 |
|
Centre’s
austerity drive On the
rise |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Korean
crisis It’s a setback for US diplomacy North Korean Vice-Foreign Minister Choe Su Hon stunned the world when he disclosed in the UN General Assembly on Tuesday that his country had acquired nuclear weapons to serve as a deterrent against a possible US military strike.
President in
uniform
Mulk Raj Anand: the
man
Terrorism reaches the Saudi
door From
Pakistan
|
Centre’s austerity drive THE Union Government’s announcement of a 20-point austerity drive is well-intentioned. The measures, to be effective from October 1, are aimed at saving an annual expenditure of over Rs 2,000 crore. However, doubts are bound to be raised as to what extent measures such as a ban on foreign travel and purchase of new cars will be implemented. Austerity drives announced by successive governments from time to time have been observed more in their breach than in practice. There is no political will or official support to enforce economy in government expenditure. The manner in which ministers and officials — at the Centre and in the states — have been misusing their office at the cost of the exchequer speaks volumes for their concern for austerity. Even the government’s occasional pronouncements about shedding the flab and rightsizing the staff have only met with howls of derision. There is bound to be public cynicism of the government’s actions if it is not sincere enough to practice what it preaches. What else would justify Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav’s decision to recruit 80,000 personnel by 2006? There is a strong case for the Railway Ministry to shed the flab and redeploy the staff in other units. This ministry has become a leviathan and it does not need the huge workforce that it has today in this age of computerisation. The same is the case with all other ministries. Nowadays, the flagrant misuse of PSUs by ministers and officials has become quite common. Hotels, cars, telephones, laptop computers, air-conditioners and furniture belonging to PSUs are misused and no questions are raised. Who can seek explanation from them as they themselves are the bosses? There is a need to check this brazen misuse of government machinery for personal ends. The Centre’s austerity drive can succeed only if every minister and Secretary to the Government of India is made accountable for the acts of misuse in his/her department. A system of reward and punishment should be introduced at various levels to promote austerity. |
|
On the rise The
oil price that started falling last month is back on the upswing, crossing the $50 a barrel level on Tuesday. The upturn is attributed to a number of factors. A hurricane recently disrupted supplies from the Gulf of Mexico. In Nigeria’s oil-producing southern region, fresh fighting has erupted. The rebels have asked the foreign oil workers to leave the area. Nigeria pumps 81 million barrels a day in the global market. Any shutdown, therefore, is bound to trigger shortage fears. With trouble brewing in Iran and Iraq still smouldering, oil worries refuse to die down. The rising demand for oil from the US, China and India has aggravated the situation. Besides, demand picks up usually around this time due to winter stock buildup. All this makes one thing clear: the price rise is here to stay, the OPEC assurances of raising production notwithstanding. How should India react? There are two options before the government. One is to raise the oil prices. This may be politically unwise with the Maharashtra elections so near. The cascading effect on the prices of general commodities will push up inflation. The diesel-consuming farmers are already in a tight spot due to the delayed monsoon. Corporate India will see a profit squeeze. The higher cost of naptha and furnace oil will impact the profitability of power, fertiliser, steel and cement units. The airlines too will feel the heat. This option is risky, but may have to be exercised ultimately. The second option is to cut the taxes on oil imports. The government resorted to this in August. The Customs duty can be slashed further. The states too can cut their duties on petro products. The oil companies have made huge profits in the past and they can absorb the present shock, but not for long. The Finance Ministry has set up a committee to study the duty structure of petro products and its report will be available by November. Either way, it is not an easy situation for the government. In the long run India will have to formulate an energy policy in view of the growing dependence on oil imports. Ad-hoc decision-making is unwarranted. |
|
Korean crisis North
Korean Vice-Foreign Minister Choe Su Hon stunned the world when he disclosed in the UN General Assembly on Tuesday that his country had acquired nuclear weapons to serve as a deterrent against a possible US military strike. North Korea was believed to have in its possession one or two nuclear bombs before the six-nation talks — involving the US, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, China and Russia — began to get its nuclear programme dismantled. If what Mr Hon has claimed is a reality, it will mean another eight nuclear bombs with Pyongyang. This is a major setback for the Bush administration, which is still grappling with the Iranian issue. The North Korean stand is that it was all for abandoning the nuclear path, but it could not tolerate the US “hostile” policy towards the nations not in its good books. Here the reference is to South Korea, a US ally, which recently disclosed that it had conducted a plutonium-based nuclear experiment at least 20 years ago and a uranium enrichment test in 2000. The news thickened the wall of suspicion between the US and North Korea. Now the situation has taken a turn for the worse. North Korea has threatened to destroy Japan, including the American military bases there, if the US launched any pre-emptive attack on this communist country. Indications are that the US will avoid taking any harsh step before the conclusion of the presidential election. But it will also not accept the North Korean case as a major failure for US diplomacy. In all this China is emerging as a key player. It has already begun to say that the crisis could be resolved if the US did something concrete to remove the distrust about its intentions in Pyongyang. Efforts may be made to persuade North Korea to agree to participate in a fresh round of the six-nation dialogue so that its nuclear ambitions can be contained through diplomatic concessions and economic aid. But it all depends on how far China is prepared to go along with the US on this sensitive subject. |
|
Man is Nature’s mistake ! — W.S. Gilbert |
President in uniform EVEN when, late last year, Pakistan's President and military ruler General Pervez Musharraf had solemnly committed himself to giving up his military uniform by the end of 2004 and stay only as "duly elected" President, there was widespread scepticism both in his country and abroad. But there were enough Pakistanis and foreign Pakistan watchers who felt that the General would have no option but to keep his word. They had a three-point rationale for their belief. First that General Musharraf would have to be mindful of the sentiments of his new-found allies, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), a grouping of six Islamist parties. Without the MMA votes he could not have mustered the requisite two-thirds majority to get his "election" legitimised by Parliament strictly on the understanding that he would cease to be the Army Chief Secondly, the votaries of Pakistan's "full return" to democracy were relying on the international community, principally the United States, to see to it that the pledge was not violated. The third element behind the optimistic calculations was the expected change in the Army's pecking order. Although he had managed to ease out or sideline several of the Generals who had helped him in his coup but of whom he had later become suspicious, two hard-line generals of whom he could not be sure remained in important positions. Gen. Aziz Mohammed Khan is Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee and Gen. Mohammed Yousuf is Vice-Chief of the Army Staff. Both are due to retire on October 31. Many believed therefore that General Musharraf would not only fill these two posts with his henchmen but also hand-pick a trusted Corps Commander to be the next COAS. He could afford to do so, some commentators wrote, not only because he would be the titular head of the armed forces as President but also because he would be chairman of the newly formed National Security Council. All three Service Chiefs and some civilians, including the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, are the NSC's members. Ironically, all these comforting assumptions have fallen flat and it is certain that General Musharraf would continue to be both the President and the Army Chief. The sequence of events that have led to the present situation in a day and age when democracy is supposed to be the mantra of the new millennium is both interesting and instructive. The first indication of the General's change of mind came when he suddenly sacked the Prime Minister, Mr Zafarullah Khan Jamali, days after Mr Jamali had reaffirmed that the "President would be divesting himself" of the office of Army Chief "by the due date". Mr Jamali's successor, Mr Shujaat Husain, had two distinctions. One, that he is the only Prime Minister in Pakistan's history to have completed his full term of two months. Two, he used this short stint bluntly to tell the country that General Musharraf neither could nor would doff his uniform. Hardly had he bowed out to make way for Mr Shaukat Aziz (who had to get elected to the National Assembly in order to take over as PM) when a funny thing happened. Mr Aziz, who has the reputation of being a financial wizard, turned into a constitutional expert almost overnight and declared that not only the President should continue to head the Army but also this was required by the 1973 Constitution, as amended by General Musharraf's Legal Framework Order. Guffaws of laughter across the country failed to embarrass him. It was at this stage that General Musharraf broke his own silence and announced that 96 per cent of Pakistan's people wanted him to go on wearing his military uniform. How exactly he came to this precise conclusion he has never explained. But he has asserted emphatically that though he did promise to abandon the uniform, circumstances had since changed. He claims he is presiding over a "renaissance" — saving Pakistan from extremism and terrorism and converting it into a "modern and moderate Muslim country" — and this task requires that he should continue to wear both his civilian hat and the military cap. For the Punjab Assembly, where Mr Shujaat Husain's party has a majority, this became a signal to pass a resolution "begging" General Musharraf to retain his dual role in "national interest". The Assembly of the North-West Frontier Province, controlled by the MMA, did adopt a contrary resolution demanding that the General should not commit a "breach of faith". But that is as far as the MMA is likely to go. For one thing, the MMA knows very well that General Musharraf can turf it out of power in both the NWFP and Baluchistan whenever he likes. For another, the clerics dominating the MMA have as little concern for democracy as has the Army of Pakistan Nothing could have been more pathetic as well as farcical than the collapse of the faith in the ability and willingness of mighty America to tell General Musharraf to keep his word. In fact, even before leaving for the US where he got a red carpet treatment all through, General Musharraf had ensured that the subject of restoration of democracy in Pakistan would not crop up during his discussions there. No wonder, several American newspapers, including The New York Times, have been sharply critical of President Bush for having given up the cause of democracy in Pakistan and letting General Musharraf to be both President and the Chief of Army Staff. The contrast between this and the American shouting about the need for democracy in Iraq and indeed the "Greater Middle East" could not have been more grotesque. But the Bush administration is unfazed. It looks upon General Musharraf as an "irreplaceable friend and key ally in a hate-filled region". Another reason why the US would let the Pakistani military ruler do what he wants is that Mr Bush is still banking on him to produce Osama bin Laden "dead or alive" before the US presidential elections on November 2. Incidentally, General Musharraf is also asking that if General de Gaulle could wear his uniform all through his tenure as President of France, "why can't I?" To this a respected Pakistani columnist, Mr. Ayaz Amir, has retorted that De Gaulle wore his uniform only on ceremonial occasions because of his military record and that, in any case, the French leader did not simultaneously command the army. This, alas, would make no dent in the General's
determination! |
Mulk Raj Anand: the man Like
his books, Mulk Raj Anand had an eternal quality about him which touched you forcefully. The only encounter I had with him was in Gandhi Bhavan of Panjab University more than two decades back where he had come for a seminar. His presence had caused a flutter. After all, which student in India has not cut his teeth in literature without “Coolie” and the “Untouchable”? While being fascinated by his writing prowess, I have also admired his discipline and simplicity as a person. His longevity was not entirely thanks to his genes. The simple, regulated life that he led had more to do with it. India’s Charles Dickens owned a huge bungalow (locally called Dagdi bangla) on a five-acre plot in Khandala. Yet, he preferred staying alone in a tiny erstwhile stable on the compound which he had converted into a cottage. It was creaking under the weight of thousands of books which he had collected over a rich and varied lifetime. He was a great admirer of Mahatma Gandhi and modelled his life after him. This meant that he lived like a yogi. He would wake up well before the crack of dawn and practice yoga for a long time. After that, it was a regular practice for him to write religiously. His output would shame anyone half his age. The only other writer maintaining a similar regime that I know is Khushwant Singh. Many decades ago, a journalist visited him to interview him on his birthday (he was born on December 12, 1905). After the usual questions about his writings, the journalist posed the inevitable question: what was the secret of his longevity. The answer non-plussed him: “If you want to be a man, live like a goat”. When the journalist said he was not at all clear what he meant by that, Mulk Raj Anand took him to his backyard, where he had a kitchen garden. It would be more appropriate to call it a herbal garden because more than vegetables, it had
tulsi, pudina, ashwagandha, Brahmi Booti and what not. These are the things which you must graze on like a goat if you want to lead a healthy life, he said. “Do you really think these can help one live longer?” asked the incredulous newsman. “Come to me after 25 years and I will answer that question,” said one of the greatest writers in English that India has ever produced. It is not clear if the journalist lived long enough to keep the date but Mulk Raj Anand certainly did. What a pity he had to go just a few months before he could turn
100. |
Terrorism reaches the Saudi door
One
consequence of the Nine Eleven terrorist attacks on New York's World Trade Centre and the Pentagon has been the salience of Saudi Arabia in American consciousness. It is not as if the problems concerning the House of Saud had emerged suddenly. Rather, the fact that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis and the trail of financing some of the terrorist outfits led to Saudi Arabia concentrated minds as never before. And a host of charges and acres of print were used up to haul the monarchy over the coals and a new discovery was made in America that there were human rights violations there. Americans have never quite managed the cynicism and sophistication of British colonials of yore in maintaining the stiff upper lip. The truth, as everyone knows, is that the United States has been quite happy in maintaining an oil relationship with Saudi Arabia to ensure reasonable crude prices and turned a Nelson's eye to how Saudi Arabia was governed. In the process, Texas, in particularly the Bush family, developed chummy relations with a string of Saudi ruling princes to mutual advantage. The terms of this relationship changed dramatically after Nine Eleven, triggering a public debate on Saudi Arabia for the first time, as opposed to expert comments in academic and specialist journals. Americans suddenly realised that Saudi Arabia was at the heart of the "war on terror" and that the Saudi monarchy was sitting on a volcano about to spew molten lava. Given this backdrop, it is rare and refreshing that an Indian diplomat familiar with West Asia, has written a monograph, revealingly titled The Islamic Boomerang in Saudi Arabia«, which, in the space of 56 pages with 30 pages of supporting documents, tells the essential story of a country that finds itself in the eye of the storm. As the subtitle of the monograph suggests, it is a story of the cost of delayed reforms. Indeed, it is difficult to find fault with the central thesis of Mr Ansari, that the longer the ruling establishment waits to carry out essential reforms, the greater will be the costs to the kingdom and the future of the monarchy. The present kingdom of Saudi Arabia came into being through conquest and a compact between the king and the founder of the Wahabi sect. The king gave up his royal titles in favour of The Custodian of the Two Holy Shrines. The clergy obviously had a privileged position, both in inculcating their purist beliefs in schools and in overseeing the conduct of people in their daily lives. The kingdom and the clergy flourished, thanks to the bountiful oil revenues, which served as a cushion in denying the bulk of the people a role in governance. But the ability of the Saudi professionals to take over responsibility of running modern establishments and institutions at home after suitable training abroad brought with it subversive democratic ideas. What proved devastating was a catastrophic rise in population together with a decline in oil revenues. Most of the young people, the majority, were ill-equipped to find and hold jobs, except in the bloated public sector, because their schools had not prepared them to live and work in the modern world. At the same time, the extravagant ways of a legion of princes of the House of Saud in patronising the flesh pots of the West and actions behind their high palace walls at home brought to light the great gap between preaching and practice. In retrospect, it is easy to see how Saudi Arabia was set on a dangerous road. The defining moment, of course, was the American decision to fight a proxy war with the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, with help from the Saudis and Pakistan. Osama bin Laden, belonging to a rich family of construction contractors, was one such mujahid. The arming and funding of the mujahideen in Pakistan, the flood of volunteers from Pakistan and the Arab world, including Saudi Arabia, to fight America's war is history. Payback time came when the proxy war was winding down, the Taliban were being created in Pakistan and Osama was beginning to set up shop in Afghanistan, with America leaving the field, once Moscow acknowledged defeat. Semi-educated men trained in guerrilla warfare, reciting the mantras of jihad they had been taught, were unemployed. Once the Taliban succeeded in capturing power, Afghanistan was an ideal base to plan other adventures in the cause, and America an obvious target. It has been widely alleged that Saudi money through ostensible charities has flowed copiously to fund the mujahideen and Osama, apart from his old considerable fortune. Further, the Western charge is that Saudis gave money to the mujahideen cause to buy immunity for themselves. This turmoil in the Arab world and further afield found Saudis unprepared even as they were increasingly buffeted by their erstwhile friends, the Americans. Saudi sops went to the extent of appointing a supine nominated Shura, consultative council, and, after much hand-wringing, making the promise of local elections. Tragically, even as civil leaders sought to move the authorities towards the first steps in a democratic dispensation, through respectful pleadings, the response was brittle. In the meantime, the scenario in West Asia has been radically altered by the American invasion and occupation of Iraq. The ostensible reason for the invasion — weapons of mass destruction in Iraqi hands — having been proven untrue, President George W. Bush's new theme song is promoting liberty in the region. Although Washington has happily lived with undemocratic regimes around the world and continues to do so, the new rhetoric increases pressures on Saudi Arabia. Obviously, the Saudi monarchy has to balance the claims of the new intelligentsia and the conservative ulemas in framing its response. Terrorism has reached the Saudi door, with dramatic terrorist attacks on foreigners and the murders of individual foreign citizens. High oil prices have given the Saudi authorities some breathing space, as does the impending American presidential election. But the clock is ticking as the Saudi ruling elite wrestles with two kinds of problems: the sharing of power after a decades' old regime of exercising unfettered authority and the reform of an illiberal, antiquated schooling and clerical regime, which has succeeded in producing unemployable and often extremist men. Changing the social system, in terms of giving women and the minorities equal rights, is a process that will take longer. The urgent task is to begin planning for these exercises. There is no indication thus far that those who count in Saudi Arabia quite realise the seriousness of the challenges they are
facing. The Islamic Boomerang in Saudi Arabia — The Cost of Delayed Reforms by M.H. Ansari; ORF Studies of Contemporary Muslim Societies-1. |
|
From Pakistan ISLAMABAD: The government would import more bulletproof vehicles and jammer devices to provide foolproof security to President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz during their outstation movements. The decision in this regard was taken on Tuesday in an inter-provincial coordination committee meeting over law and order, which was also attended by the officials deputed to ensure the security of the country’s two top men. According to sources, those looking after the security of President Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz have been asked to place the list of their requirements for security hardwares needed to provide shield while they move out of the capital.
— The Nation 60 mills closed
in Balochistan
LAHORE: Over 60 mills in Balochistan are closed because of the unavailability of wheat in the province, Mr Abdul Aala Kakar, newly-elected chairman of the Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA), said here on Tuesday. They declared the closure six months ago. In spite of the decision by the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Punjab has not lifted the ban on the movement and a proof of the act was closure of mills in the province, said Mr Kakar. "Thousands of workers are sitting at their homes and the fear is that it may cause social chaos in the province if corrective measures are not taken in time."
— The Dawn Fraudulent
schemes
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Tuesday said the government would take strict action against illegal companies defrauding people by promising huge returns on investments of their hard-earned money and asked the people to be vigilant. "I would earnestly advise the public not to play into the hands of cheats and robbers who are launching various schemes just to deprive them of their hard-earned savings," he said at a function held to distribute cheques among people affected by the Taj Company scam. Mr Aziz said the government had taken note of the new scam of property and plots as well as advertisements inviting people to purchase property abroad. "I have directed the Ministry of Law, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), the State Bank of Pakistan and the CBR to investigate the matter.
— The Dawn Ban sought on
Karo-Kari
KARACHI: Justice (retd) Majida Rizvi said that the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) has recommended to the government to table a Bill in parliament against Karo-Kari and impose a ban on this centuries’ old tradition under which women were being killed in the name of ‘Ghairat’. Further, it was also proposed that exemplary punishment be awarded to persons involved in the killing of women on this ghastly pretext. She was delivering a lecture on "Women’s rights in Islam under the Constitution", organised by the library and literary committee of the Karachi Gymkhana on Tuesday. Speaking on the occasion she said that a month ago the Bill on Karo-Kari was prepared but could not be tabled due to the split over the proposed Bill within the ruling party. However, now the commission had submitted its recommendations and findings to the government to be tabled in the National Assembly.
— The News |
The rope alone is true, the snake is untrue. Similarly, Paramatman alone is real; this world is unreal. The latter appears as real in man’s vision, hearing and thoughts, but it lasts only as long as the things seen in a dream last. — Lord Sri Rama Emancipation means release from which all souls wish to be released. After being released from pain, the emancipated souls get happiness and live in God. — Swami Dayanand Saraswati Faithful is he who is possessed of knowledge, seeing the way that leads to Nirvana; he who is not partisan; he who is pure and virtuous, and has removed the veil from his eyes. Such a one will wander rightly in the world. — The Buddha I do not dabble in duality; I worship none but God. I neither visit tombs nor crematoria. — Guru Nanak |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
