 |
|
Closer cooperation Now Captain’s sops Ramakrishna Hegde |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Cancun to Geneva and after
A teacher named Jaggi
Contract farmers harvest good returns US tax returns being prepared in India
|
Closer cooperation US President George W Bush’s announcement that the US and India would step up their cooperation in non-military nuclear activities, civilian space programmes, high-technology trade and missile defence constitutes a turning point in their relations. It follows from the November 2001 agreement between President Bush and Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee to enhance the strategic partnership between the two countries. With this, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which was a key problem in bilateral relations until recently, has definitely moved off the center-stage. In any case, there is greater understanding of each other’s position as is borne out by the fact that the Bush administration has not pressed on this front except to generally urge stricter Indian controls over exports of materials and technology that could be used for weapons of mass destruction. Similarly, India did not respond negatively to President Bush unveiling the controversial missile defence system. Until recently what had been blocking Indo-US “strategic partnership” was the 1998 Pokharan nuclear explosions. These seem to be out of the way. While the US clarifies that there is no change in this position, a better understanding of the Indian stand is clearly discernible in Mr Bush’s announcement. India is committed to develop “a minimum credible deterrent” force to meet the nuclear threat perceived from China and Pakistan. In terms of nuclear doctrine, India has declared that it will not be the first to use nuclear weapons but will employ them only in response to a nuclear attack — and never against a non-nuclear nation. The shared democratic values and the concern over global terrorism and weapons of mass destruction also help in bringing the two countries closer. All this does not mean that India accepts the concept of a unipolar world in its entirety. In fact, it prefers a multipolar world in which India will be one of the main poles. In spite of this contradiction, the two countries have found ways to work together as denoted by Mr Bush’s announcement. Indian science and technology establishments can now look forward to strengthening their technical and knowledge base through the window of opportunities that President Bush and Prime Minister Vajpayee have opened to them. The US stands to gain from enhanced confidence in India and its competence in the field of science, technology and space research. |
|
Now Captain’s sops NOT to be left behind the Union Finance Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh has also come out with his own set of election-eve concessions. But there is one major difference: the Central duty cuts are in accordance with the ongoing reforms, whereas the Punjab waivers are simply populist. Take, for instance, the so-called one-time settlement of violations of building byelaws. This amounts to the government’s admission that it has failed to implement the building bylaws. If it legalises undesirable constructions, future governments may also do that, thus encouraging citizens to treat building byelaws with contempt. There has to be a planned growth of towns. Buildings cannot be allowed to come up anywhere. The Punjab urban landscape is already chaotic and regularisation of illegal constructions will make it worse. The state government’s relief to those who had accumulated arrears of interest and penalty for the non-payment of water and sewerage charges is also unjustifiable. Other sections of society, particularly farmers, may also ask for a similar “amnesty scheme” to waive interest and penalty payments. That will make governance difficult. It does not behove a government that withdrew the facility of free water and electricity for the farm sector when it began its career to resort to such short-sighted gimmicks. The state Congress leaders, who had rightly blamed the populist policies of the previous Badal government for the near bankrupt treasury they had inherited, cannot now follow in its footsteps. The Chief Minister’s offer to lead a delegation to Delhi to plead the case of steel-based industry may be a nice political gesture, but it will not yield anything. The steel prices are determined by market forces and the government can do little in this. The relief in sales tax and the withdrawal of the exim forms do meet the longstanding demands of the industry. No doubt, trade and industry are passing through a difficult period in Punjab. They need state encouragement with a view to making them competitive. Temporary crutches, however, will not take them far. Positive measures like procedural simplification, eradication of the red-tape, corruption and official harassment of traders and a congenial climate for growth are required. |
|
Ramakrishna Hegde RAMAKRISHNA Hedge, who passed away in Bangalore on Monday, was a distinguished political leader. In an eventful career spanning over four decades, he created a niche for himself in the political firmament of the country. Known for his affable manners and intellectual sophistry, he enjoyed the distinction of being the first non-Congress Chief Minister of Karnataka (1983-88). It was during this period that he introduced several pathbreaking reforms in the state like the Panchayati Raj, the appointment of the Lok Ayukta, and the rural drinking water supply programme. His popularity and charisma transcended the boundaries of Karnataka. It was because of his crusade for “value-based politics” — a phrase coined by Hegde himself — that he developed a pan-Karnataka image. Though a man of the Nehruvian mould, Hegde was highly critical of both Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. His close association with S. Nijalingappa, the then president of the Indian National Congress who inducted him into politics, may have given practical shape to his political career. But it was mainly because of his hard work and perseverance that he could emerge as a leader of substance. He was a voracious reader, prolific writer, able administrator and policy maker. Hegde and his admirers believed that he was made of prime ministerial stuff but he failed to make it to South Block when Mr H. D. Deve Gowda pipped him at the post in 1996. It is debatable whether his obsession with the Prime Minister’s job cost him dearly, but he lost his battery of supporters in the process and had been ploughing a lonely furrow for quite some time. Health problems finally claimed his life. A sad end of a career of a man who could still do more for the country. I count myself in nothing else so happy As in a soul remembering my good friends. — William Shakespeare |
Cancun to Geneva and after AFTER the collapse of the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) at Cancun in September 2003, the WTO General Council met at Geneva on December 15 2003, to further the cause of the Doha Development Agenda of 2001. It is unfortunate that the WTO members missed the deadline for re-launching the stalled Doha round of trade talks, though officials said they would do better in 2004. India stuck to its demand for dropping three of the four Singapore issues — trade facilitation, investment, competition policy and transparency in government procurement — from the agenda. As for the government procurement of industrial products, let us just take one example of how it affects trade. If a government offers an incentive to local manufacturers, that will obviously help that country’s trade. The developed countries cannot deprive its citizens of benefits on the procurement of quality goods from within the country. On the issue of transparency in government procurement, the Indian position is that while the principle is entirely acceptable, there cannot be a universal determination of what constitutes transparent procedures, because they differ from country to country. Trade facilitation refers essentially to simplifying procedural hassles in international trade, in terms of the documentation required by the Customs Department and so on. Obviously, this too has an impact on trade. India has argued that once again the idea is unexceptionable. Developing countries may not have the resources — by way of technology or otherwise — to bring their procedures in line with those in the developed world. On the issues like investment and competition policy, India feels that having a multilateral agreement would be a serious impingement on the sovereign rights of countries. Investment is seen as an area in which ceding sovereign rights would leave a government, particularly that of a developing country with little room for manoeuvre in directing investments into areas of national priority. In a bid to break the impasse on trade negotiations, India has lately shown flexibility on the Singapore issues. It is willing to enter into multilateral dialogue on trade facilitation. This is bound to be treated as a breather for the European Union, which has been looking for an escape route on these issues. India’s stand on the Singapore issues is bound to have a positive impact on trade negotiations after the collapse of the talks at Cancun. However, India has put two riders on proceeding with the negotiations on trade facilitation. Firstly, it is pressing for an explicit consensus. Secondly, it is seeking a response to certain clarifications sought on a trade facilitation regime. India has already moved ahead with two of its major trading partners — the European Union and the United States — by signing customs treaties. Trade facilitation with common procedures and norms for goods clearance from the customs authorities is bound to reduce transaction costs and delays in the movement of goods besides making trade more hassle-free for both sides. On agriculture, India’s stand is that any movement on the issue will depend on the “depth of agriculture reforms” proposed to be carried out by the developed nations along with adequate safeguards to address the livelihood and food security concerns of billions of farmers in the developing world. India has reiterated its stand on agriculture and it is based on three factors: domestic support or subsidies, export support in terms of credit and market access which basically means tariff reduction. The reason being that a large section of the population in the developing countries depends on farm produce for its living and, therefore, their interest has to be looked after. The major problems with their national perspective are production of adequate food for domestic consumption and sustenance of their agricultural economy. India has explained that unless high domestic subsidies (green-box) of the US and the EU are brought down, the developing countries’ farmers can never compete. The developed countries, distort production and trade. India and other developing countries feel that the “non-reducible” subsidies of the major developed countries should be eliminated within a specified time-frame, say 10 years. The EU had come out with a strategy paper aimed at contributing to the re-launch of the Doha talks at Geneva. The focal point of the paper reiterates the EU’s fundamental objectives — a clear preference for a multilateral trading system, a strong rule-making component alongside market access in agriculture and the need to ensure that the negotiations do deliver a development round. Commenting on the strategy paper, which was sent to the European Council and European Parliament, the EU Trade Commissioner, Mr Pascal Lamy, said, “The clear lesson of Cancun is that no single player or group of players can deliver the goods in the Round. While we can and are ready to make further adjustments in the EU position, what we need is a round in which all contribute and make adjustments.” Recently the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, while cautioning the developed countries against imposing non-tariff barriers, said that popular support for economic liberalisation would collapse if the developmental concerns of the poor countries were not addressed. He stressed the point that India would have to take into consideration the question of livelihood of millions of people while taking decisions on agricultural issues at the WTO. “There has been a good atmosphere and constructive debate, but we have not been able to go to the extra step and find the common ground that is needed. We need political will for that,” Mr Carlos Perez del Castillo, the current Chairman of the WTO talks, says. And WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi says that he has seen “flexibility from all sides”. That is good. But the developed countries must give a thought to what Mr Vajpayee has said. His message is loud and clear: the developed countries must care for the poor nations’ needs, otherwise economic liberalisation will collapse and the purpose of the WTO will get defeated. The developed nations, especially the US and the EU, must be prepared to give concessions to the poor at the next WTO meeting, to be held soon. India should actively promote the development agenda, especially with regard to
agriculture. The writer specialises on WTO-related issues. |
A teacher named Jaggi IN the first week of September every year, the nation celebrates the teachers’ day and photographs of ministers with blooming faces, specially taken, at our expense, of course, appear in newspapers as advertisements telling us what the nation owes to teachers. Some day, I suppose, there will also be a politicians’ day. What will the politicians tell us? And at whose expense? Certainly, no politician out of power will bore us at his own expense. Be that as it may be, as I see the teachers’ day advertisement in the newspapers, my mind, which is neither a sieve nor a dictionary, and throws up long-forgotten episodes on its own, travels back to 1938 when I was a ninth class student in Nowshehra cantonment, 26 miles this side of Peshawar. We were giving a farewell party to the outgoing 10th class. Ranjit was a good friend of mine. As we were joking, he passed a nasty remark against me. And in the same spirit, I pierced the knife I had in hand to cut a mango right through his arm. I had no intention to do that kind of thing. I was not capable of doing it. Ranjit had his arm uplifted and I had thought that the knife would pierce through the vacuum created by that uplifted arm between itself and Ranjit’s chest. In a reflex action, Ranjit brought down his arm. And the knife, instead of piercing the vacuum, pierced it. Blood came out of Ranjit’s arm. It was a minor injury, I suppose. But blood was blood. Accompanied by two common friends, I took Ranjit to the doctor’s clinic, not far away. As the doctor, after giving some injection to Ranjit, was bandaging the injured portion of the arm, two things happened. The doctor’s sister, also a doctor, appeared on the scene. “Why don’t you hand him over to the police?” she asked her brother. The doctor shrugged his shoulders. Apparently, he was convinced that the whole thing was an unintended outcome of a prank. The other thing that happened was that Ranjit’s parents hearing about what had happened rushed to the doctor’s clinic. His mother seeing the condition of his son, who cried unnecessarily as he saw her, gave me a terrific slap on the face. I had to take it like I would have taken it from my own mother. The news that I had stabbed Ranjit spread like wild fire in the school. L.R. Jaggi was the headmaster. He knew me well. So did he know Ranjit and the fact that the two of us were close friends. Seeing the angry mood of the doctor’s sister and the frowns on the forehead of Ranjit’s mother, he, too, gave me a slap, more terrific, I think, than what I had received from Ranjit’s mother. And, thereafter, he asked the doctor whether he could take me back to school. The doctor agreed. Jaggi wanted to pay him his charges. The doctor declined. Ranjit’s parents took him back to Risalpur, the air force station, where Ranjit’s father was employed. Jaggi dragged me back to school. Nothing happened thereafter. On teachers’ day, how can I not think of the man called
L.R. Jaggi?
|
Contract farmers harvest good returns
THE chilly winds hit fiercely as we drive down to the Dudhan Sadhan mandi in Devigarh, confronting the unfriendly kutcha roads of Patiala district. For basmati paddy, the last crop of the kharif season, harvest had just begun. On both sides of the road one noticed landscapes covered with basmati, ready to be reaped. It was late in the afternoon when we reached the Dudhan Sadhan mandi. A large number of farmers from nearby villages had assembled with their produce. Quintals of basmati heaped into mounds was lying all over the place and about 100 such small hills of the aromatic rice could be counted. Both small buyers and traders were around to procure. They gauged the quality of the grain and fixed a price for the lot. Whoever bids the highest price, buys the lot. But in this process the farmer may get a fair price or may incur losses. However, there is nothing unusual about the system because this has been the traditional practice. And this carries on. But Mukhtar Singh, a peasant from Mirapur village, is not a worried man like his other friends. He says he is insulated from such risks. He is confident that his produce would be bought at the best price in the given market condition. Early last year Mukhtar Singh hade entered into a contract with Rallis India Limited under the aegis of the Punjab Agro Industries Corporation Limited (PAICL). According to the contract, he is required to plant the contractor’s crop in his land, in his case basmati, and deliver the contractor his produce, based upon anticipated yield and contracted acreage. The contractor supplies agri-inputs like pesticides and insecticides, technical guidance and know-how. Apart from this the contractor gets a buyer to procure the farmer’s entire produce. This saves people like Mukhtar Singh the hassles of finding a buyer and are assured of a market, leave alone a remunerative price. Later during the day Mukhtar Singh’s produce is bought by LT Overseas, a big exporter of basmati, at a price of Rs 1,150 per quintal”. I expected a higher price but I am happy, said Mukhtar, “at least now I know, how to produce a good crop.” Nevertheless, Ajaib Singh, a cultivator from the locality is not disheartened. He sold about 50 quintals of basmati grown on five acres at a price of Rs 1,350 per quintal. By far this was the highest price for that day in the mandi. “Next year I will bring more land under contract,” said Ajaib Singh with a smile. “The objective of contract farming is to aid diversification of agriculture and promote alternative crops requiring less water,” said Himmat Singh, Managing Director, PAICL. “One reason for diversifying is that the watertable in Punjab has dropped to a great extent and basmati requires less water than the other varieties of paddy,” explained Singh. Under the ambit of contract farming a number of crops like basmati, hayola oil seed, maize, barley, duram wheat and winter vegetables are grown. “We want to link our growers with processors and the idea is to grow something for which we have a ready market,” added Singh. According to WTO regulations, from 2005 it would become mandatory to provide traceability of the exported agricultural items and specifically for the patented crops like basmati. To comply with such regulations an exporting firm will be required to declare the variety, generic name of the crop, fertilizers used and the geographical location. “This calls for a complete shift in the way farming has been practised in the country. The agricultural sector has to be organised and this can be achieved through contract farming,” said Himmat Singh. “Moreover only an experienced agency can supply the exporter with all the details of the product.” Recognising the need for and merits of such a linkage with the producing community, several corporate houses involved in agro-commodity trading, processing and exports have attempted to establish convenient models that ensure timely and consistent supply of raw materials of the desired quality at a low cost. According to the Rallis centre in-charge in Patiala, the contractual farmers are usually big farmers. “We enter into a contract only with people who are financially sound and are not in any debt trap,” he said. Graintec India Limited, primarily a rice-milling firm has recently joined the bandwagon in collaboration with Escorts. They are operating in nine districts and have 6,700 farmers as members. Multimedia presentations, workshops and regular correspondence form the integral part of training for the farmers. “Plant entomologists and pathologists are sent from time to time to the fields to monitor the condition of the crops. All the methods that we adhere to have clearance from Punjab Agricultural University or the Indian Council of Agricultural Research,” said M.B.S. Sandhu, Executive Director, Graintec India Limited referring to the slides that are used in presentations. His face brimmed with contentment while showing the 1,50,000 quintals of packed basmati procured by PepsiCo. However, some disturbing reports have been published in local newspapers stating that procurement was not smooth as expected. “Yes, few of the big buyers have denied procuring at the agreed price. This is the traders’ mentality, they think they can bring down the price by dilly-dallying,” pointed out Sandhu. “But if the price fixed by the traders does not leave a good margin for the farmers, then the PAICL would buy the produce,” said S.S. Bassi, district manager, PAICL, providing a decent solution. This year the area allocated to basmati under contract farming is one lakh acres. The PAICL is planning to double the area in the next kharif season. “In fact we are looking to increase the acreage allotted for other crops like barley and hayola oil seed,” said Rakesh Khurana, DGM, PAICL.” But who bears the brunt in case the crop fails? In fact, it rained in many parts of Punjab just before the harvest. “Well, the farmer has to bear the losses as we will also have to share the burden,” said Kumar of Rallis. “We cannot take the responsibility of the bad crop. Is it possible to export a bad produce?” asked Kumar. It was noticed that insurance cover for the farmers in cases of crop failure under contract farming is missing. This is one risk the farmers are open to in contract farming, because here there is no minimum support price given by the government. Maybe with time, the PAICL and contracting agencies evolve a policy to take care of the cultivator’s interest keeping the vagaries of nature in view. — Grassroots Feature Network |
|
US tax returns being prepared in India SEVERAL employees in India’s booming call centre industry have a lot to thank Hollywood for. In line with plans to “de-Indianise” the mass of young Indian men and women employed in the sector, watching American movies has become part of the in-house training for those doing outsourcing work for US firms. This was one of the nuggets that a popular television programme, “60 Minutes”, revealed in an episode on outsourcing and what it has done to American firms. To many American employers, India is Nirvana. It has an enormous English-speaking population and a solid education system that each year churns out more than a million college graduates, many happy to work for a fraction of the salary of their American counterparts, CBS correspondent Morley Safer reported. Whether American citizens are aware or not, they are talking to Indian employees whenever they call the technical support number for Delta Airlines, American Express, Sprint, Citibank, IBM or Hewlett Packard, the report says. Chairman Raman Roy of leading outsourcing firm Wipro Spectramind is quoted as saying: “We’re doing customer servicing there (in India).” He helped start the Indian call centre boom in the 1990s when he came up with a business plan for American companies to direct their calls to India. Wipro had to build their own generators and their own satellite phone systems. The call centres are well-equipped, self-sufficient islands. Inside, round-the-clock, they keep America on the line, irrespective of the time. New Delhi is nearly 11 hours ahead of New York, so manning the phones is largely night work. By day, the agents — as they’re called — are dutiful Indian sons and daughters. By night, they take on phone names such as Sean, Nancy, Ricardo and Celine so they can sound like the girl or boy next door. American movies are part of an agent’s training in how to sound all-American. Lavanya Prabhu is a call centre trainer whose main job is to de-Indianise her countrymen by teaching them the American accent. Call centre employees earn $3,000 to $5,000 a year, in a nation where the per capita income is less than $500. The perks include free private transport to and from work. Debt collection is, as it has always been, a growth industry. Arjun Raina, a Shakespearean actor, helps debt collectors and others trying to wheedle money out of you play the part. Partha Iyengar, an analyst in India for Gartner, an American research company, says this is probably the best example of globalisation. Besides call centres, Indians also answer some of Amazon.com’s e-mail and tax preparations. Plus, if an American doctor prescribes an MRI at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, it may be analysed by a radiologist in India. Thousands of US tax returns are now being prepared in India. “Next year, people are estimating that about 200,000 returns will be prepared in India,” says Dave Wyle, a 31-year-old American entrepreneur who expects to make a fortune on outsourcing for US accounting firms through his company, Sureprep. Mumbai-based Sureprep does work for more than 150 US accounting firms, and its client list grows larger each month, according to the CBS programme. On the question of security of personal information, Wyle says: “The type of security you see in this facility is generally much more than you would see in any US accounting firm. “Everything is paperless. There are no pens or papers on the desk. There are no printers in the workroom. Everything’s done on screen.” The US government does not keep track of how many American jobs have gone overseas, but there are estimates that in just the last three years, as many as 400,000 jobs have gone to places like China, Russia and India. —
IANS |
He who meditates on Hanuman at dawn, dusk and midnight, who is ever self-controlled and auspicious-bodied, and who chants this attains good, for is there any other who is so fulfilled, so worshippable? — Shri Adi Shankaracharya If you earn merit here, You will live in bliss hereafter. — Guru Nanak ‘Gurmukh’ is the one, who by the grace of his Master (Guru) has fear of God in his heart, has faith in Guru’s word, attends congregation regularly, sheds his ego and seeks the company of saints. He who does not deceive, never lies, does not speak ill of others and keeps the ‘word’ of his Guru (God) in his heart is a true disciple (Gurmukh). — Nirankari Baba Hardev Singh Strength and manliness are virtue; weakness and cowardice are sin. — Swami
Vivekananda God is great, and therefore he will be sought: he is good, and therefore he will be found. — John Jay The whole world is a phylactery, and everything we see is an item of the wisdom, power, or goodness of God. — Sir Thomas Browne |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | National Capital | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
