EDITORIALS

Back to square one

Every initiative on Ayodhya to defuse the crisis and create an atmosphere of peace and harmony has come to naught. Attitudes on both sides of the communal divide have hardened. The politics of confrontation is very much in the air. Even the Kanchi Shankaracharya, Jayendra Saraswati, has decided to distance himself from the vexed issue, saying that he has done whatever he could. The Shankaracharya's disgust is understandable since the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has rejected his compromise formula on the dispute on the ground that it has several "loopholes" in it. The board's response, though not unexpected, is unfortunate. The VHP's public rhetoric has only made matters worse. Its top functionary, Mr Pravin Togadia, has already given a notice to the government that the "bhoomi poojan" would definitely be performed by a few thousand “kar sevaks” on the "undisputed land" on March 15. In the circumstances, no one can be sure of the turn of events between now and March 15.

It must be said that Ayodhya has been communalised and politicised because of the Centre's inept handling of men, matters and issues. The Prime Minister gives the impression of functioning in a half-hearted manner. He has not shown the requisite political will, foresight and boldness to set the pace for events. Apparently, his government wants to play safe and prefers to leave the sensitive issue to the judiciary. Fine. It may, however, be asked: is this the right way to manage politically inconvenient issues? True, the Supreme Court can legitimately intervene in a disputed matter if the executive fails in its primary task of governance. All the same, the government must discharge its duty well. Mr Vajpayee is capable of handling the complex Ayodhya issue. He has the stature as well as goodwill among all sections of the population. However, unless he picks up courage and sets the right tone for the restoration of peace and amity, things can hardly move in the desired direction.

It is a pity that the communal divide is being formalised by vested interests in the name of Lord Rama. We expect the Central and state authorities in UP to take effective steps to maintain law and order. The country cannot afford the unending tamasha in the name of religion. It is the responsibility of the Vajpayee government to ensure peace and communal harmony at any cost. We also expect all political and religious leaders to exercise restraint at this critical juncture. They ought to show the type of commitment necessary to "decommunalise" the polity. Of course, finding an acceptable solution to the vexed issue is not easy. But a way out can be found provided the Prime Minister takes an objective view of the situation and does not allow things to drift. He needs to hammer out short-term and long-term answers to the problem through a comprehensive dialogue with leaders of all shades and opinions. The judiciary too should help the process by taking up all related Ayodhya matters on a priority basis.

Overhaul VIP security

At last the process to recall policemen attached to politicians on security duty has begun in Punjab. In Ludhiana alone 100 gunmen have been withdrawn from VIP security duty. This has been done on the direction of the Punjab and Haryana High Court where a public-spirited petitioner had questioned the rules providing for so many gunmen to politicians. The judicial feat reflects on the working of the executive, which should have itself taken the initiative to dismantle the elaborate VIP security system soon after normalcy was restored in the state. Enlightened sections of society have often questioned the need for providing security to politicians. Some have even raised the unpalatable question: are they worth protecting? If so, many ministers, MLAs, politicians even at the district level need security, that means the law and order situation in the state is pretty bad, which is not the case. Even during the recent Assembly elections when tempers get frayed on the slightest provocation, Punjab did not witness any violence, barring a few stray incidents. Then where is the need to continue with the same high-cost security network, which has bled the state white over the years? Why should the citizens pay for the security of a few privileged individuals?

The new government in Punjab led by Capt Amarinder Singh has raised high hopes and one of these is that all wasteful expenditure will be avoided and the limited resources used for development. Punjab is one of the heavily policed states. While the police was engaged in fighting militancy, this was understandable. But the same set-up has been continued by vested interests, both among policemen and politicians. VIP security, which has become a status symbol and eats up a sizeable amount of funds, should be rationalised and made need-based after a thorough review. Policemen attached to politicians are often used to run demeaning personal errands, settle private disputes and reduced to the level of domestic servants. This cannot be acceptable to any self-respecting policeman or the tax-payer. The entire police deployment needs a dispassionate and rational look in the changed scenario. The surplus staff can be better deployed elsewhere — for community policing, strengthening the intelligence network or patrolling the national highways to help accident victims get timely medical aid. A mere reshuffle of heads is not enough. There is also need to depoliticise the police.

Who killed Indian hockey?

That Indian hockey was gasping for breath was known to most followers of the game. Only the Indian Hockey Federation kept kidding itself by claiming that the game would soon regain its position at the top in the global ranking. If the top begins at the bottom, the Indian team achieved just that at the just concluded World Cup championship at Kuala Lumpur. Finishing 10th in a field of 16 may make only IHF President K. P. S. Gill and his cronies hold their heads high. Indian hockey has been on oxygen for long. However, it died a pathetic death in Kuala Lumpur. The IHF boss, who is primarily responsible for keeping Indian hockey on a starvation diet, turned the unhappiest hour into a moment of making the players and the team officials in Malaysia cut a sorry figure in front of other hockey playing nations. Instead of hanging his head in shame for bringing the game to such a sorry pass, he sent telephonic orders for the immediate sacking of Chief Coach Cedric D'Souza for the dismal performance of the team. Of courses, IHF has a history of treating its coaches and players shabbily, but never before had a coach been humiliated, by being told to pack his bags and leave, in the middle of a tournament. Ironically the day the demoralised Indian team returned home the Union Sports Ministry decided to honour the memory of the legend called Dhyan Chand. At a simple function in Delhi attended among others by the legend's son, Ashok Kumar, who too has represented India, the National Stadium was renamed as Dhyan Chand National Stadium.

The nation chose to remember the Bradman of world hockey at a time when the game is almost dead in the country! Honouring legends may serve some undefined purpose. However, if Union Sports Minister Uma Bharti really cares for the game that once brought Indian sport glory and gold, she should ask the IHF officials to mend their ways. Only the federation members and not the coach or the players are responsible for taking Indian hockey to a new low. They must be made an example of. Former Indian players too should consider playing a more proactive role for the revival of Indian hockey. They can learn from the bold step that former badminton star Prakash Padukone took for freeing badminton from the clutches of self-appointed administrators. He set up a parallel body to make the original organisation accept his reforms package. India produced its second international badminton player called P. Gopinath only after the parent organisation followed the reforms package suggested by Padukone. A similar initiative is necessary for helping Indian hockey regain its earlier glory. 

OPINION

Armed forces get a raw deal
Poor budget allocation may hit modernisation
Vijay Oberoi

The Union Budget for 2002-03, presented by the Finance Minister on February 28, has allocated Rs 65,000 crore for defence. It has variously been hailed as “a major hike”, a “substantial increase”, “3.1 per cent of the GDP” and so on. The realities are, however, different. The increase from the budget estimates of 2001-02 (not revised estimates) is only Rs 3000 crore. Thus, this year’s defence budget actually works out to an increase of only about 4.8 per cent and not 14.03 per cent, as spin-doctors would have us believe. A 4.8 per cent hike is not even enough to cover inflation. Let me clarify that the inflation rate in the case of defence equipment is much higher than routine inflation. Consequently, the Budget proposals, in effect, are yet another nail in the modernisation coffin of the Indian armed forces. The use of the word coffin is in no way related to the so-called “coffin-gate” scandal, which in my view is a needless and unfortunate controversy, designed merely to score “political points”.

Modernisation of the armed forces has suffered considerably in the last decade and will continue to suffer unless the financial infirmities plaguing it are resolved at an early date. The financial problems of the armed forces are basically two-fold. Firstly, the annual allocations in the defence budget are less than optimal and, secondly, there is an urgent need to re-formulate procurement procedures so that the allocations made are spent correctly and in time. At present, we have major problems with both. Let us look at the budgetary allocations first.

The armed forces were starved of funds throughout the last decade of the 20th century. This was in sharp contrast to the previous decade, the eighties, when reasonable allocations were received — in the region of over 3 per cent of the GDP. Thus, the allocations for 1986-87 were 3.58 per cent of the GDP and those of 1987-88 were 3.59 per cent. However, during the nineties defence allocations plummeted. From 2.88 per cent in 1990-91, they came down to 2.31 per cent in 1999-2000. Even thereafter the figure has hovered between 2.3 and 2.4 per cent of the GDP, an abysmally low level to sustain a defence establishment, which is nearly 1.2 million-strong.

There is need to ponder over the fluctuating allocations for defence since Independence. For the first 15 years defence allocations averaged at about 1.8 per cent of the GDP. With such meager allocations, the armed forces in general and the Army in particular were ill prepared for the confrontation with China in 1962. The resulting debacle was both a military disaster and a national shame. Post-Independence thought was unfortunately shaped by the Nehruvian view of security, which postulated the absence of a large-scale war. In addition, the preference of most leaders of the time was for pacifism.

After the 1962 debacle, urgent measures were taken to expand and modernise the armed forces and the defence allocations were stepped up to 3 per cent of the GDP. This was also the period when the bulk of equipment of the armed forces came from the erstwhile Soviet Union at affordable costs. Therefore, it was possible to maintain and sustain a fair degree of modernisation. Resultantly, the armed forces were better structured and equipped as we approached the mid-eighties. However, by the late eighties the global and regional security scenario started changing. The Soviet Union got embroiled in Afghanistan and the Pakistani armed forces were substantially upgraded and modernised. On the flip side, the Indian Army found itself committed on three fronts: Sri Lanka on the northern borders and in large-scale deployment to counter the internal security challenges in Punjab and later in J&K, where militancy soon gave way to a full-fledged proxy war, initiated, controlled and sustained by Pakistan. It was, therefore, incomprehensible that once again our political leadership and their bureaucratic advisers forgot the security aspect. The defence budget started decreasing, from a peak of 3.59 per cent of the GDP in 1987-88 to 2.24 per cent in 1994-95. It further decreased to 2.09 per cent the following year and has remained below 2.4 per cent till the last financial year. In real terms, this year the story is the same.

The starving of the armed forces has resulted in the gradual erosion of their combat capability vis-a-vis our adversaries. An important facet of military capability is modernisation and this is directly related to the allocation of funds, as also the procurement of modern equipment. Despite the lack of funds, the commitments of the Army continue to increase, both in J&K and the North-East. In addition, aberrations like Kargil and the present large-scale mobilisation and deployment impact very heavily on the armed forces, particularly the Army.

Allocations for our defence forces have been much below the requirements for a considerable period now. They compare unfavourably with most countries of Asia, not to speak of the world. This is so irrespective of the criteria for comparison adopted.

There are many methods of calculating and comparing defence expenditure, the percentage of the GDP being only one of them. Other well-known parameters are the proportion of government expenditure, per capita expenditure, the soldiers-to-citizens ratio and so on. As far as per capita expenditure is concerned, statistics for 1997 show that among 42 countries of Asia and Australia, India ranked 39th, with an expenditure of $ 9.74 per person, while China was 28th and Pakistan 30th. As a comparison, Israel spent $ 1,878 per person, while Kuwait at number one position spent $ 2,415 per person. The soldiers-to-citizens ratio is yet another statistical tool available for comparison. In this respect, again for year 1997 North Korea with 42.75 soldiers per 1000 citizens topped the list. India ranked 41st among the 42 countries, with a ratio of 1.18 soldiers per 1000 citizens. The comparative figure for Pakistan was 4.22.

It can thus be seen that by any statistical method India’s spending on defence is substantially lower than most countries. On the other hand, the challenges to our security are much greater. The conclusions are obvious. Greater allocations are needed to modernise the armed forces so that they can tackle the growing security challenges with equanimity and confidence.

Let us now focus on the second and even more urgent requirement. This is the dire need to evolve a changed methodology and procedures for quick procurement of vital weapons and equipment. The equipment required by the armed forces is of two categories; equipment for modernisation and those for the sustenance of the force. The former is categorised under the head “capital” and the latter under “revenue”. The procurement of the equipment is carried out under both heads. While the procurement of some equipment under the “revenue” head has been decentralised to Service Headquarters, the bulk of the procurement is carried out by the Ministry of Defence, which includes the Finance (Defence) component.

Our current procedures for procurement are so outdated that at the end of the financial year the armed forces are left with huge sums of unspent funds and no accretions in their inventory. Both last year and this year, approximately, Rs 5000 crore each has been surrendered because our procedures did not enable us to procure operationally urgent weapons and equipment. The result is progressive “aging” of the equipment profile of the armed forces. No army can continue to be armed and equipped with obsolescent and obsolete weapons and equipment. Modernisation is a continuous process. Whenever the modernisation process is impeded, on account of lack of funds or any other reason, the fall in the combat potential of the force is drastic. It is also not possible to “catch up”, as the financial resources needed in later years are exponentially much higher, which our economy can ill afford.

The old and antiquated procurement procedures have become even slower in the last three years or so, as the bureaucrats of the Ministry of Defence are loath to take any decision without covering themselves from all conceivable (and even non-conceivable) angles. While bureaucrats the world over are well known for their predilection of “own safety paramount”, our bureaucrats have taken this to ridiculous heights. Major contributory factors are various reports of the Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG), the Tehelka episode of last year and the sword of Damocles hanging in the form of Mr Vittal’s anti-corruption outfit.

These bureaucrats have found an ingenious way to avoid taking decisions. They do so by repeatedly sending back files containing proposals for the acquisition of equipment forwarded by the service headquarters on the flimsiest of grounds. They do so in the hope that either the financial year will end in this “to-and-fro” movement of files, or over a period of time they would be able to build a case for themselves by showing how diligently they probed, returned and re-returned files so that at no stage could they be blamed for the procurement of the item! All this has resulted in very little procurement, virtually no modernisation of the armed forces and the surrender of large sums of money at the end of the year. The Ministry of Defence is perhaps the only ministry that surrenders such huge sums. This has become such a habit in the last few years that I will not be surprised if the financial wizards in North Block bank on this bonanza to finally balance the budget and add in sops, which produce “dream”, and “people-friendly” budgets!

As part of the recommendations of the Task Force on Review of Management of Defence, a Defence Procurement Board was set up last year. A Special Secretary heads it. It is an elaborate organisation and has now been functioning for over six months, yet large funds have again been surrendered. Obviously, it is not structures, however, elaborate, which will deliver the goods. The need is for positive intentions and an attitudinal change, where the “get on with it” syndrome must prevail. We need to have simple, transparent and fast procedures for defence procurement instead of getting caught in bureaucratic methods where procedures become supreme and self-serving.

The loser in this whole exercise or the lack of it is inevitably the security of the nation. Despite little or no modernisation, the Services are expected to produce miracles whenever external threats or internal problems manifest themselves. The Services have always risen to the occasion, but the least the government can do is to give them the wherewithal so that they can meet the plethora of challenges that come their way.

The Finance Minister always offers platitudes to the armed forces, like “defence preparedness is an area of highest national priority” and “I would not hesitate to provide more funds”. Such assurances are made every year, as also on other occasions, but the reality is that the armed forces continue to age; modernisation is virtually at a standstill and our combat potential vis-a-vis our potential adversaries has now reduced to a level which is so low that any further delay in modernisation will have calamitous effects on our security.

The writer recently retired as Vice Chief of Army Staff.

REALPOLITIK

Budget baggage is new BJP worry
P. Raman

This year’s Union Budget is remarkable for its unusually uniform disapproval. In the course of the appraisals during the past 11 days at different levels, the Budget has come in for severe condemnation right from the corporates to the common man. No section is really happy with its parameters. Politically, both the BJP and the Opposition agree that its universal alienation is bound to make the Vajpayee government’s incumbency problems more unbearable.

The political implications first. The BJP MPs are the most worried lot. The recent elections have confirmed that at the top in the list of the anti-incumbency factors was the stagnated growth and the rising unemployment due to closures of small units. Mayawati and Mulayam have taken full advantage of the ill-effects of the economic reform. Even those who have been obsessed with caste calculations realised this at the last stage of the polls. MPs with their ears close to the ground shudder to think of a deadly middle class backlash on the ruling party next time. This time these sections remained simply indifferent.

Initially, nobody had time to think about Yashwant Sinha’s bomb shell. Everyone was so preoccupied with the worries of the electoral setback, confrontation with the VHP and the Gujarat killings. Even Vajpayee had little time for Sinha on the Budget eve. Budgets always had deep imprints of politics. However, the former bureaucrat found it necessary to make it as an instrument of economic reform rather than a vote bank. Last year, he had more concern for the corporates. This time his entire growth strategy is based on the foreign investors, imports lobby and the NRIs.

The ruling party MPs, especially those from where elections are due, fear that the heavy burden put on the salaried class will give a crippling blow to the party. It has been the middle classes who had found a saviour in Vajpayee in 1998 and got him in to power. But soon they had turned sceptical. Party ranks fear that the crippling tax burden put on them by the NDA budget will set them against the ruling party with a vengeance. The angry middle classes, they claim, are already playing their crucial role as opinion makers by highlighting the negative aspects of the new budget.

Out of the proposed income tax collection of Rs 40,000 crore, the burden of as much as Rs 12,000 crore falls on the BJP’s former darlings. Apart from 5 per cent surcharge, the new Budget also cut the rebate by half, in some cases removing it altogether. If you strive hard to invest some money in shares, you will have to pay tax at 31.5 per cent on your dividend. Those who take insurance have to lose another 5 per cent of the premium as service tax. Thus the NDA Budget punishes those who work hard to rise up in the hierarchy by removing the normal exceptions available to others.

Again those who make wise investments are penalised by removing all benefits. The new philosophy is that if one earns an annual pay of Rs 5 lakh, he should not invest in savings. The plight of those like widows and the retired who depend on interests have been dealt with a heavier blow this time. The ruling party’s election campaigners have been facing angry outbursts from the old. The small investors as a class, a big chunk of them with pro-BJP learnings, have also been treated shabbily. Influential sections in the BJP fear that the combined backlash is going to be severe.

Some of the visiting state leaders and MPs have some curious explanations. Some say the Budget wanted to punish the middle classes and the small investors for their role in the BJP’s defeat in the recent elections. Another interpretation, equally naive, has been a perceived shift of the ruling party from the urban middle classes to the influential rural rich. The claim is based on Sinha’s large number of new sops to the rural sector. However, fact remains that much of it is commercial in nature and are aimed at urban investors. Moreover, measures like subsidy cut and power sector reform will equally hit the rural rich.

The NDA budget seems to give a preferred treatment to the foreigners at the expense of the rest of us. While the salaried class, small investors and the domestic industry are being told to bear the burden of security and war, the foreign firms and NRIs are being blessed with benefits. The Budget imposes the entire ‘sacrifice’ on the common man but the touring allowance of the NDA ministers have been enhanced by as much as 50 per cent. Duty on imported liquor has been cut. For whose benefit?

As more obligatory burdens are put on the PSU banks, it gives a virtually free hand to the foreign banks to open new branches. In the case of foreign companies, the discrimination is more starting. The corporate tax rates on them has been reduced from 48 per cent to 40 per cent. Removal of ‘sectoral limitation’ on foreign institutional investors (FIIs) makes it easier for them to use the ‘Mauritious route’ and thus escape taxes.

The whole philosophy of the Sinha Budget suffers from such flawed presumptions. He has done everything to discourage public spending. Heavier taxes on large salaried class will force them to put off non-essential purchases. More spending is the only way to generate demand for goods and thus revive industrial activity. Instead, he wholly relies on the increased purchasing power of the rural sector as a result of a good harvest this year. The periodic ups and downs in rural demand can at best be a temporary reprieve.

After a decade of assiduous wooing, there is no sign of any substantial FDI flow that can boost the industry. Much of whatever had come was used for takeovers and mergers. As a result of this flawed strategy, industrial growth has hit a 10-year low. In the last one year, the number of investment projects being planned in India has fallen by 23 per cent. The number of projects being shelved is rising. Therefore, by discouraging domestic savings, the NDA government is inviting further economic stagnation. 

TRENDS & POINTERS

Alcohol helps women with BP

Women who have a few alcoholic drinks a week have an almost 15 per cent lower chance of developing high blood pressure than teetotallers, new research shows.

However, the study also found that consuming more than about 1 1/2 drinks daily increases the high blood pressure risk by 30 per cent compared with non-drinkers.

The increased risk was associated equally with wine, beer and hard liquor.

The reduced risk among light drinkers appeared strongest with beer, though more research is needed to clarify whether the type of drink really makes a difference, said the authors, led by Dr Ravi Thadhani of Harvard University Medical School.

Exercise and reducing salt intake are other ways to control blood pressure, and Thadhani said women should be wary of interpreting the findings to conclude that it’s a good idea to start drinking. AP

Scientists discover hunger hormone

British researchers have isolated a “hunger hormone’’ that dramatically boosts human food consumption, raising the prospects of new treatment for both the obese and the malnourished.

Many appetite-controlling mechanisms are in the brain. But Dr Alison Wren of Imperial College, London, said ghrelin, named after the Hindi word for growth, was the first such hormone circulating in the blood to have been isolated. Scientists have known for some time that the hormone stimulates hunger in rats. Now they have shown that it can also make people so ravenous they eat nearly a third more food than usual. Reuters

Coffee keeps tooth decay away

A new study indicates that coffee may help prevent cavities as it is made from roasted coffee beans, which has antibacterial activities against certain microorganisms, including Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans), a major cause of dental caries.

The finding appeared in the February 27 print issue of the journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a peer-reviewed publication of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.

Probing deeper into this peculiar property of java, scientists at two Italian universities conducted laboratory tests that showed some coffee molecules prevent adhesion of S. mutans on tooth enamel.

The study’s lead author, Gabriella Gazzani, said: “All coffee solutions have high antiadhesive properties due to both naturally occurring and roasting-induced molecules”. ANI

Journey into the body

A computer programme created at Germany’s Technical University of Braunschweig is allowing doctors to take a three-dimensional voyage into the body’s interior.

Beginning this summer, medical students at the Goettingen University Clinic will be able to train with the virtusMED software, developed by medical computer specialist Michael Teistler.

“Using three dimensional images, students will soon be able to develop an understanding of the body more quickly and fully than ever before,” says Prof Klaus Dresing, managing doctor of emergency surgery at Goettingen University Clinic. DPA 

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

Difficult is the path leading to the beloved.

It is like the edge of the sword.

When you have started to woo him

let not the decorum of society

stand in your way.

In the water dwells the water-lilly

and in the sky shines the moon.

The beloved always dwells by the side

of the true lover;

That is the rule.

I should write a letter to the beloved

if he dwelt in a foreign land.

But when he dwells in my body, in the mind and in my eyes,

Where is the occasion to send the message to him.

Love is not like a cup of wine

to the indiscrete.

Tears are not like rubies

gifted to worthless ones.

Wisdom at last becomes headache...

The gnostic’s choice is madness of love.

Tell me how long shall you be unaware

of the intoxication of love?

One who is not love-drunk

is not intoxicated

but merely unconscious.

Put one step on your own soul,

the other one in His lane

No other way suits those

who follow the path of love.

I have obliterated every vestige

of my being in Thy desire,

It was impossible otherwise to behold

Thy beautiful countenance.

One who laughs at the affairs of lovers

Should be wept on his own condition.

If love is a crime and if people

call me an infidel...

let them do so,

I am not going to utter a word in repentance.

— Ameer Khusaru, Kulliyat-e-Anasir-e-Dawawin