25 per cent. All other member-states owed 14 per cent.

On behalf of the G-77 countries, Nigeria expressed concern at the late and irregular reimbursements to the developing countries that provided troops and equipment for peace-keeping operations. This “extraordinary policy” should not be allowed to continue indefinitely since it amounted to a subsidy from, and placed undue financial stress on those developing countries.

The onus on retrieving the gloomy financial situation facing the United Nations lies on the US Congress. The UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, is committed to making every effort to secure the solution, but the forecast is uncertain. Mr Connor, apparently unhappy at the prospect facing the world organisation, chose to paraphrase Derek Bok, the past President of Harvard University: if you think peace and development are expensive, try war and poverty.

Coordinated digging! 
by S. Raghunath

DELHI Telephones (DT), Delhi Water Supply and Sewerage Board (DWSSB) and Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB) have decided to set up a high-power committee to “coordinate” their road digging plans so that the people are not inconvenienced.

Let us sit in on the first meeting of the coordination committee and observe its proceedings.

DVB man: Gentlemen, we’ve finalised plans to dig a trench, 6 feet wide and 3 feet deep, right down the middle of Janpath and our top-of-the-line digging crews will go to work with their axes and crowbars at the crack of dawn tomorrow. You’re welcome to coordinate with us.

DWSSB man: We strongly object to these unilateral digging plans which have been finalised without prior consultation with us. DWSSB, as the oldest utility in the capital city, has the first claim to digging up important, arterial roads in Delhi, leaving them unfit for vehicular traffic. We won’t allow DVB to dig up Janpath. That’s our private preserve.

DT man: For the present, we don’t have any objections to DVB digging up Janpath, but I wish to ask if it’s planning to lay new 440-KVA underground cables to evacuate power from the Badarpur Thermal Power Station and improve voltage in the old city and trans-Yamuna colonies”.

DVB man: No, we don’t have any such plans, but road digging comes naturally to us like overbilling and supplying low voltage power and moreover, we haven’t dug up Janpath for the past two days and that has upset us so. If the coordination committee allots us Shahjehan Road in diplomatic enclave to dig up that would suit us”.

DT man: Sorry, ol’man, Shahjehan Road is out. Even now, our gangs are digging up this road, leaving gaping craters and we will firmly resist all attempts to muscle in on our territory. We have paramount claim to digging up narrow, but important roads of Delhi.

DWSSB man: I still don’t like the way roads are being appropriated among yourselves for digging up without taking us into confidence and if this continues, we might be forced to withdraw from the coordination committee and draw up our own road digging plans. You’re presenting us with a “fait accompli”. DWSSB hasn’t even filled the trenches it dug up 10 years ago”.

DVB man: But you’ve other roads like Barakhamba Road which you can dig up without the coordination committee raising any objection and why pick on us? I suggest that we coordinate and you dig up Aurangzeb Road, DT will take on Connaught Place Road and we will see what we can do with Panchquian Road and we will all meet plumb in the middle of Karol Bagh Main Road.

DWSSB man: I’m still not satisfied. For us, it’s either Janpath or nothing and don’t try our patience by fobbing us off with poor substitutes like Aurangzeb Road. Moreover, we dug up Aurangzeb Road only yesterday and the whole area looks like lunar landscape and already dozens of unwary scooter and mopedwallahs have fallen into the trenches and broken their precious necks”.

DT man: Gentlemen, all this unseemly bickering is getting us nowhere and we are wasting the tax-payer’s money, and time which could have spent usefully in mindlessly digging up roads. I suggest that, to get over this impasse, we dig up all the roads in Delhi to a uniform depth and width of 5 feet, leaving mountains of earth stacked on the pavement and then forget to full up the trenches, claiming that due to other preoccupations we have clean forgotten why we dug up the roads in the first place”.

DVB man and DWSSB man: Agreed.

For and against big (Narmada) dams
by Anupam Gupta

SIX years after it was mounted in the precincts of the Supreme Court by Medha Patkar’s army of the displaced, the big challenge to big dams in India has failed. And failed miserably.

Flashing the green signal to the Narmada dam or Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP), bogged down in public interest litigation since 1994 and in controversy — both national and international — since much earlier, the court’s October 18 verdict stands out for its disdain and dismissiveness towards the problem and those who have brought it to the fore.

“With the passage of time,” ruled the Supreme Court, “the PIL (public interest litigation) jurisdiction has been ballooning so as to encompass within its ambit subjects such as probity in public life, granting of largesse in the form of licenses, protecting environment and the like. But the balloon should not be inflated so much that it bursts. Public Interest Litigation should not be allowed to degenerate (in) to becoming Publicity Interest Litigation or Private Inquisitiveness Litigation.”

Words absolutely unexceptionable in principle and, in fact, long overdue so far as the vast majority of PILs in Indian courts are concerned. But which it is unfair, manifestly unfair, to hurl at individuals of the character and courage of Medha Patkar once described as an “ecological Joan of Arc”. Or at organisations like Patkar’s Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) which took the Sardar Sarovar Project issue to the Supreme Court.

“When such projects are undertaken,” observed the court on October 18, and “hundreds of crores of public money is spent, individuals or organisations in the garb of public interest litigation cannot be permitted to challenge the policy decisions taken, after a lapse of time. It is against the national interest and contrary to the established principles of law that decisions to undertake developmental projects are permitted to be challenged after a number of years, during which period public money has been spent in the execution of the project.”

That again is well said in principle but, on the facts of the case before it, the criticism is better directed against the court itself. Why did the Supreme Court entertain the NBA’s writ petition in the first place, if this were so? Not only entertain it (in 1994) but stay (in 1995) further construction on the Sardar Sarovar dam without the express permission of the court!

The court’s own, reckless environmental activism of the 1990s, inducing false hopes and tilting at all kinds of developmental windmills in the name of equity and sustainability, had more to do with the filing of the writ petition in 1994 (rather than in the late 1980s when the NBA’s agitation against the project first picked up steam) than anything else.

Given the history of the Narmada Bachao Andolan in general and the time spent on the litigation in particular — what, pray, was the Supreme Court doing for the last six years? — it is difficult to resist the impression that the court has been less than fair to the anti-dam protagonists in skirting many of the major issues involved on the ground of delay.

“The pleas relating to height of the dam (ruled the court on October 18) and extent of submergence (of the affected villages), environmental studies and clearance, hydrology, seismicity and other issues except implementation of relief and rehabilitation cannot be permitted to be raised at this belated stage.”

NBA counsel Prashant Bhushan’s sharp criticism of the verdict on the ground of procedural unfairness also needs to be examined with some degree of attention, even though his anger against the court for its emphatic espousal of big dams is quite clearly partisan.

The NBA, claims Prashant, was not allowed by the court to address arguments on the merits of its case against big dams and yet the court has, even while denying the NBA an opportunity to present its case, pronounced against it on the point.

“(T)hese pronouncements have been made,” he wrote in The Hindustan Times on October 21, “in a case where the viability or desirability of large dams was not an issue and where the court had repeatedly told the petitioners that they must not make any submissions on this issue.”

The first part of the comment — that the viability or desirability of large dams were not an issue in the case —is a bit surprising for the overarching theme of the NBA’s campaign against the Sardar Sarovar dam, as also of the more high-profile among its outside supporters like Arundhati Roy, has been their passionate opposition to a big-dam-based model of development. Final judgement on this count must await perusal of the complete pleadings of the parties in the case, which are not immediately available.

That the petitioners were told not to make submissions on the merits or demerits of big dams does, however, raise a serious issue of breach of natural justice.

And takes away the moral sheen, as it were, from the Supreme Court’s otherwise wholly justified defence of big dams.

More next week.

National day celebrations galore
by Humra Quraishi

HOW does Vice President Krishan Kant manage to sit there all relaxed and smiling, playing the chief guest’s role at almost all receptions hosted by the various embassies, on the occasion of their country’s national days? If I am not mistaken New Delhi has over 100 High Commissions and Embassies. Last week, the two national day receptions which I attended — Hungary’s national day (October 23) and the national day of Austria (October 24) — he was the chief guest on both occasions. Most people who have to attend these receptions more than once a week complain of sheer fatigue — the same old and middleaged faces, the same set of formalities, the same snacks and wines and yet, out of the various formalities, out of sheer protocol or just to be seen on the society rung most try to make it.

In fact, many from the diplomatic circle and Delhi’s glitterati were to be spotted at both these receptions. At the Hungarian national day I spoke at length with the PLO ambassador, Dr Khaled Al Sheikh. He has been posted here, in New Delhi, for several years and talks without those diplomatic hurdles. Yes, we discussed the crisis in West Asia. In fact he was on annual leave — visiting his home state, when the clashes had started. Sounded pained by the developments and by the loss of human life, he gave a vivid account of the ongoing disaster — in fact, he lost his 19 year old nephew in the recent Israeli attacks on Palestinians. At this same reception I also met Iraqi Embassy’s Charge d’ Affaires, Dr Hadi, and he told me that Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister, Dr Ramdhani is visiting New Delhi “sometime next month, though the exact dates are yet to be finalized”. Probably a return call, after MEA’s Secretary (West Asia) led a delegation to Baghdad. I really don’t know whether India’s foreign policy vis-a-vis West Asia is suffering from a temporary low or is it acquiring some sort of a permanent texture — a lukewarm one, that is.

Moving on the Austrian national day celebrations. The Austrian ambassador Herbert Traxl’s wife happens to be our well known kathak dancer cum bureaucrat Shovana Narayan and so the guest list was not restricted to just diplomats, socialities or the media. Stretched on to bureaucracy and one could spot several bureaucrats — the serving, retired and the re-employed variety. The numbers had swelled to such an extent that a queue took shape for those leaving the venue. Queue breakers, of course — one was former governor Bhishm Narain Singh and his two attendants and then another odd couple where the man (I couldn’t place him but in all probability a retired bureaucrat) had the cheek to say “hum to kabhi queue mein nahin khatai hua!” Shovana, as always, was warm and enthusiastic. Infact, till date, in all these years, I have never seen her sulking nor complaining. Blessed with such a positive streak that two months back when she suffered a mild haemorrhage which affected one of her eyes she still went ahead doing exactly what she wanted — dancing, socilaizing, laughing, talking!

This season’s best

Best time of the year so don’t let it go, seems the motto of many - Sonal Mansingh is organising the third Jiwan Pani memorial festival (November 2 to 3) and the emphasis is on the range of technique in Odissi dance and four groups of performers have been invited from Orissa to perform Paala, the Gotipua and the Mahari style of dancing. Thankfully, an average person’s general knowledge via-a-vis Orissa will go beyond murders of missionaries or the havoc caused by the cyclonic fury.

The British Council’s Deputy Director Morna Nance is hosting a reception on October 30, for the cast and crew of ‘Goodness Gracious Me!’ (a BBC TV comedy series on Anglo Asian life).... “directed by Nick Wood this series of Anglo Asian sketches revels in gently poking in the eye every angle of multi cultural society”.

The German festival in India got going with a bang, with the Bavarian ballet but somehow till date its impact is yet to be felt. Though, as of now two exhibitions, which are a part of this ongoing festival, are on in the capital —Contemporary Art from Germany (at the Crafts Museum) and the exhibition of Medieval Art from Germany -Ornament and Figure (at the National Museum). In fact at the opening of one of these exhibitions a well known art critic of the city quipped to a politician with right wing leanings: “The khaki knickers worn by Hitler and his men had been sent here or what!”

And the cultural centre which is one of the most active centres here — The Hungarian Information and Cultural Centre — has arranged for an evening (October 30), to commemorate ‘the millennium of the Hungarian statehood, with an exhibition’ recreating the life and times of King Stephen, the Saint. - the founder of Hungary.

And former Prime Minister-turned-poet-cum-artist-turned-a-recluse (!) V.P. Singh is all set to read out his poems — at the Academy of Fine Arts and Literature, this week end. I think I had written in one of my earlier columns that this academy, manned by Ajit Cour, hosts a unique writers forum on the last Saturday of every month, at this Siri Fort Institutional Area situated Academy.

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

Service is worship. Each act of service is a flower placed at the feet of God.

—Swami Chinmayananda, The Holy Geeta