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Tuesday,
September 9, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Return of Mamata Hurriyat's death wish Advantage Arafat |
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Hurdles in military modernisation
“Superb communicator”
Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia’s
vision
Delhi Durbar
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Return of Mamata THIS
time the news did not end up as an exaggerated rumour. The temperamental leader of the Trinamool Congress, Ms Mamata Banerjee, was finally inducted as a Cabinet Minister at a two-minute ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Monday. Mr Gingee Ramachandran too returned as Minister of State. The MDMK leader was forced to resign after his personal assistant was arrested for taking money from income tax officers for offering them the posting of their choice. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee seems to hate keeping colleagues out of job for long. Mr Ram Vilas Paswan, Mr Ajit Singh, Mr George Fernandes, Ms Mamata Banerjee and Mr Ramachandran form the shortlist of ministers who were either made to resign or left because of imagined or real differences with other NDA partners. Mr Paswan is the only one who took a one-way ticket out of the NDA. Mr Ajit Singh has now closed his options of returning by aligning with Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh. Be that as it may, the Trinamool leader's unconditional return is being interpreted as a sign of weakness. On earlier occasions she had thrown a sulk because Mr Vajpayee refused to give her back the Railway Minister's job that she had given up. She tried her luck in the Assembly elections in West Bengal. The drubbing that the Congress - Trinamool Congress alliance received in West Bengal reduced her political nuisance value. She was accepted back into the NDA fold, but on terms and conditions dictated by the Prime Minister. But bad political habits have an amazing instinct for survival. In May she embarrassed Mr Vajpayee by spurning a Cabinet berth and throwing a tantrum on the proposed induction of rebel Trinamool leader Sudip Bandopadhya in the Council of Ministers. The compulsions of running a coalition government occasionally allow political beggars the luxury of turning their wishes into horses. Deep down, the Trinamool leader knows that as a Central Minister she would be a shade more effective in resuming the battle for resurrecting her party, as an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party, during the Lok Sabha elections next year. For the time being she is a minister without portfolio because she does not want to touch the Ministry of Coal. The change of portfolios of the other ministers does not provide any clue about the assignment she would ultimately get. Mr Nitish Kumar is still the Railway Minister. And that must be a source of irritation for her. |
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Hurriyat's death wish THE All-Party Hurriyat Conference has split with the hawks parting company with the doves. The conglomerate has been weakened considerably as 13 of its 25 constituents have joined the group led by pro-Pakistan former chief of the Jamaat-e-Islami (J&K) Syed Ali Shah Geelani. Though the Yasin Malik-led Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front and the People's League, the two important groups in the Hurriyat protesting against the style of functioning of its chief, Maulvi Abbas Ansari, have not joined the rebels, the development is, nonetheless, a victory for Mr Geelani. After last year's Assembly elections, Mr Geelani had been demanding the expulsion of the Sajjad Lone-led People's Conference for fielding "proxy" candidates in the poll despite the boycott call given by the Hurriyat. Mr Geelani was adamant on the issue, which resulted in his parent organisation withdrawing him from the Hurriyat's Executive Council. Ultimately, Mr Geelani has dealt a serious blow to the Hurriyat. He may be happier if it becomes irrelevant. He has also been opposed to Maulvi Ansari's elevation as the umbrella organisation's chief. He cited certain provisions in the Hurriyat constitution for his rejection of the moderate leader's election. But the truth is that Mr Geelani disliked Maulvi Ansari because the Hurriyat had the guts to tell his detractor that it could no longer function as a proxy for Pakistan. Maulvi Ansari sided with Mr Sajjad Lone because he saw in the young man a new leader with moderate views emerging on the Kashmir horizon. The Hurriyat chief had also expressed his preference for a peaceful solution to the Kashmir crisis. Unfortunately, he has to pay a price for providing a reasonably balanced leadership. The split may lead to a stiff competition between the two factions for hogging the limelight. There is the possibility of the Geelani faction seeking the help of the militant outfits in the fight for supremacy. The maverick leader may play the Pakistan card to erode the support base of the Ansari faction. One hopes the Kashmiri masses, who are tired of militancy, will see through Mr Geelani's game. After all, they are the final arbiter in this war of attrition. |
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Advantage Arafat THE
resignation of Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday is the culmination of an intense power struggle in the war-worn region. The moderate leader was appointed by Chairman Yasser Arafat four months ago under US pressure. The two were having problems over the control of the Palestinian Authority's security services. While Mr Abbas had been demanding full control of all the security services, Mr Arafat had refused to yield. Not only that, Mr Arafat had appointed Jibril Rajoub as the national security adviser throwing a direct challenge to Mr Abbas. The Prime Minister was also stung by accusations that he betrayed the Palestinian cause. This allegation became all the more unbearable when repeated by leaders of the ruling Fatah group. Initially, it was thought that Mr Abbas would be persuaded to withdraw his resignation, but now it seems that the die has been cast. Parliament Speaker Ahmad Qurei, his successor, may not find favour with the US or Israel because he is considered an Arafat man. Mr Arafat has himself proposed his name, and the move has won the approval of the Palestinian leadership. Mr Abbas' decision to quit apparently caught the Bush administration by surprise. Now that the Arafat-counterweight with whom the US was comfortable is out of the way, the West Asian peace process is again in choppy waters. Saving it from the inglorious fate that has befallen earlier peace efforts may prove to be very difficult. There are elements within the Palestinians which are vehemently opposed to any kind of settlement. Israel has not helped matters by dropping a 550-pound bomb on a Gaza City apartment just a few hours later in a botched attempt to kill several top Hamas leaders, including the Islamic militant group's founder, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who escaped with a minor injury. This could provoke more Hamas suicide bombings and Israeli reprisals. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned in a statement that Israel would not do business with a government controlled by Mr Arafat or his loyalists. One of his Cabinet colleagues went much further saying that Mr Arafat should not be "immune from anything". That is seen as an indirect threat to assassinate him. The US-drawn "road map" has done nothing to lead West Asia out of the blind alley.
Finality is not the language of politics. — Benjamin Disraeli |
Hurdles in military modernisation IN
the first part of the article the focus was on financial allocation for modernisation. Besides the inadequately publicised financial allocation, there are several other problems in the procurement of weapons and equipment and modernisation of the forces. A major hurdle in force modernisation has been our very long and complicated procurement procedures. Three years ago, on procurement issues, Service Headquarters, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the defence production unit, the quality assurance wing and the staff of the MoD including those dealing with finance, were all working in watertight compartments. Every department must satisfy itself on all aspects of the case. Each case kept moving up and down, with piecemeal and repeated queries asked by different agencies. There were repeated examinations of “establishing the necessity” of a new weapon/equipment and justification for its quality and quantity. The case had often to be referred to the Financial Authority (CFA) for the approval of the request for proposal, staff evaluation of trials, constitution of a price negotiating committee, contract documents and so on. File-pushing from one office to another went on endlessly. There was little transparency even within the defence establishment. The Group of Ministers (GoM) constituted post-Kargil to review the whole gamut of national security quite rightly realised that this procurement structure was responsible for the sub-optimal utilisation of funds and long delays in acquisitions and had not been conducive to the modernisation of the armed forces. A dedicated institutional structure, the Defence Acquisition Council and Defence Procurement Board, with closer participation of the armed forces, was created to undertake all procurement functions and facilitate speed, coordination and cost effectiveness in the process. The Procurement Board was set up under a Special Secretary, with senior members from all the concerned departments to deal speedily with major acquisition cases that required CCS approval. The board functioned well for a while till, starting with the Commodore Purohit case, the MoD was hit by audit and vigilance reports and the Tehelka episode. Due to the fear of controversies and micro-scrutiny of watchdogs like the CAG, the CVC and the PAC, no civil or military official would take the responsibility and thus become accountable. The newly constituted Procurement Board seems to have gone into limbo. Let us face that ever since the Bofors controversy there have been several debates in Parliament, mostly about defence purchases and acrimonies. The Opposition blames the government for the lack of defence preparedness. But it also raises a controversy over every defence purchase. The media, the CAG, the PAC and the CVC keep talking of scams, procedural lapses and also of delays. Most of these agencies are justifiably worried about audit and scams. But they are not prepared to sit together and evolve a solution. Meanwhile, young officers and jawans deployed along the Line of Control and elsewhere continue to wait for better weapons and equipment to be able to fight better and thus have a greater chance of survival. In the present acrimonious political environment, is it possible to create a national consensus and transparency over this vital national security issue? To my mind corruption cases in defence procurement should be treated as criminal issues and not as electoral shadow-boxing. Another major obstacle in the way of modernisation has been the interminable wait for self-reliance. In April 1994, the DRDO prepared a plan envisaging its transformation into a leader of international class with the mission to capture and retain commanding heights in critical technologies. The government approved a “national mission,” with considerable financial support, “to achieve self-reliance in defence systems through a ‘mission mode’ organisational structure and approach.” The effort was expected “to increase the element of self-reliance from the current figure of about 30 per cent to 70 per cent in 2005 in terms of the proportion of the annual expenditure on indigenously produced defence systems to the total expenditure on acquisitions”. Till 2003 these “expectations” are not in sight. Self-reliance in critical technologies is a sine qua non for any nation of substance. Indigenisation and non-linear thinking for the development of technological and production infrastructure are essential. But in these days of uncertain security, rapid technological developments world-wide, and the need to maintain a technological edge over adversaries, how long can the forces wait for development of indigenous weapons and equipment? The DRDO has been justifiably keen on bridging this gap but it takes too long so far as delivery is concerned. Look at the endless wait for the development and induction of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), Arjun tanks, the Akash, Trishul and Nag missiles, Nishant UAV, the Pinaka multi-barrel rocket system, weapon-locating radars, radio sets, the list is endless. Till recently (formation of the Defence Acquisition Council) the DRDO would unilaterally block the import of weapons and equipment or technology for the forces. The decision to import T-90 tanks along with technology was taken against tremendous all-round resistance. The GoM realised this and recommended that henceforth “make or buy” will be a joint decision to be taken in consultation with the concerned armed forces, keeping in view the urgency. A time frame would be given to the DRDO for “development”. If there are to be further delays the item may be procured from outside. Effective implementation of this policy is yet to be seen. In the current high security and rapid technological environment, self-reliance, bilateral or multi-lateral technology-cooperation and force modernisation requirements have to be carefully balanced. One cannot afford to compromise national security, waiting all the time for development/production of indigenous weapons and equipment. Some years ago, in order to update our development and manufacturing capacity and involve the private sector in defence self-reliance programmes, the government and the CII made six task forces to come up with recommendations for facilitation and policy changes. There has been no progress on those recommendations, again due to the fear of scandals, and vested interests in development and production agencies under the MoD. It needs to be stated that despite the “available” budgetary support, our policies and efforts towards modernisation of the armed forces are not bearing the desired fruit. The focus is missing. It cannot be satisfactorily explained to the soldiers. Well-informed people too have started asking questions as to how the large amount of defence allocation is being utilised. There is need for greater transparency and accountability in our defence planning system. No one scrutinises the Defence Plan objectives and strategic goals. Even on annual defence expenditure there is no accountability except that of audit nature. All this requires not merely a political but also professional look. We should consider inducting at least one professional as a Minister of State in the MoD. Also, if the Parliamentary Standing Committee members cannot raise searching questions on the Defence Plan and its implementation, there is need to constitute an experts’ committee. It can start functioning by analysing the experience gained during the Ninth Defence Plan and draw lessons from there. The committee can also monitor the implementation of the Tenth Defence
Plan. Concluded — The writer is a former Chief of Army Staff |
“Superb communicator” WITH
the “desi” vest and “angochha” on my shoulders or head I move around in public. Don’t call it rustic — it is the typical dress of a tropical part of the globe where scorching summer drives you mad. No fun in laughing at my “attire”. Definitely better than that of models of your so-called sophisticated and cultured world. If they roll in wealth exposing their body — a “dignified” trade of the fashionable world — me and my family roll in the precious metal with the “grace” of scams. Politics and scams! Oops! Very compatible bedfellows they make. What if I was alleged to have cheated the cattle of their fodder. Hardly matters. Money is needed to run the show. More so to celebrate my siblings’ marriages. Above all you are in the news — the media runs after you, not that you run after it. The small screen flashes your images and lo! the world comes to know how much power you wield with the people — feel as if I am the king of the masses. They follow me as the rats followed the Pied Piper. Even media has pampered me. I am a hot topic for many a talk show. Healthy interludes people get in their humdrum life. Shakespeare was wise enough to include jesters in his tragedies-knew the mortals needed a light dose along with the serious stuff. Same is my purpose. My very name causes ripples. Draws crowds en masse. There is surely some magic about my name. You see the abundant mass appeal I carry. I am, in fact, a crowd puller. My wit and humour! what to say of them! Without me sessions of Parliament are sapless, just devoid of life. Some snoring, others dozing and the rest battling with words. These scholarly politicians bore others to death! Wow! My speeches, brimming with wit and humour, send them to peals of laughter. But for me the country’s politics would have been a sandy desert, hot and burning. My earthy humour provides a shady oasis therein. I provide you the best medicine — laughter — free of cost. Be grateful to me, you folks. No end to my jugglery with words! The maverick in me stole the show in Pakistan too. Wherever I went I made news in the neighbouring country with the audience in stitches during my speech. See my presence of mind! I carried a bagful of “paan” and a sackful of “sattu”! Unusual gifts, you will say. Don’t laugh at “sattu” and “paan” — they are gifts of the soil I belong to. Above all I took along with me unending ready wit to regale people. Media, of course, focused on me more than on official meetings. My roadshows won over the Pakistanis instantly. Women journeyed all the way from Karachi to see me. Shopkeepers in the Anarkali market opened their closed shutters for me only. But natural that the other delegates were smitten by the green-eyed monster. A charismatic leader of the masses I am undoubtedly. In fact, like Antony I went,” saw and conquered”. Three cheers for my wonderful reach as a communicator. I charmed the crowds with my inimitable style. I enjoyed every bit of my stay over there. Back in Bihar, I still fall in reveries about this visit. Hogging the limelight has been my aim. I made even surrendering before the court an event. I played the trick simply to widen my vote bank. Surprisingly, Biharis are migrating to greener pastures in search of livelihood. I cann’t promise them life free from kidnappings and extortions. That is what my state is known for. Long live my docile sweetheart who obliged me by giving up the “chullah” for the “rubber stamp” that she is. People have gladly accepted her as the uncrowned queen of Bihar. God bless me and my mass
appeal. |
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Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia’s
vision THE
best writer of English, according to the editor of a British daily newspaper in Lahore in 1943, was Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) and the secret of his impeccable English was the use of simple words such as ‘Quit India’, ‘Do or die’. I was reminded of this while working on the first-ever biography of Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia (1848-98). Dyal Singh did not become a mass leader; nor was he a litterateur of much consequence. The contribution of this greatest Punjabi to the second half of the 19th century was substantial. According to Annie Besant, he was among the fathers of the Indian National Congress; he was also the principal motive force behind the establishment of the first wholly Indian Bank (Punjab National). He held 25 per cent of the initial shares and was — until his death — the chairman of the Board of Directors. Dyal Singh worked hard to fulfil Punjab's demand for setting up of a university in the province. He also mobilised the support of Brahmo Samaj leaders in India for such a university to impart education through the medium of English. Throughout his life, Dyal Singh gave scholarships to deserving students of all communities, irrespective of their religious denomination. In his will, he bequeathed self-earned assets totalling Rs 30 lakh (his contemporary Dorabji Tata had bequeathed Rs 23 lakh) to three trusts, to set up a college and a library and run a daily newspaper, all aimed at dissemination of knowledge and education. Dyal Singh was the foremost leader of social reforms propagated by the Brahmo Samaj, and was a trustee of the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj Mandir in Kolkata. Behind his faith in the Brahmo Samaj was a streak of Christianity. Throughout his writings, wherever they are, are references to the kingdom of heaven, divinity and anecdotes from the Bible. This is because Raja Tej Singh, who had been the last Commander-in-Chief of the Khalsa Army and, after the annexation of Punjab, apart from other work, was also in charge of the court of wards to look after the estates of Dyal Singh's father, Sardar Lehra Singh. He had sent Dyal Singh to the Christian Mission School, Amritsar. Around this time, four Sikh youth at the school had embraced Christianity. Even Maharaja Ranjit Singh's scion Dalip Singh, had become a Christian. Before he went to England, Dyal Singh himself, according to some people, thought of becoming a Christian. But he did not. However, a streak of Christian thought and feelings can be seen in some of the pamphlets he wrote, or translations of theological essays, such as “Kashiful ilham”, “Khuda Muhabbat hai ya qahar”. According to Ruchi Ram Sahni, a fellow Brahmo Samaj activist, “there must be very few even among Indian Christians who could describe the various scenes connected with the life of Jesus Christ and his disciples so vividly and with interesting details of incidents and stories as he could. He was a student of metaphysics and ethics”. He had a thorough knowledge of the Koran, the Gita and the Bible and was keenly interested in various theological issues. He also seldom missed an opportunity to discuss these issues with the leaders of different faiths. He met and discussed these issues with Swami Vivekananda, who came to Lahore and stayed as a guest of the Editor of Dyal Singh’s paper, The Tribune; he met and discussed with Syed Ahmed Khan, when the latter visited Punjab for fund raising for Aligarh University. He had discussions with Swami Dayanand for whose stay Dyal Singh arranged at a Muslim friend’s house in Amritsar; he had discussions with Keshub Chunder Sen and Sivanath Sastri, A.C. Mazumdar etc. Brahmo Samaj leaders visiting Lahore and Amritsar were his guests. One of his lectures presumably on Brahmo Samaj was printed in a booklet entitled “Rahat-i-Haqiqi”. It has not been possible to secure a copy. However, the depth of his curiosity to understand truth would be clear from the fact that early in his educational career, he had edited correspondence between Padri Maulvi Imaduddin, a Muslim Sunni convert to Christianity and Maulvi Sayed Ali Muhammad, a renowned Muslim divine of Lucknow, on theological issues. The letters edited by Dyal Singh were in a 115-page book entitled “Naghma-i-Tamboori”. It was printed in Lahore. The number of copies printed as mentioned in the title page is 1500 obviously for wide dissemination and it was priced at four annas. For a scion of the great Lehna Singh, who was in charge of the Golden Temple and chief of the arms and ammunition of Ranjit Singh to be interested in such matters was indeed unexpected. Same is also true of seeking an occupation. While the sons of the great Sardar, who wielded power and influence during Ranjit Singh's time, now kow-towed to the British for such jobs as a Tehsildar or Extra Assistant Commissioner etc, Dyal Singh carved out a career in business. He took up building real estate, bade for plots of land in places outside the walled city of Lahore, which had been headquarters of the forces of different sardars and mansabs. These were acquired and prestigious buildings put up, sometimes to be rented out to senior British officers. He also specialised in diamonds and precious stones, then going in for distress sales by the great Sardars' families. L.H. Griffin, the author of “Punjab Chiefs 1865”, says that Dyal Singh had a good knowledge of English, Persian and Hindi. He forgot to include Arabic. The word Urdu had not yet been very current. Dyal Singh's Hindi was highly Arabic and Persianised. And he was very proud of using flowery language. Though no Ghalib, or a Zauk or Mir, he was like thousands of those minor Urdu poets who wrote for recitation at mushairas and whose poems or ‘Kalams’ have not survived. He wrote in Punjabi too. Dyal Singh’s role in journalism forms a golden chapter in his life and the history of the Punjab. The Tribune was started around the same period as The Hindu of Madras, the Amrit Bazar Patrika of Calcutta and the Kesari of Pune. The Tribune was started to fight the cause of Punjab University on the pattern of Calcutta and Bombay, as against the wishes of British bureaucrats who were to keep Punjab isolated from imparting education through classical or regional languages and not English. No Punjabi journalists were then available. It was, therefore, necessary for Dyal Singh to ask Surendranath Banerjee to get journalists from Bengal. He also got him the printing press. A succession of editors of The Tribune, till 1945, were all from Bengal, mostly Brahmos, except one Alfred Nandy. Once when the Editor of The Tribune went on leave for a brief period, Dyal Singh sent a message through the manager to Har Kishen Lal, later famous as Gauba, to take over this work. Har Kishen Lal had recently returned to India from England with a Bar at law degree and was to become a financial wizard, banker and founder of the Bharat Insurance & Co. etc. Har Kishen Lal hesitated to accept the offer, but the manager told him that Sardar Dyal Singh had agreed to render all editorial help. Har Kishen agreed. For the next day’s paper, he wrote something and took it to Dyal Singh. Says Har Kishen Lal: “I write some notes and read them out to him. His criticism and remarks showed that he had followed the trend of public affairs more closely than an ordinary educated man does. But I was surprised to find that he had also written for me, or for The Tribune, a few notes himself which he handed over to me to be printed if I liked. I did let them go in the newspaper. They were much appreciated and I got the credit for them”. As all Bengali leader writers were not really aware of the problems of Punjab, especially of Sikhs, Dyal Singh himself wrote editorials or leading articles on subjects relating to Punjab, but never had his name given. For, unlike today's owners of the newspapers, he was self-effacing. |
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Delhi Durbar Congress president Sonia Gandhi inaugurated the state government’s bag distribution scheme at a function near Raipur recently. Perhaps, the BJP would not have been so angered had it been plain bags. The school bags have photograph of Ajit Jogi and two school children imprinted on the back. The bags would be going to lakhs of homes in the next few days in the state facing assembly elections in November. BJP it seems, is desperate to outdo Jogi. Dwindling Indian Jews The minuscule community of Jews in this country do not think Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s sojourn to this country can make an impact on their lives. At the same time, the community takes pride in its Indian origin though 50,000 of them have migrated to Israel. Though they regret not having been given minority status, they are categoric that they have not faced anti-semitism or persecution. There are hardly 15 Jewish families living in Delhi but the national capital has a synagogue built in 1956. The rabbi of the synagogue Ezekiel Issac Malekar said they will be happy to welcome Sharon should he decide to visit the synagogue. Indian American for governorship Bobby Jindal, 34, appears to have a good chance of being the first Indian American Governor of the southern state of Louisiana. Likened to former US President Bill Clinton in many respects, Bobby heads the list of Republican candidates. Born and raised in Baton Rouge, the son of hard working immigrant parents, Bobby has been taught the importance of giving back to the community. Converting to Roman Catholism after being raised a Hindu, Bobby does not have the advantage of people of Asian descent in Louisiana. After a number of high-level administrative positions that included leading the Louisiana university system he was appointed as assistant secretary of health and human services in the Bush administration in Washington. Jindal resigned in February to run for Governor. (Contributed by T.R. Ramachandran and Prashant Sood) |
True religion teaches us to reverence what is under us, to recognise humility, poverty, wretchedness, suffering and death, as things divine. — Goethe Dwell on the One and gather the fruit thereof. — Guru Nanak God is omnipresent. Even a pebble in the Narmada can represent Him and serve as an object of worship. — Mahatma Gandhi Consciousness is the inner light kindled in the soul...a music, strident or sweet, made by the friction of existence. — George Santayana The silence of the mind is the true religious mind, and the silence of the gods is the silence of the earth. — J. Krishnamurti If God afflicts you with evil, none can remove it but He; and if He blesses you with good fortune, know that He has power over all things. — The Koran  |
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His role in journalism is a golden chapter in the annals of Punjab
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi, who has carved some reputation for causing defections, has not stopped surprising the opposition parties. His latest move to distribute more than 20 lakh bags among children of government schools in the state has left the state BJP fuming. The distribution of bags is being subtly projected by the Congress as a counter to the distribution of tridents by an outfit of the Sangh Parivar.