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Saturday,
March 29, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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“Advice”
should be “ultimatum” Tax holiday in Himachal |
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IT
woes spread wider THE arrest of the manager of I-Flex and other personnel from the IT firm in Europe has again underlined the problems that the IT industry in India faces, even as it tries to become global. The questioning of employees of I-Flex Solutions in Amsterdam and the arrest in London of the CEO of its Dutch subsidiary has created an unsavoury situation, even as the industry in India was just getting over the arrest and harassment of information technology professionals in Malaysia last month.
Choice
between two world visions
Development:
A tale of two Punjabs
Heart
problems in anorexic girls
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“Advice” should be “ultimatum” THE sense of outrage felt by the global community at the massacre of Kashmiri Pandits has gone beyond the usual expression of sympathies and condolences. Although most world leaders have used the standard diplomatic language, it is quite clear that they too hold Pakistan responsible, just as Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani did a few days ago. The most significant is the joint statement issued in Washington by the USA and the UK. They not only called on Pakistan to discourage violence by militants but also told it to fulfil its commitment to stop cross-border infiltration in Kashmir. This is as good as an acknowledgement that, one, Pakistan is aiding and abetting Kashmiri militants and, two, it is also sending its own men across the border to kill or maim anyone who opposed Pakistani perfidy. Having thus condemned “all terrorism wherever it occurs and whatever its purported justification”, the USA and the UK must also work with India to ensure that their “advice” is heeded by the regime which is ostensibly assisting the campaign against terrorism but is clandestinely exporting the same scourge. In fact, they can give a semblance of credibility to their own operation in Iraq only by being equally proactive about vicious and cowardly acts that are taking place elsewhere in the world, especially in India, thanks to its neighbour. Two separate motions on the subject of terrorism in Kashmir have been tabled in the British House of Commons and have received wide support cutting across party lines. While one sponsored by as many as 16 MPs condemns the Nadimarg massacre, the other sponsored by nine MPs is on religious oppression of women in Jammu and Kashmir by extremists. Mr Gareth Thomas, Chairman of the Labour Friends of India, who was one of the signatories to the first motion, has said it categorically that despite assurances given by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to contain cross-border terrorism, “it is continuing”. The problem is that similar condemnation has fallen on deaf Pakistani ears in the past. Those who really care for right to life of civilians and are traumatised by the horrific massacre of innocent women and children must back their “end infiltration” warning with an “or else …!” ultimatum. Not joining hands with India will make the condolences meaningless. Ironically, organisations like Amnesty International are up to their old tricks. In place of condemning terrorism outright, it has tried to obfuscate the issue by dwelling on the fact that the terrorists wore army fatigues and even tried to establish moral equivalence between the action of terrorists, the plight of victims and the responsibilities of government authorities. It is because of such bias that terrorism is alive and spreading to newer territories.
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Tax holiday in Himachal WILL the Centre’s new industrial policy for Himachal and Uttaranchal achieve the desired goal of industrialisation of the two hill states? Going by the past experience, it is doubtful. The new policy provides, among other things, a five-year tax holiday and 10-year excise relief to
existing and new industries. States today are in fierce competition and resort to oneupmanship in attracting new industries. Industry will go where the profit possibility is maximum, reliable infrastructure is in place, human resources are available and raw material is no problem. Do the new policy initiatives make Himachal competitive? Only time will tell. The old trick of offering sops is not good enough. Industries may come up, some just to gobble up the subsidy, and then languish for want of a proper growth climate. For years Himachal has been trying to woo industry with various incentives, but not with much success. Lured by cheaper plots and cash
incentives, many enthusiasts set up shop in Baddi and Parwanoo, only to regret and fold up later. The few which are surviving are not in the pink of health. Bereft of a vision and following short-sighted policies, Himachal attracted a wrong set of industries like cement units which threatened its already fragile environment. Despite the Prime Minister unofficially granting the most favoured state status to Himachal and following it up with huge grants and liberal loans, the state could not make any mark economically. Corruption took its toll. For want of industrial development, the state government has remained the only major source of employment. The successive governments have failed to unlock the full potential of the state. Hill states like Himachal and Uttaranchal have their limitations and strengths which they can use to their advantage. One major limitation is the high cost of living and lack of purchasing power with the local people. Any industry coming up in a hill state aims at sales outside the state or/and the country. Transportation costs are prohibitive. The rail network in Himachal as also in Uttaranchal is limited -- partly because of the difficult terrain and partly because of lack of effort. Himachal has got no new rail track after Independence. With funds frittered away mostly on meeting the high employee cost and overheads, development of roads and new economic zones has suffered. Politicians and bureaucrats too create hurdles instead of
smoothening the path to industrialisation. Inspector raj, unionised labour and red-tape are scaring. On the positive side, the state has tremendous potential for hydel power which is cheaper. Uninterrupted power supply and a pollution-free environment are rare blessings for IT industries. The hill states’ herbal wealth has remained largely
underutilised. Horticulture and floriculture are the other promising areas which can be effectively tapped. One can only hope that the state government will help the
existing and new units make the best use of the incentives announced by the Centre. For long-term survival, industry will have to be efficient and learn to stand without crutches.
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IT woes spread wider THE arrest of the manager of I-Flex and other personnel from the IT firm in Europe has again underlined the problems that the IT industry in India faces, even as it tries to become global. The questioning of employees of I-Flex Solutions in Amsterdam and the arrest
in London of the CEO of its Dutch subsidiary has created an unsavoury situation, even as the industry in India was just getting over the arrest and harassment of information technology professionals in Malaysia last month. When an odd incident of this kind takes place, it may be treated as an isolated happening, but when two such incidents occur in a row, it becomes a serious matter, and we have to go beyond the surface to look for the causes. The fact that 14 employees have been asked to leave the Netherlands because of “visa matters” gives us an indication of what has transpired. Because of the slowdown of the global economy, IT spending the world over has decreased and thus there has been a corresponding cut in the number of jobs available worldwide in this sector. This has put pressure on the domestic labour in various countries. Often, companies seek to be more productive by hiring foreign workers, who are more cost efficient, through subcontracts. Various Indian companies are involved in this perfectly legitimate business by either sending workers abroad to do the work for foreign companies or doing it on their own soil. While they do this, they face resentment, often unfair, from the native workers of the outsourcing company’s country, who feel that the “foreigners” are taking away their jobs. This has led to several local initiatives, the more infamous being the New Jersey Bill, which seeks to limit outsourcing by New Jersey, USA,-based companies. Visa restrictions on
H-IB visitors have also resulted in pressure on IT professionals, who already have been battered by the massive layoffs in the USA. In Europe, the Dutch crackdown is yet another indication of the short fuse that IT professionals have to contend with there, and now with Malaysia, in the South-East, it seems that NRI IT professionals are in for a tough time. There is no doubt that the government must intervene aggressively, as it did in Malaysia, to protect its citizens’ interests, but that might not be enough. If any local laws have been broken, the government can do precious little, and for this the industry itself will have to do its policing so as to avoid any potential embarrassment. As for the beleaguered IT professionals of Indian origin, they will have a tough time riding out the storm, but such is the very nature of this sector. They have to move up the value chain by equipping themselves with skills necessary for higher positions rather than just try and sell their low labour cost. |
Choice between two world visions HOW easy will it be for the USA to win the peace after the fighting is over? I don’t mean the peace of death in a devastated Iraq, but — more to the point — an active and constructive peace in the world beyond where, as France’s Foreign Minister, Mr Dominique de Villepin, told the United Nations Security Council, the real challenge is “the choice between two visions of the world.” Though many readers might lament it, the cards are all stacked in favour of the USA in that already begun clash between the unipolar and multipolar views of the future. Unless something drastic happens to the USA itself, the future of mankind will be dominated for some time to come by American thinking and actions. Mr P.V. Narasimha Rao was one of the few world leaders to object in 1992 when Mr George Bush Senior tried to celebrate the end of the first Gulf War by introducing his New World Order. This second Gulf War confirms that the time for resistance is past. True, the UN has not sanctioned either the invasion of Iraq or the violent overthrow of Iraq’s President, Mr Saddam Hussain. True, American action has brought the UN’s work to a standstill. But where is the global court to take note of these illegal actions? Who can successfully prosecute the USA and force it to abide by the views of the comity of nations? Success legitimises everything in statecraft. Idealism has little chance when it is at conflict with realpolitik. What the League of Nations illustrated over the actions of Japan, Germany and Italy, the UN is illustrating all over again over Iraq. Political wisdom lies in making the best of what cannot be changed. And truth to tell, most nations — India included — have much to gain from cooperating with the Americans, which no doubt explains Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee’s muted criticism of the war. If Malaysia’s Dr Mahathir Mohamad and the Indonesian President, Ms Megawati Soekarnoputri, are more strident in their denunciation of the war, it is mainly to play up to the domestic Muslim constituency. What Mr Vajpayee and others can now try to ensure is that Pax Americana serves the common good instead of only imposing US control over the world. At another level, the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, is also engaged in a delicate diplomatic exercise to ensure that the UN system serves more than just American strategic purposes. Two key Republicans gave us a glimpse of what might be in store when the Soviet Union collapsed 11 years ago. For Richard Nixon, the former President whose cerebral powers have been grossly underestimated, the time had come to reset America’s geopolitical compass. “We have a historic opportunity to change the world,” he declared in 1992. In January of that year, the US Vice-President, Mr Dick Cheney, then Defence Secretary in the other Bush administration, told the US Senate armed forces committee that the USA no longer had any global challenger, except with respect to strategic nuclear forces. “No country is our match in conventional military technology or the ability to apply it,” he boasted. “There are no significant alliances hostile to our interests.” This second Gulf war drives home that advantage. No nation can match America’s 400 billion defence budget. Even the UN, rightly seen as the only touchstone of global multilateralism, depends on the USA which has contributed over $60 million to more than a dozen specialised UN agencies. Subtle skills match America’s military and financial might. Prof Noam Chomsky, guru of the American left, tells us that “Propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state.” If so, the US President, Mr George W. Bush, is a dab hand at it. The ultimate in chutzpah, the Yiddish word for cheek, nerve or effrontery, used to be the youth who murdered his parents and then begged the court to pity his orphaned state. Now, it’s the leader who shrinks from facing certain defeat at the world’s forum but then proclaims that his only mission is to “enforce the just demands of the world.” There is no denying that great power carries awesome responsibility. The combination brings to mind two poems by that nowadays understandably unfashionable bard of empire, Rudyard Kipling. In “Recessional,” written to coincide with Queen Victoria’s ostentatious jubilee celebrations, he urged humility on imperial Britain with grim reminders of how quickly temporal glory vanishes. In “The White Man’s Burden” Kipling bluntly told the USA, which had just defeated Spain and acquired the Philippines, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Guam, that doing good is a thankless task. Both lessons are again apposite, reiterating the late Senator J. William Fulbright’s sombre warning. “America is now at the historical point at which a great nation is in danger of losing its perspective on what exactly is within the realm of its power and what is beyond it,” he wrote in his 1966 classic, “The Arrogance of Power”. “Other great nations, reaching this crucial juncture, have aspired to too much and, by overextension of effort, have declined and then fallen.” “Gradually but unmistakably America is showing signs of that arrogance of power which has afflicted, weakened, and in some cases destroyed great nations in the past. In so doing we are not living up to our capacity and promise as a civilised example for the world; the measure of our falling short is the measure of the patriot’s duty of dissent.” It need not be so. The “coalition of the willing” is a fine phrase, full of political promise. If it is to mean anything, Mr Bush must include in it three commitments. First, respect for the views of weaker nations that make up the majority of UN General Assembly members. Second, less insensitivity to universal concerns like global warming, anti-ballistic missiles, life-saving drugs in developing countries and an international system of criminal justice. Third, transparency in all dealings so that the US administration’s motives and conduct are above reproach. It was reported recently that a company whose parent firm Mr Cheney led for five years has already been granted one contract for pitting out oil well fires in Iraq and is bidding for another for post-war reconstruction. Such contracts have been assessed in advance at $900 million. It must also be remembered that Mr Cheney is one of the Vulcans — as close Bush supporters were called during his election campaign — and that the administration’s militancy owes much to his vision of the shape of things to come. The contract connection reminded me of another suspicious coincidence in May, 1997. When the Congolese (or Zairean) rebel leader, Mr Laurent Kabila, whom the Clinton administration backed, overthrew President Mobutu, who had been the previous American favourite, the first mining concession (for $1 billion) he granted was not to giant corporations like DeBeers or Anglo-American who were courting him assiduously. It was to a little-known company called American Mineral Fields which was registered in Canada but worked out of Hope, Arkansas. That small town of 10,000 people was also, of course, the home of Mr Bill Clinton, then the US President. Such coincidences tell us that not just Caesar’s wife but Caesar and his lieutenants, too, must be above suspicion if the New World Order’s second coming is not to be marred by even greater infructuous acrimony. That would make it harder for the world to accept Pax Americana as a constructive force. |
Development: A tale of two Punjabs TWO Punjabs, part of once a powerful state of the Indian subcontinent and then divided by a macabre blood-soaked politics, offer an interesting contrasting development study. The two since partition continue to be dominated by agriculture. This is not to say that industrial and tertiary sectors have not witnessed development. But farming remains the main occupation and the pivot around which other sectors move. Interestingly, the two Punjabs adopted the modern technology of green revolution around the same period — 1965-66 — and experienced almost similar phases of intensification over the next three decades. The economists and experts in the two Punjabs earlier had little access to the experience of the farmers and data, as the border remained impregnable except for the militants and smugglers. For years the contact between the two experts was through some exchange visits. Now this gap is partly covered by the Internet and we can get some fair picture. Let us look at the facts first and different policy settings later. In 1947, Pakistani Punjab retained 62 per cent of the area and 55 per cent of the population and 69 per cent of the income. The Indian Punjab got 38per cent of the area, 45per cent of the population, and 31 per cent of the income. Out of the total irrigated area, 74 per cent went to the Pakistani Punjab and the Indian Punjab had to make do with just 26 per cent. Clearly, the Pakistani Punjab had the advantage. According to one study, Indian Punjab had 50 lakh hectares of geographical area against its counterpart’s 170 lakh hectares, but then population ratio was 1:3. The two Punjabs adopted the green revolution technology for wheat, rice, and cotton besides some other crops. One common method to measure performance is in terms of growth in output per acre. On this measure, the Indian Punjab led Pakistani Punjab in wheat (3.6 per cent annual growth versus 2.2 per cent) and the latter in cotton (1.6 per cent vs. 3.6 per cent) but outperformed rice (4.1 per cent vs. 0). As a result of this growth, at the end of the first green revolution period (mid-1990s), the Indian Punjabi farmer produced 3643 kg per hectare of wheat which was nearly twice his Pakistani counterpart’s output of 1902 kg per hectare. In rice, the Indian Punjabi farmer’s output of 3426 kg per hectare was nearly three times the Pakistani Punjabi farmer’s output of 1215 kg per hectare. Pakistani Punjabi farmer’s poor performance in rice was because he was switching to low yield but high value Basmati rice needed for export. According to a World Bank study by Ringku Murgai and Derek Byerlee and By Mubarik Ali from the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Centre, “It turns out that the difference in growth in the two Punjabs is largely because the Indian farmers use more inputs than their Pakistani counterparts. On average, the Indian Punjabi farmer applied 156-kg of fertiliser per hectare, twice Pakistani Punjabi farmer’s 86 kg per hectare. Also, the Indian farmer used more machinery (41 hours per hectare vs 15). But there was little difference in access to irrigation (91 per cent of total land under irrigation vs. 86 per cent). Indian Punjabi farmers appear to use more tubewells (104 per 1000 hectares vs. 26) but this may be illusory because the Pakistani tubewells are generally larger.” In terms of mechanisation, irrigation, inputs like power, fertiliser and other pesticides, Indian Punjab has been consistently in the lead. Number of tubewells is three times more, as is the case with tractors. But this would be too simplistic an explanation and can at best be partially true. Interestingly, this study looks at the issue in terms of total factor productivity. How well do the two Punjabi farmers perform controlling input use? The study calculates by subtracting input growth from total output growth. “In the Indian Punjab, output and input growth in the 30-year green revolution period was 5 per cent and 3 per cent respectively giving total factor productivity growth of 1.9 per cent. In the case of Pakistan’s Punjab, with output and input growth rates of 3.2 and 1.9 per cent, respectively, total factor productivity growth was 1. 5 per cent. The difference of a mere 0.4 per cent is not much to write home about! We can get further insight into farm performance by breaking down the 30-year green revolution period into three clearly identified sub-periods i.e. the years of introduction of the new technology (1966-74), the years of input intensification (1975-84) and the years of maturity (1985-1994). Total factor productivity growth in the three sub-periods in the Indian Punjab was 1.3, 1.8 and 1.5 per cent per annum respectively. In the Pakistani Punjab the corresponding growth rates are 0, 1.4 and 2.9 per cent. Thus in the mature stage of the green revolution technology, Pakistani Punjabi farmers were rapidly catching up with their eastern “cousins”, the researchers said. Another area offering contrasting picture is the pressure of population. According to a study by Harpal Singh Mawi of Punjab Agriculture University, on the basis of total area, total population, the pressure of population on the land in Pakistani Punjab in five per cent less than its counterpart. But when the total cropped area is considered, the pressure of population on land in Pakistani Punjab is 60 per cent. It has a significant impact on the well-being of farmers and the counties where they lived. One explanation could be that since the green revolution technology required intensive knowledge, Indian Punjab was much better equipped. There was at first level, total policy backup, followed by research and extension network. Equally important was the infrastructure and cooperative lending system. Once these factors were introduced, the Punjab farmers in Pakistan caught up with their cousins. But how come throughout the last over three decades or so the Punjabi farmers in India set world records in the production of wheat and paddy? This Punjab has better irrigation in the canal colonies. The answer lies in the policy backing and the political clout they enjoyed. India by and large got out of the vestiges of feudal system and tillers became the owner of the land. The case of West Bengal is a clear pointer. A chronically deficit state today is food surplus thanks to land reforms and the policy backup from the state government. This is true about some other states in India. This study also recognises this fact and says: “Indians Punjabi farmers have enjoyed much higher intensity of input use throughout the green revolution period because they are politically better organised and are able to extract large water and fertiliser subsidies from the government. In contrast, the Pakistani Punjabi farmers have had to make do with their own resources and therefore were slower to catch up.” One does not have to agree with the argument that unlike their Indian counterparts, Pakistani farmers are less of a burden on the government budget. This is the usual World Bank thesis on subsidy. India was food deficit and had to feed millions and also protect its freedom from the political
conditional ties of the PL 480. It quickly developed irrigation and power networks and set up fertiliser plants, besides offering minimum support price mechanism. Still the terms of trade could have been better. There is another point which needs attention. I observed during my brief visit to Pakistan in 1982 that the nexus of the feudal landlords, the army generals and the rich bureaucrats [both largely came from the feudal classes] was heavily weighed against the tillers. The Pakistan Food Corporation would pick the grains from the farms of the rich, but the poor had to tug along on kutcha roads to the mandis to be further exploited by the agents. Farmers in Pakistan are much more exploited than their counterparts. Farmers in Pakistani Punjab did better in the production of cotton, some pulses and livestock in the final stages of the green revolution. The government short of foreign exchange aimed at long staple cotton for export and encourages farmers through incentives, as was the case with Basmati rice. India has focused on low yielding short staple varieties for home consumption. Here too, Punjab did well except in the last five years due to salinity of water and attack by blow worm. But this heavy use of inputs like water and chemicals besides lack of crop diversity are leading to serious environmental problems and dependence upon few crops adding other set of problems. But Punjabs continue to suffer at different scales. |
Heart problems in anorexic girls A
new American study has found that exercise might be the only way to detect heart problems in teenage girls who suffer from anorexia. The study also suggests that anorexic girls have limited heart-beating reserve. Low heart rate, the thinning of the heart muscle and consequent sudden death has all been linked to anorexia in the past. No research has, however, looked at the response of the malnourished person’s heart to exercise, said Dr Suzanne Riggs, lead author of Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Rhode Island, USA. Women who suffer from the disease often have unhealthy, compulsive exercise habits and doctors are often unsure of what type of exercise they should recommend. The study involved 36 female adolescents between the age of 11 and 18 years old. They were all hospitalised with anorexia related malnourishment, according to a report in News24.com. The research team believes that doctors could use exercise tests as a means of measuring the risk associated with exercise in anorexic adolescents.
ANI
Movie on love’s success formula
Bollywood will soon be out with a movie which offers five rules to help one find a happy and secure love life. “Rules - Pyaar Ka Superhit Formula” is a Hindi film to explore fresh dimensions of love. Milind Soman plays the lead role, that of a popular model, in his first production venture. Directed by debutant film maker, Parvati Balagopalan, the film also stars another first-timer, Meera Vasudevan. The story revolves around a photographer who follows some well thought out strategic rules to win the man of her dreams, a debonair supermodel who is a hit with all women. Narrating the story line, director Parvati said that, it is the movie which deals with five rules of attraction.
ANI |
Kabira: Even worthless bushes Are invaded by a nearby sandal tree. Its fragrance makes everything around it A likeness of itself. Your chance of human birth Does not come time and again. Once the ripe fruit falls You cannot stick it back on the branch. They burn The bones like tinder, hair like straw. And seeing the world in flames, Kabira turns
away. — Kabir Granthavali |
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