 |
Sunday,
March 30, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
|
COMMENTARY
ON RECORD A VIEWPOINT |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
GUEST COLUMN
Saddam’s sons no easy catch
After cricket, war
An emotionally turbulent fortnight
The Iraqi spirit of nationalism
Cong sermons on Iraq irk PM
When male bonding got a
big boost
|
COMMENTARY
COMMUNISM was a threat to democracy. Today, terrorism is a greater threat. Francis Fukuyama says: “Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaida, the Taliban and radical Islamists represent a greater ideological challenge to Western democracy...greater than that offered by Communism”. If this is so, President Bush should have mobilised the world against terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism. But he did not. He preferred to go it alone. Why? Because terrorism is only an excuse — an alibi — to him. The jehadis say they have a right to murder those who disagree with them. Bush makes a similar claim: that he has a right to strike down his opponents even before their guilt is proved. The two are thus evenly matched in their perfidious ways. They have no right to complain against each other. The right to “pre-emptive strike” has, however, a hoary parentage. It is based on the principle of raison d’etat (Reason of State). It was first enunciated by Cardinal Richelieu in the 17th century in order to justify the atrocities of the F0rench state to promote its interests. But Iraq is not a terrorist state. Nor is it fundamentalist. If Bush had declared a war against Pakistan, the fountainhead of terrorism, the world would have rallied to his banner and applauded him. But Pakistan is an “old ally” of America. How, then, are we to explain the arbitrariness of the Bush administration? In one word: self-interest. The policies of America are based on its self-interest. Never on the interest of humanity. The war against Iraq is in the interest of America and America alone. The anti-Communists created the unipolar world, a world in which American power is without challenge. The only force which can restrain American excesses is the European Union. But the leading European nations have been happy like jackals eating the leavings of the lion. What is more, the lion provided security too. The Jackals paid only a third of what the lion spent for security. But this policy of depending on the lion has cost them dearly because they have fallen way behind the USA in military technologies. The USA has developed a techno war capability with little use for troops. This has enabled the USA to project its power alone on a global basis. The USA is unlikely to give up this advantage. This growth of unilateralism is a matter of concern to Europeans. As Russia is no more a threat to them, France and Germany have taken the courage to challenge US unilateralism. But this is not the whole story. There are other reasons for the intrepid behaviour of America, and Europe’s hostile reaction. This has to do with US global supremacy and the status of the dollar. It was thought that the Euro would flop. It has not. In fact, in the last one year, the dollar lost by 15 per cent against the Euro. This has alarmed some people. For instance, Martin Wolf, a financial expert, warned in the Financial Times that the dollar might collapse. His arguments were simple. He said that Americans have ceased to save because of their conspicuous consumption. What is worse, their luxury is built on imported goods. This has created a colossal current account deficit of $ 550 billion. It threatens the stability of the dollar. But how can the USA pile up such a huge deficit? Simple — it can create money unlike other nations. It can print unlimited quantities of dollars to pay for imports as long as they are accepted by the world. Unfortunately, the world has continued to accept the dollar. But this is now in doubt. As Americans do not save, America has relied upon foreign investment. Today, foreign investors are pulling out of the country as US stocks have been doing badly of late. As for dollar bonds, they carry such low interest that they have ceased to attract investors. All these have damaged the position of the dollar. Wolf believes that only a devaluation of the dollar by 30-50 per cent can bring down the consumption by raising the prices of goods. But can the Bush administration devalue the dollar? It cannot. Why? Because it will threaten the attraction of the dollar as a reserve currency. What is more, countries with dollar reserves will pull out of America and hold their reserves in Euro. This will be a catastrophe to the USA. Any loss of confidence in the dollar will undermine the post-war financial system and, therefore, the supremacy of the dollar. The war is thus a blessing in disguise. The USA is expected to spend on the war anything from $ 60 to $ 80 billion. And the US economy will be the principal beneficiary of the re-construction of Iraq. These can create boom conditions in the USA. It is true, no other currency can replace the dollar because all of them, except the Euro, are unstable. But it is not in the interest of the Euro if the dollar collapses, for the dollar can pull down all other currencies, including the Euro. There is also the oil angle. Two aspects of it are most important and played a key role in the decision on the war. Global demand for oil is expected to go up from 77 million barrels a day to 115 million barrels per day by 2020. Anyone who can meet this demand will be in easy street. With an estimated reserve of 112 billion barrels, Iraq has the second largest reserve in the world after Saudi Arabia (220 billion barrels). So, control of the Iraqi oil is not only bread and butter, but also good politics, for it will increase the political clout of the USA. What is more, the USA can maintain the dominance of the dollar, improve its acceptability in the world and preserve its ability to run up huge deficits. Perhaps what ultimately prodded the USA towards the war was the trend among some nations, particularly oil producers, to denominate oil in Euros and not in dollars. This is the case with Iraqi oil. Other major oil producers like Iraq and Norway have also expressed their desire to move away from dollar to Euro. This explains why the French were ready to go to any extent to prevent the war against Iraq. There is no doubt that if Iraq, Norway and Iran move to Euro, it will seriously jeopardise the standing of the dollar as a reserve currency. Once the dollar’s nexus with oil is broken, the US leadership of the world can be under threat, for all that the EU has to do is to free itself of its dependence on the USA for its security by taking up independent manufacture of the latest weapons. This is not impossible. But America is not going to allow a rival to emerge. Control of Iraq and its oil can ensure that. |
|
ON
RECORD Q: What has been the impact of the war on the Indian community living in Kuwait? A: Developments in and around Kuwait have naturally caused concern and anxiety among all residents of Kuwait, including the Indian community. Despite air raid sirens and news about missile attacks, no damage to life or property in and around Kuwait has been reported. Official sources have indicated that the anti-missile systems have worked effectively and the danger posed by the missile attacks has been neutralised. These dangers are abating with the passage of time and there are fewer air raid sirens than before. The Embassy has been in direct touch with the Kuwaiti authorities and with the Indian community to ensure their welfare and security. Q: Do Indian job holders here feel insecure? Are they concerned that once they return to India for the time being their work permits would be cancelled? A: The Embassy has set up helplines and an elaborate network of communications through wardens from amongst the Indian community to keep all communication lines open. Queries of Indians are responded to promptly and assistance provided. Kuwait continues to be safe and Indians remain relatively calm. The Kuwaiti Government has made elaborate arrangements for Civil Defence and has deployed additional security forces for the safety and precaution of the residents. Kuwait airport remains open for civil traffic and scheduled flights of Air India and Indian Airlines have been operating. CBSE exams have been held as scheduled. Q: What has been the Kuwaiti authorities attitude towards Indians generally and in the present situation? A: The Kuwaiti authorities have been positive and cooperative and have made elaborate arrangements for the safety and security of all residents. They have explicitly stated that these facilities would be made available to all residents of Kuwait. Civil Defence centres have been set up in the six Governorates, preparations to deal with emergencies have been made, special teams constituted, and emergency protocols put in place along with infrastructure of shelters, medical facilities, and sirens. Regular updates are being provided through television and radio. Q: Any help, instructions, guidelines, you have sought from the MEA in New Delhi? A: All preparations made by this Embassy and measures undertaken in association with the Kuwaiti authorities and the Indian community have been in consultation with the MEA. A Crisis Management Group in the MEA has been operating round-the-clock to monitor the situation and take all necessary steps. The situation at present does not warrant evacuation or any other special measures. However, should such a situation arise, necessary contingency plans are in place to meet all exigencies in cooperation with the Government of Kuwait. Q: How will the war impact on Indo-Kuwait relations? A: Indo-Kuwait relations are friendly, rooted in history based on a shared geography, culture and the need for stability and security in the region. They will continue to grow to the mutual benefit of both countries. Q: Do you envisage a long drawn war which seems to be the likely scenario at present? How will a long drawn war impact on Indo-Kuwait trade relations? A:
It is too early to determine how long the military operations will last. However, Indo-Kuwait economic ties remain stable with potential for growth. Q: Do you see the possibility of an oil crisis in India because of the Gulf War-II? Is there any proposal from India to extend humanitarian aid to the war-ravaged Iraqis? A: This is a question that should more appropriately be addressed to the MEA/Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, New Delhi. |
|
A VIEWPOINT THE din caused by the well-orchestrated insistence of the USA and Britain on attacking Iraq and the world-wide outcry against it has the effect of drowning the US-led campaign in Afghanistan against global terrorism. Afghan President Karzai’s statement last month that the war against terrorism in his country was over, was perhaps an expression of his agonised frustration about the coalitions apparent warning commitment in Afghanistan. At the same time reports say Al-Qaida men and Taliban have been reorganising themselves ostensibly to recapture power at least in parts of Afghanistan. Gulbadin Hikmatyar, who was ordered to leave Iran some months ago has reportedly formed his militia to fight US-Afghan forces. It is notable that the frequency of clashes between US-Afghan forces and Al-Qaida-Taliban rebels has increased in the past about five months. Or, to be more exact, ever since the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) took over power in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and formed a coalition government in Baluchistan with the Pro-Army Quaid-e-Azam Muslim League. It is not clear if Hikmatyar has moved to Pakistan or Afghanistan after expulsion from Iran, but it is said that he has been very active in attacking US-Afghan forces. Till now, the activities of rebels are confined to parts of Afghanistan, which border Pakistan. It is, therefore, common sense that they have been using friendly tribal areas of Baluchistan and NWFP as springboards to attack US-Afghan troops. After their attacks, they run back to Pakistani territory where the US-Afghan forces are not allowed to enter. Perhaps, before the establishment of the civilian government in October, Gen Musharraf’s government had reached an unwritten agreement with the USA to give the US-Afghan forces the right of hot pursuit of Al-Qaida-Taliban rebels. US Major Stephen said at the Bag Ram Airbase in January this year that the US-Afghan forces had this right under an agreement. An embarrassed civilian government of Zafarullah Jamali denied the existence of such an agreement. But, significantly, the Pakistani military leadership chose to keep quite. Mr Stephen’s statement followed clashes between the Pakistani troops and US-Afghan forces when the latter tried to chase attacking Al-Qaida-Taliban rebels. Things reportedly settled down when Secretary of State Colin Powell talked to Gen Musharraf on telephone. A crucial question to be pondered here is: can the war on terrorism which was launched with great fanfare in October 2001 can be taken to its logical conclusion without the international force having the right of hot pursuit especially now when the arrest of Al-Qaida activist
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in Rawalpindi has led to a reasonable belief that Osama bin Laden is alive and in Pakistan? Khalid, who has been handed over to the USA, has reportedly made two statements. In the first statement he is quoted to have revealed he met Osama in February in Pakistan. In the second statement, as quoted by ISI at a press conference in Islamabad on March 11, he met Osama in December last year. A PTV report said he met him outside Pakistan somewhere amid mountains. The ISI said very confidently that it would capture Osama in a matter of hours. One would question how could that be possible if Osama is not already on the soil of Pakistan? It may be recalled that a year ago Gen Musharraf began saying that in his view Osama was dead in American bombing of Afghanistan. Now Khalid Sheikh has reportedly said he met Osama in Pakistan. Recent reports show that it is not difficult for any Al-Qaida leader to live in Pakistan as a host of the Army-linked Jamaat-e-Islami. Khalid Sheikh was reportedly arrested in a posh Rawalpindi house owned by a Jamaat-e-Islami activist. It is no secret that Jamaat-e-Islami has been very close to the Army. It was said during the 1970s that a Jamaat-e-Islami man, if has four sons, will send one son to the Army, another to bureaucracy, another to business and one to education. This is how the Jamaat has influence on the Army, the bureaucracy, trade and education. This party’s influence on the Army multiplied during Gen Zia-ul-Haq’s rule. It was during this time that the Army Headquarters were opened to the Jamaati tabligis. As a result, Islamic fundamentalism got strengthened in the Army and an increasing number of Army men and ISI officers began sporting beards to publicise their Islamic leanings. Thus, there is no doubt that there is ideological congruity between the Jamaat and at least a big section of the Army and the ISI. The arrest of Abu Omar and Abu Hamza from a Jamaati activist in Karachi in January and again of Khalid Sheikh Mohammad in Rawalpindi in February from the house of Jamaat’s activist, do prove an Al-Qaida-Jamaat nexus, Qazi Hussain Ahmed’s weak denial notwithstanding. The Jamaat had organised protests against the arrest of Dr Amir Raza in Lahore in October. He was suspected to have links with Al-Qaida. The Jamaat also protested against the arrest of Dr Javed Khawaja and his family members in December. The Punjab government told Lahore High Court that he and his family had been giving shelter to the most wanted Al-Qaida activists. A logical interference from the Jamaat’s nexus with Al-Qaida can be that this act of hospitality has been happening with the knowledge and approval of at least a section of the Army and the ISI. The facts about the arrest of Khalid Sheikh from a residential complex where live Army officers — retired or serving — strengthen this suspicion. The point sought to be made here is that the war against terrorism which was started in Afghanistan 16 months ago is bound to be lost unless Pakistan, as a partner in this war, allows the peace force in Afghanistan the right of hot pursuit into its border promises. It is to be noted that anti-Americanism has been very carefully promoted in Pakistan to limit US demands on Islamabad to help crush terrorism. As a disciple of the American CIA, the ISI has learnt the importance of terrorism as a foreign policy weapon. It will, therefore, be difficult for the ISI not to stand by terrorists covertly, Pakistan’s partnerships in the coalition against terrorism notwithstanding. But this must be stopped. Pakistan must be made to realise terrorism in the name of Islam is a serious threat to its own existence. The writer is Director, Institute for Media Studies and Information Technology, YMCA, New Delhi. |
|
GUEST COLUMN EDUCATION is the state’s responsibility. Students can’t be charged heavily. Educational degree is not a commercial product. Universities are not corporate entities. These are the usual arguments heard whenever there is a debate on fiscal management in Indian universities. Are these good enough reasons for not attempting to measure how much it costs a university to produce, say, a graduate or postgraduate or a Ph.D? Should we not let students know how much has been spent on them by the system in an institution and how much of subsidy they enjoy? Clearly, we need to ascertain and communicate true costs. Before ascertaining the cost, we should examine the “measure of output” in an educational institution. The best measure will be to take “credit hour of instruction” taught as an output. Costs of the output would be determined by loading systematically and rationally some of the institutional expenditures onto the teaching departments of the university so as to find the “total expenditure by the academic department” producing the output. Dividing this expenditure by the number of credit hours of instruction taught by (supplied), a department would provide the cost related to the supply of the educational service. A substantial chunk of the annual expenditure in our universities is spent on salaries of employees. The manpower profile of an old university will be an interesting mix of teaching staff, administrators and support staff like watchmen, malis, cooks etc. Conventional cost accounting techniques cannot help much now in allocation of these costs to various courses. For example, how to load the cost of a carpenter, cook or proofreader into the total cost of, say, a two-year postdegree course? Most of the costing techniques have been evolved for the commercial world, that too, for the manufacturing rather than the service sector. Of late, a lot of fine-tuning of costing techniques has taken place. Activity-based-costing (ABC) is an outcome of such efforts. The ABC technique views that for an organisation to create and deliver a service, it needs to perform certain activities. For, activities drive costs which are driven by the service. This differs from the conventional costing systems, built on the assumption that product drives the cost directly. Understanding the activities is the first step in the application of ABC. Costs of activities needed to support an academic course vary significantly from subject to subject. Volume and complexity add to the course cost and degree programmes just as they increase product costs in manufacturing companies. This technique of costing make lots of sense in educational services because the most complex issue in the costing of educational degree is cost allocation. Scientific allocation of pooled cost is the high point of this technique. ABC allocates costs to various teaching departments based on the activities (cost drivers) generating the costs. Costs are assigned to products (services) in proportion to the demand that the product (service) place on the average activities. Four key words of this technique are: costs, activities, resources and cost object. The university costs can be classified as instruction costs and non-instruction costs. The former are directly or indirectly related to instruction activities whereas the latter are not. Therefore these costs need to be allocated suitably such as number of students or number of student instruction hours. An activity is a unit of work performed within an organisation or a work process, such as screening candidates for admission or evaluating answer books. Resources include the expenditure incurred on salaries etc. The cost object implies something for which a cost must be computed. The steps involved in applying this technique include: identification of cost objectives i.e. cost of delivering a course, identifying activities needed to deliver the course; and classification of these activities into pools. This is most distinctive and vital aspect of this technique. Activities are classified into four levels: unit, batch, product and facility. Costs of these are either allocated arbitrarily or preferably ignored. The next step involves allocating and making cost pools and then linking activity costs to output. It is a simplified model of cost allocation with adequate scope for fine-tuning to suit specific situations. For example, once a representative yearly figure implying “how much a teacher cost” to the institution is found out and before it is unitised by dividing it with the number of working hours put in, assumption about the distribution of faculty time for teaching, research and services has to be made. Developing accurate and relevant costs of various courses and programmes by properly understanding and costing various activities help universities to manage courses and programme mix better and help eliminate not only course proliferation but also non-value adding activities. Accurate costing could potentially free up public resources, allowing resources to flow into scholarships and grants for needy students rather than into inefficient, obsolete courses. Any organisation where most of the costs are committed or time-related, the best way to reduce the incidence of total cost per unit of output is to increase the utilisation rate of infrastructure. India has 294 universities, 13,150 colleges and 4,24,817 teachers. Increased utilisation in terms of more working days and more hours per day can substantially lower the cost of a degree. Universities in the UK and the USA have benefited from the use of this technique. Early experience from the University of Machester in Great Britain suggests that ABC can help universities to understand better relative cost pictures of various facilities. This has led to new strategies to eliminate deficit (b) free up space. Traditionally, departments wanted to control as much space as possible. Secondly, under ABC, all facilities under the control of a department were given an overhead cost allocation. Departments began “releasing” the unused space to avoid additional overhead. India’s higher educational institutions are in a state of fiscal crisis. Budgetary cuts due to shrinking maintenance grants have affected them. Escalating costs, increasing competition from foreign universities, unhappy customers and state legislators demanding accountability are forcing them to manage the cost better. For cost-effectiveness, a reliable cost measurement mechanism has become necessary. The present system of budgeting in educational institutions has served very well in the past when amounts involved were not that high and funding agencies were not shying away from executing their funding responsibilities. Incremental budgeting system is what most of the universities are following. It is an extrapolation of the last year’s budget by incrementing it for inflation, providing for salary increases and adding new projects and activities etc. Thus, figures under various heads are increased. As a result, a thorough review of past activities and priorities is not done systematically and opportunities to identify redundancy are missed. Funds are needed not for certain budget heads, but for implementation of certain activities. Effective cost management therefore requires a critical review of both activities and budget heads. A university budget should help in the process of strategic planning; it should always be an outcome of discussion at various levels relating to priority setting in accordance with the university’s goals, acknowledgement of achievements, responses to new demands and appropriation, acceptance of the need to find room for new activities and looking beyond the frame of the ensuring year. Universities such as Panjab University have already taken the initiative on these lines. The corporate world is too keen to outsource their research and development and is looking towards universities and research institutions for whom it is a core activity. For instance, Du Pont, a chemical company recently announced that more than two-thirds of their R&D requirements will be outsourced. Concentrating on core and outsourcing non-core results into a more rational allocation of resources. Letting employees do what is “core” means putting resources into high value adding activities. The core activities of a university — teaching, research and outreach— are supported by non-core activities such as administration, security, printing, maintenance, healthcare. A proper costing framework will also help develop an appreciation for outsourcing of non-core services. Problems associated with non-core activities should not be allowed to consume time resource that could be utilised for enhancing effectiveness and efficiency of the core activities. The writer is Professor, University Business School, Panjab University, Chandigarh. |
Saddam’s sons no easy catch
Styles of Saddam’s two sons are different. While Uday is known to be wayward, ruthless and pleasure loving, Qusay is composed, low key and appears dignified. Married to daughter of a senior military commander, the second son has a quiet married life. The couple has three sons. He is also known to have emerged as the second most important man in Iraq, responsible for military intelligence and security service. Years back, both brothers were vying with each other to be nominated Saddam’s successor. Initially, Uday had an edge till the tragedy struck. Unknown gunmen opened fire on the elder son’s car as he drove past one of Baghdad’s most fashionable quarters. He took eight bullets, paralysed and had to move in a wheel chair. Though he no longer needs the support of wheel, the disability is clearly visible. Uday took to non-military jobs after he was incapacitated as his younger brother rose from strength to strength in the power hierarchy; made in charge of Iraq’s Olympic committee and appointed editor of the leading Iraqi newspaper — “Babel”. Uday took to research and in 1998 published a 400-page thesis entitled “The world after the Cold War” in his newspaper. He argues that US domination of the world stage will fade by 2015 and new superpowers such as Japan, China and the European Union will challenge America’s moral and economic position. Bearing the Koranic inscription — “The people with knowledge are the ones who fear God the most” — he dedicated the thesis to Saddam. It was Uday who responded to President Bush’s warning to Saddam to leave Iraq along with his two sons. “Iraqi forces would make the mothers of US soldiers weep blood instead of tears” was his terse riposte. Characteristically, he told Americans: “They should know there is not a single safe place for them inside Iraq or outside”. Uday calls himself “Abu Sarhan”, an Arabic euphemism for a wolf. Qusay, who has become the second-in-command after Saddam, virtually moves in the shadow of the Dad and, his nickname among Iraqis is “Mr. Snake”. In meetings between Saddam and his senior commanders, Qusay appears in well-tailored suits and kisses his father’s hands as a sign of respect. Qusay has now been put in charge of defending Baghdad against mounting onslaught of America’s military might. Also he is now an important member of the Revolutionary Command Council, Iraq’s top governing body. The stiff Iraqi resistance in the south, which has taken the USA Command by surprise, is providing what military analysts call “a foretaste of the battle for Baghdad”. The resistance, according to former NATO Chief Gen Wesley Clark, is provided by “second-rate Iraqi divisions” and the US-led forces will face their moment of truth when they take on Saddam Hussein’s elite troops in the capital. |
After cricket, war IT was certainly a cheering sight to see the welcoming crowds at Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi and Bangalore when our cricket team returned from South Africa. Fans had been shamed into civilized behaviour after their shocking outbursts when we lost the first time to Australia. And with the return of the team, cricket has receded into quieter post-morterms by experts while viewers watch that other more cruel sport — Cowboy George Bush going after the Iraqis. And it is not all entertainment nor high drama. For me, it is the human tragedies and the exposure of the American government’s unscrupulous behaviour which lingered in the memory and which is what TV is there for, in the final analysis. The most vivid exposure was the way the Oscars, and their 75th anniversary at that, were blown sky high by Oscar-winner Michael Moore’s scathing attack on the Bush administration. “We live in a time where we have fictitious election results that elect a fictitious President. We have a man who is leading USA to war for fictitius reasons. We are against this war, Mr Bush Shame on you, Mr Bush, Shame on you!” When later his patriotism was questioned he retorted: “You don’t leave your citizenship when you enter the doors of the Kodak Theatre”. Bravo, Machael Moore! The only Indian parallel I can think of was when Shabana Azmi protested on the stage at India’s International Film Festival in Delhi at the awards function, in front of the President about the treatment being given to the boys and girls of her old alma mater the Film and TV Institute in Pune, when they were on hunger strike outside the festival hall. The next, and this time very sobering, item which caught my eye was a little runner at the bottom of the screen on one of the channels, I think it was Aaj Tak, but I am not sure, which read: “CIA sources have revealed that they were asked by the US administration to give an exaggerated picture of anti-Saddam sentiments to suit their claims.” These are not the exact words perhaps, but as accurately as I remember them. Talk of government duplicity! I said it was not entertainment, even if visually dramatic. Then who was not shaken by the pictures of American POWs projected by Al Jazeera, later blacked out on American TV by carried by most international channels. Those frightened young people being interviewed (we were told that some of the soldiers in this war from the USA and the UK are 19 years old, younger than our young cricketers baring Parthiv Patel) What a shock it must have been for their parents and families to watch them being interviewed on TV. Then what about the feelings of the families and friends of those killed in what are quaintly described as “Friendly Fire” because one cannot think of anything less friendly or more cruel than comrades shooting each other by ineptness, or bringing down their own planes with “friendly” missiles. It certainly makes a mockery of all those latest fighter planes and missiles which can destroy Baghdad, one of the most historic and beautiful cities and kill and injure innocent men, women and children, if they cannot even identify each other during warfare and blow each other to bits. Indian TV has always thrived on commercial cinema. Most of what used to be called parallel cinema or art films and award-winning documentaries were given the go-by by most independent channels and DD only made a show of caring for them. In a welcome new twist, channels have come up which are entirely devoted to the cinema, both foreign and Indian and at last discriminating filmgoers are able to catch up on the small screen with films they have missed at the cinema. Recently, they have had chances to catch up with ‘’Lagaan’ now ‘Devdas’ and so on reasonably soon after they get fame. And, of course, we have always had the classics, such as the films of Ashok Kumar. One also has great pleasure catching up on good foreign films on foreign channels, such as Star Movies. In fact, Star Movies is coming up with a real bonanza in the form of what I suppose one can describe as Indo-Anglian films, mostly dealing with the Indian diaspora. Sundays in April will carry such favourites as ‘Hyderabad Blues’ ‘Bend it Like Beckham’ and ‘Hollywood Calling’ with Om Puri doing an excellent impersonation of a film producer-director with a South Indian accent. ‘Bollywood Calling, ‘Inscrutable Americans’ ‘Everybody Says I’m Fine’, ‘Mr and Mrs Iyer’ and ‘Freaky Chakra’ out of 20 odd titles. Good to see specially chosen films on the small screen for a change. TAIL-PIECE: Out of all the bizarre American war terms, the one which has confused old ladies and amused everyone with a nasty mind is the term “embedded journalists” for scribes normally called accredited correspondents. One nervous old lady is said to have remarked. “What is this embedding? I hope they will not molest women journalists?” Also quoted is the young child who says to her father, “But Papa, isn’t it the Americans who are using weapons of mass destruction? Then why are they attacking the Iraqis?” Who is it who said, “Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings cometh wisdom”? |
|||||
An emotionally turbulent fortnight IT has been an emotionally turbulent fortnight in Kashmir. Shock and anguish at the massacre of 24 Kashmiri Pandits overwhelmed all other sentiments but, before that, Islamic passions were rising to fever pitch over the “shock and awe” strikes against Iraq. If pan-Islamic militant groups were trying to whip that Islamic sentiment farther by hitting at non-Muslims, they miscalculated terribly. Indeed, they could not have done greater damage to their cause. There has rarely been a more complete protest strike in recent years than the one last week against this massacre. Kashmir’s leading Imam, Mirwaiz Umar, declared that whoever had done it had grievously injured Islam. The conflation of emotions in Kashmiri minds and hearts is sometimes very difficult for others to comprehend. On the one hand, they are deeply devoted to Islam. On the other, they warmly cherish the fusion of cultures that they call Kashmiriyat. To understand this co-existence of sentiments, one must realise that most Kashmiris see no contradiction in the subtle absorption of Hindu traditions into their practice of Islam, although these seem heretical to Ahle-hadis puritans. In fact, the ambivalent complexity of the Kashmiri mind — or perhaps it is the Kashmiri heart —has led to confusion about what the entire militant movement is about. Such killings naturally lead people to presume that it is basically a Hindu-Muslim problem. That is a very limited understanding. One must remember that Pandits were killed largely in two phases. The first phase lasted mainly from February to August 1990 and targeted individual Pandits or males in twos and threes. The second phase of Pandit killings has concentrated on mowing down entire families in particular villages and can be dated from January 26, 1998, when a massacre similar to this one occurred at Wandhama near Ganderbal. The first series of killings, in which about 150 Hindus were slaughtered, was often revoltingly depraved. Such brutality can only be explained in the context of the mass hysteria I wrote about it in my last column. Its roots probably lie in the collective memory of Kashmiri Muslims of their gross repression over a century-and-a-half. If that is so, that season of vicious blood-letting in 1990 served as a catharsis. The Kashmiri Muslim went back by autumn that year to rediscovering his composite culture. Of course, that rediscovery was facilitated by the economic spin-offs of the mass migration of Pandits that those murders caused. Muslim school teachers, university professors, consultants at the most prestigious hospitals, wannabe journalists and civil servants in every department suddenly had unexpected avenues for promotion. For, though Pandit domination of government jobs had been gradually declining for 40 years, their learning, diligence and kinship network still left them with a strong grip over several professions. Since the Pandits who remained beyond the summer of 1990 were mainly poor peasants who lacked the tools to build a new life outside the valley, the community ceased to be economically competitive. So it was easy for Muslims to bask once more in the comforting glow of a composite culture. Many Muslims continued to want independence but now wished for the remaining minorities to go with them. By the late 1990s, the militancy had been largely taken over by jehadi warriors from Pakistan, churned out from the sprawling Dawat-ul Irshad campus at Muridke or madarsas affiliated to the Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam (which also spawned the Taliban) or to Pakistan’s Jamaat-e-Islami. This type of warrior had no feel for Kashmir’s freedom struggle. They were steeped in doctrinaire sermons invoking Islamic resurgence on a global scale, before which national boundaries would crumble. To these zealots, Kashmir was Islamic territory and putting its kafir Hindus to death would earn them a place in heaven beside the Ghazis of yore. They could not understand why Kashmiri Muslims got so upset at the deaths of their Hindu compatriots. It is ironic that these jihadi warriors killed Abdul Majid Dar, former Operational Commander of Hizb-ul Mujahideen, a day before they slaughtered Hindus just last week. |
The Iraqi spirit of nationalism
FOR two consecutive days, I was at the Iraqi embassy here in Vasant Vihar. The Iraqis’ spirit of nationalism seemed to echo from every quarter. Their absolute defiance and hatred for the invading Americans could not be concealed. While interviewing several Iraqi students studying here, I kept wondering why we Indians lacked this spirit of nationalism. The war has been well on for over ten days and yet no Indian leader has really lashed out at the US-UK combine. Why? What holds them back? When I heard the Iraqis talk, I saw their facial movements, the intensity in their eyes. I am certain that they cannot be crushed. We Indians do share a special bonding with them. Many of my Sikh friends, including Mukhtiar Singh the man who made furniture for Saddam Hussein’s palace, have been recounting how they were treated once they reached Iraq to visit the two famous
gurdwaras in Baghdad. They were called people from “Hind” there. And Indian Muslims of course have that Karbala connection. Two atheists with Muslim names told me that “wait and watch what disaster awaits the invading US-UK forces because Iraq is no ordinary land but the land of Karbala...some miracle would save the Iraqis.”
The latest from Khushwant Singh hit the stands this week. His new book is blatant and potent. Perhaps, its very title bares all — “The End of India” (Penguin). He says he wrote this book in deep anguish and concern for the country, for the developments in recent years have been more than worrisome. I quote him: “These are dark times for India. The carnage in Gujarat, Bapu Gandhi’s home state in early 2002 and the subsequent landslide victory for Narendra Modi will spell disaster for our country. The fascist agenda of Hindu fanatics is unlike anything we have experienced in our modern history...” He dedicates this book to “all those who love India...” Read this book my countrymen and you will sit shaken and you might try and do your bit to help save this country, by harnessing the moves of those “agenda-wallahs” who are out to destroy the very fabric of this land.
Gujral's
latest An exhibition of Satish Gujral’s latest works opened this Friday at a new centre on Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road (a New Delhi suburb). I do admire Satish Gujral. There’s that tremendous zest in this man and yes, whenever one is feeling low his jokes revive and tickle him/her. He whispered two lovely jokes in my ear. |
Cong sermons on Iraq irk PM
AICC reshuffle The Congress headquarters at New Delhi’s 24 Akbar Road is reverberating with speculation about an impending reshuffle in the AICC. Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who is said to be disturbed with the performance and style of functioning of some her colleagues, is thinking of inducting new faces and axing some for revitalising the organisation for facing the challenge of ensuing Assembly elections later this year. AICC General Secretary Kamal Nath, whose handling of the Gujarat Assembly elections last year came under lot of flak, might not figure in the new-look team which is expected to be announced next month. It is also being said that the powerful Ambika Soni, who has come to don many a cap in the last few years, may also end up shedding some of her responsibilities.
Blackwill's
dinner U S Ambassador to India Robert Blackwill held a dinner for a select group of retired officers of the armed forces. The representation from the Army and the Navy highly outnumbered that from the Air Force. The exercise was clearly aimed at garnering support from the erstwhile strategists of the armed forces for Washington’s unilateral decision to go ahead with operation “Iraqi Freedom.” The informal evening over dinner on Thursday virtually turned out to be another round table whether the USA as the lone super power should arraign to itself sweeping powers against all norms of international behaviour and multilateralism. While there was no doubt that the USA-led allied forces will ultimately triumph in seeing the back of President Saddam Hussein, they might have to pay a heavy price for their miscalculations in the face of increasing resistance from the forces loyal to the Iraqi dictator.
Fernandes mum His Socialist friends are disappointed at his silence, but others say that it was expected of him. Some even go to the extent of quoting Socialist leaders like Rammanohar Lohia and Madhu Limaye who had predicted his future behaviour with a caveat that much should not be expected from him as “George is a devil’s advocate and not a man of convictions”.
Advising Sonia “Throw out those who do not heed your words,” he said, referring to her chances of becoming the Prime Minister. The Haryana Congressman was heard with rapt attention by nearly 8,000 assembled block chiefs and the AICC top leadership. He also had a formula for winning 70-80 Lok Sabha seats for the party in Uttar Pradesh. Urging Sonia Gandhi to allot him time separately to know the winning formula, he even offered to go to jail if his suggestions on UP did not work. Rattan Singh made his party’s leaders from Haryana squirm in their seats.
Unique World
Cup Who won the Cup?: Kisne World Cup “Lia” ? Austra”lia”. Who gave the cup? : Kisne World Cup “Dia” ? In”dia”. Contributed by TRR, Satish Misra, Prashant Sood and S. Satyanarayanan. |
When male bonding got a big boost WHEN boys in Bollywood are out to have fun, the girls
often have to content with sitting on the sidelines, in reel life at
least. Bollywood has seen a range of films focusing on the bonding
between men and many have gone on to become roaring successes. In 1958, Satyen Bose’s “Chalti Ka Naam Gadi” featuring the Ganguly brothers Ashok Kumar, Kishore Kumar and Anoop Kumar was a hit. Though the film had the ethereal Madhubala, it’s remembered for the chemistry among the real-life siblings. Six years later he extended the theme of male camaraderie into a maudlin musical “Dosti”. The film was a spectacular success, as was the Mehmood-Kishore Kumar-Om Prakash comedy “Pyar Kiye Jaa”. Thereafter, the all-boys’ caper was dismissed as conventionally unacceptable for the simple reason that men in each other’s company created no romance on screen. Amitabh Bachchan revised the rule. Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s “Anand”, based on the director’s real-life friendship with actor-filmmaker Raj Kapoor, was based on male friendships. Later, Mukherjee adapted the legendary Peter Glenville drama “Becket” about male companionship with the “Anand” co-stars Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan playing the roles immortalised by Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole. As Amitabh’s stardom grew we often felt he was more comfortable in male company than female. Films like “Hera Pheri” where he gallivanted with Vinod Khanna and “Do Aur Do Paanch” with Shashi Kapoor reduced leading ladies to peripheral players. In the 1970s, the theme of male bonding also got a large boost when two character actors Pran and Ashok Kumar got together to do a heist thriller “Victoria No. 203”. Then came Ramesh Sippy’s “Sholay”, Manmohan Desai’s “Dharamveer”, “Amar Akbar Anthony” where the bonding among the male actors rather than cross-gender equations carried the story forward, Dulal Guha’s “Dost” where Dharmendra and Shatrughan Sinha defined masculine camaraderie in Hindi films, and Raj Kumar Santoshi’s Aamir-Salman Khan comedy “Andaz Apna Apna”. In recent times, films celebrating male bonding were Farhan Akhtar’s “Dil Chahta Hai” and E. Niwas’ “Love Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega”. In an era where teenybopper romances have overtaken films about male friendship, David Dhawan’s Sanjay Dutt-Govinda capers have constantly reinvented the spirit of male companionship.
IANS |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 123 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
THE present situation in Iraq does not warrant evacuation of Indians from Kuwait, says India’s Ambassador to Kuwait Swashpawan Singh. Contingency plans are, however, ready to meet any exigency, he said in an interview to The Tribune in Kuwait City. An Indian Foreign Service officer (1974 batch), he chose Persian as his language. He was Joint Secretary (Gulf and Haj) in New Delhi’s Ministry of External Affairs, before taking over as the Ambassador in Kuwait in January, 2002. He served earlier in Kabul, the UK, Cairo and Houston where he was the Consul-General. Speaking on a wide range of issues, he said that the Kuwaiti authorities have been positive. On its part, the Indian mission has set up elaborate helpline and communications network for Indians in Kuwait. Excerpts:
SADDAM HUSSEIN'S sons, Uday Hussein and Qusay Hussein, have been on the hit-list of President George
W. Bush, but it will not be easy for the USA to kill them. While the elder one Uday, now 39, was virtually paralysed in an assassination attempt on his life in 1996, Qusay, 37, has to be watched for Saddam has already nominated him as his heir apparent; he is the one who commands the defense of four key regions including the cities of Baghdad and Tikrit, the family’s tribal home and power base. Resembling his father in appearance, Qusay has demonstrated that taking over the Iraqi capital would not be a cake walk for the Allied forces. He commands the most lethal of Iraq’s elite combat troops — the 80,000-strong Republican Guard and 15,000-member Special Republican Guard.
PRIME Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has not taken kindly to the sermons by the Opposition on how his government should conduct its foreign policy vis-a-vis the USA-led coalition attack against Iraq to sending the Saddam Hussein regime in Baghdad packing. Congress leader K.Natwar Singh, who heads the AICC foreign affairs cell, played on Vajpayee’s patience at an all-party meeting on Iraq specially convened by the Prime Minister himself. The tinge of sarcasm in Natwar Singh’s tone and tenor compelled Vajpayee to observe that there are others outside the Congress ambit who are equally adept in foreign policy matters. Clearly, the Vajpayee government has sought to adopt a policy of flexibility or middle path while affirming that war is not the solution to resolving problems and the issue should be dealt with under the auspices of the United Nations. BJP leaders are quick to point out that the Congress should not pull wool over its eyes. There are innumerable instances of the Congress during its stewardship of the country adopting a wishy washy approach in tackling delicate international issues.
Those who have known Defence Minister George Fernandes from his yesteryears are a trifle suprised over his silence on the issue of the US attack on Iraq. Fernandes, who was one of the most vocal critics of the US policies and had ensured the exit of Coca Cola and IBM in the mid-seventies during the days of the Janata government, is highly subdued in the wake of growing Indo-US ties. But what baffled his ministerial colleagues the other day was that he did not utter a word in the Cabinet meeting when External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha briefed over the situation in Iraq.
Most of the Congress block chiefs, who spoke at the party’s all-India convention in the capital, heaped praise on Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the PCC chiefs of their states but Rattan Singh from Haryana was different. Pointing out that the top three leaders of the Congress in the state spent more time running each other down than looking after the party’s well-being, he made no bones about the leadership tussle in the Haryana Congress. He even raised fingers at the party’s central leadership, saying that people wondered how a party which cannot control its internal strife will rule the country. The grassroots leader was not shy of advising Sonia Gandhi.
The recently concluded Cricket World Cup in South Africa was unique in itself. While six teams — Australia, India, Kenya, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Zimbabwe — entered the Super Six stage, only countries whose name ended with “A” went into the Semi-Finals, namely: Australia, India, Kenya and Sri Lanka. Subsequently, only countries bearing the letters “IA” at the end made it to the Final — Australia and India.