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Ai Mere Watan! The Bathinda route |
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Matter of relief
Resuscitating the NSC
Delhi’s space phone!
Document Chatterati
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Ai Mere Watan! WHEN the UPA government granted dual Indian citizenship last year to persons of Indian origin settled in 16 countries, it created a piquant situation in the process where those settled in some of the developed Western nations had this facility while those living in Asia, South-East Asia, Africa and Latin America were deprived of it. This caused a lot of heart-burn and also came to be seen as partiality. The anomaly has been removed by the Manmohan Singh government one year later with the extension of the facility to all overseas Indians who migrated after January 26, 1950, provided it is permitted under laws of their home nations. The announcement takes care of a regular grouse of NRIs who faced great difficulty in not only owning property in the land of their origin but even to visit it. They will, hopefully, find India a more welcoming place, offering free movement without visa, right to own property, and build or invest directly in projects in the country. Of course, they will not get any political right. They will not be allowed to vote or run for office or take jobs in defence services. One hopes the warmth shown by the Prime Minister will be exuded by lower-rung officials too who have the capacity to make any guest regret his decision to come here. Dr Manmohan Singh admitted as much when he told NRIs from 61 nations at the third Pravasi Bharatiya Divas at Mumbai last week: “Your impatience at our bureaucratic ways is understandable”. To diminish their spoilsport tendencies, he has pledged to replace the cumbersome three forms for applying for the dual citizenship with a single user-friendly form. Wherever they live, PIOs’ hearts beat to an Indian tune. Now that the country of their origin has shown that it does reciprocate their gesture, it is hoped that they would invest more liberally here and thus help its upward march. More than that, they are expected to become its brand ambassadors more forcefully in the countries where they live. Now that India is trying to get its rightful place in the comity of nations, it requires that kind of support at every step. |
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The Bathinda route IT is hard to believe that it took the Centre and the Amarinder Singh government a couple of years to decide Punjab’s contribution in the Bathinda refinery. A meeting or two should have resolved the differences. It shows how big projects can be held up for years due to their inept handling. The project’s foundation stone was laid by the then Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, on November 13, 1998. It was then estimated to cost Rs 10,000 crore and expected to be commissioned in 48 months. Six years have passed just on finalising the project’s terms. In the meantime, the cost has escalated by a whopping Rs 6,000 crore. No one will be held accountable for the delay. That is how governments function. By securing the refinery on better terms than what Mr Parkash Singh Badal as Chief Minister had agreed to, Capt Amarinder Singh has nevertheless scored a victory of sorts and has credited the Prime Minister for it. Mr Badal had committed the state to a 15-year sales tax exemption resulting in a Rs 15,000 crore revenue loss. The Captain had objected to this and, as a result, work on the refinery came to a halt in 2003. The Petroleum Ministry studied the project afresh recently and sent a new proposal to Punjab, reducing the state’s revenue loss to Rs 600 crore. The Punjab Council of Ministers is expected to ratify the proposal shortly. With the standoff resolved, the focus should now shift to executing the project as fast as possible. The only refinery in this region is at Panipat, which is inadequate to meet the needs of the area. Hindustan Petroleum, the Central PSU setting up the refinery at Bathinda, has spent Rs 300 crore on the project. The Punjab Government will have to put up back-up infrastructure and arrange training facilities to make technical manpower available for the refinery. Also, the government will have to facilitate the establishment of ancillary units. Hopefully, the road to Bathinda would be smoother now and new hurdles wouldn’t come in the way. |
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Matter of relief THE January 5 summit of tsunami-hit nations in Jakarta testifies to the earnestness of the global community to get their act together for ensuring speedy distribution of effective relief. The intent, however, needs to be demonstrated by the actions that flow from it. So, it was just as well that United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and India’s External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh did some plain speaking at the one-day conference attended by 26 countries, including the United States and China. Mr Annan was blunt enough to ask world leaders to quickly make good their promises of help for the countries stricken by the tsunami. Mr Natwar Singh made it clear that India could deal with the challenges in the aftermath of the tsunami on its own. The point had to be made, that instead of being preoccupied with the geostrategic dimensions of financial assistance, international relief should be directed where it was most needed. Mr Natwar Singh did drive home this message albeit with great tact. Those at the summit could not have missed the message that despite India being affected, New Delhi had acted swiftly to help the other tsunami-hit countries, especially Sri Lanka. This is a sign of India discharging its responsibilities in its area of interest and influence. In contrast, the US raised the quantum of relief only after international criticism and that too with an eye on upstaging China. Such competitiveness might be good, provided the promised amounts — adding up to $ 4 billion — are delivered early and without much fuss. However, experience shows that after a grand stand, the pledged support is often not made good. After the earthquake in Iran over a year ago, donors promised over one billion dollars. The amount actually received by Iran was less than $ 18 million. It is to be hoped that this time, international donors would keep their word and put their money where their mouth is. |
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Nothing emboldens sin so much as mercy. — William Shakespeare |
Resuscitating the NSC THE task before the Prime Minister in selecting the next National Security Adviser (NSA) is first to determine whether he wants the National Security Council (NSC) to function with the NSA as its Secretary or to continue with the existing system without the council ever being convened and functioning. The role of the council as was envisaged in 1998 by the NDA government was to ensure that the national security management was based on integrated thinking and coordinated application of the political, military, diplomatic, scientific and technological resources of the state to protect and promote national security goals and objectives. Underlying this concept is the basic idea that national security in the context of the nation needs to be viewed not only in military terms but also in terms of internal security, economic security, technological strength and foreign policy. This wording on the role and concept is verbally taken from the NDA government’s Cabinet Secretariat resolution of April 16, 1999, on setting up the NSC. The Congress party in its election manifesto promised to make the NSC a professional and effective institution. In these circumstances it would appear that there is overall consensus among the political parties that the NSC should be resuscitated and made to function effectively. The reason why the NSC did not function at all during the last six years was because the NSAs who were meant to be the secretaries of the council and engines of their activity were more interested in their own personal roles than in institutionalisation. There may be some truth in the charge that with their life-long careers in the foreign service, they proved one dimensional men focussing entirely on international relations and foreign policy to the neglect of every other aspect of national security so eloquently elaborated in the Cabinet Secretariat resolution of April 16, 1999. Therefore, intelligence, the economy, modernisation of the armed forces, technology and internal security were not attended to. This history may tend to strengthen the case of those who urge that the next NSA should not be from the foreign service though such an approach itself will smack of being one dimensional and should, therefore, be avoided. The Prime Minister very rightly emphasises often the need for India to adapt itself to the inevitability of globalisation. The process of globalisation calls for an integrated and coordinated thinking on national security as spelt out in the resolution of April 16, 1999. While our governments have often been strong on economic liberalisation as with the present Prime Minister and on foreign policy and international relations as with the Vajpayee administration, it has never been strong enough on integrated national security thinking required to institutionalise the NSC. No doubt, Mr Brajesh Mishra and the late J. N. Dixit did not have any cold war baggage. But the same cannot be said about the rest of the bureaucracy and the majority of our politicians. There is a lot of inertia in the system to adapting to change. This was evident in the UPA government having pledged to make the NSC a professional and effective institution not being able to fulfil its commitment. The US National Security Council was established in 1947 along with the joint chiefs of staff system and the CIA, and its primary purpose was to ensure coordination between foreign and defence policies. Over a period of time it has progressively evolved to enable the President to get his policy blueprint implemented by State and Defence Departments through the coordinating role of the NSA. That is possible in the US in a presidential system where everyone serves during the pleasure of the President. In our system, the primary role of the NSA will be to ensure continuous coordination and promote integrated thinking among the four Cabinet ministers (Home, Defence, External Affairs and Finance) through deliberations on long-term policy papers based on the assessments of long-term problems. This would necessitate the generation of long-term studies from professional task forces and intelligence assessment bodies. It would also call for the ministries to set up in-house task forces and also to deal with independent think-tanks. When there is talk of knowledge-based economy, administration, industrial and defence management, they cannot be run by generalist administrators who passed a competitive examination some 30 years ago and are not in touch with rapidly accumulating modern knowledge. In this scheme the NSC is to be the engine of knowledge-based, coordinated and integrated long-term policy- making. The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) only gets before it the current issues for decisions. To illustrate the purchase of combat aircraft is meant for a decision by the CCS. Modernisation of the armed forces is appropriately debated in the NSC. While measures to attract foreign direct investment may be a matter for an immediate Cabinet decision, making India a manufacturing hub or one of the financial centres of the world is for the NSC to deliberate. While dealing with the US on any immediate bilateral issue like the NSSP is for the External Affairs Ministry to get decided by the CCS, the future likely international strategic alignments and long-range Indo-US relations are for the NSC to assess and deliberate on. India cannot aspire to be a leading nation of the 21st century without having an NSC. Those politicians and bureaucrats who are focussed on their respective turfs do not belong to the 21st century. They are living in the past. To get such an NSC functioning, what is needed is an NSA who will be a team leader with a balanced worldview. He need not be a specialist but should be able to lead a multi-disciplinary team and be committed to building the institution and not a personality cult. He should be able to build up the next line of cadres. Above all, he should not be considered a threat by any of the Cabinet ministers who are to become the members of the NSC. It is needless to say that in the present context he should command the absolute confidence of the Prime Minister and chairman of the UPA. These specifications for the personality of the future NSA are derived from the experience the country had with the first two NSAs and the failure of the NSC to be convened and function. |
Delhi’s space phone!
THE giant American telecommunications company AT & T has just unveiled what it calls a “space phone” in the atrium of its New York headquarters. This is a futuristic concept in long-range communications and visitors will be encouraged to try it and establish contact with extraterrestrial beings. It will also give people a rare chance to hear their own voices long after they are dead. I have been talking to a senior official of Delhi Telephones (DT) and I casually told him about AT & T’s “space phone.” “Oh, stuff and nonsense” he snorted disdainfully, “what’s the big deal about it? We in Delhi Telephones have been operating space phones for so many years now that it’s all old hat to us I’m sorry, but I’m not impressed.” “You mean Delhi Telephones has been operating space phones?” I asked incredulously. “Look, dummy,” snapped the DT official, “what do you think I’ve been trying to tell you. You say that AT & T’s space phone can be used to establish contact with extraterrestrial beings? You’re welcome to try our space phone which is on my desk. You just try dialling “Time service” or “Directory Enquiry” or the “Help desk”. Our operator at the other end won’t answer until the telephone has rung a minimum of 9680 times and that too after repeated attempts during non-peak hours and at night. Isn’t this as good as establishing contact with extraterrestrial beings a billion light years away. “So what’s new about AT & T’s space phone. To we in Delhi Telephones it’s a mere bagatelle, but unlike AT & T, we don’t brag and try to get cheap publicity”. “It’s simply amazing what your space phone can do,” I said, “but AT & T’s space phone will enable a person to hear his own voice long after he’s dead and gone.” “Oh, for heaven’s sake” said the DT official in exasperation, “Why are you so worked up? I tell you, for the first and last time, that our space phone can do what AT & T’s space phone does and more. “You just try booking a lightning trunk call to NOIDA or Ghaziabad which are just a dozen kilometres from Delhi. The call will materialise, if at all it does, during the latter half of the 29th century by which time you’ll surely be dead and gone and when the operator calls you, you can hear your own voice even though you’ve long been dead. “As I told you, I’m least impressed by AT & T’s space phone.” “Your space phone is simply fantastic and right out of this world,” I said, “but AT & T’s space phone can also be used to eavesdrop on communications among intelligent beings deep in outer space.” “Pfft...” said the DT official, “you just try dialling any number in the Defence Colony exchange area and you can overhear crystal clear conversations among subscriber in the Kingsway Camp exchange area at the other end of Delhi. Isn’t this as good as eavesdropping on communications among extraterrestrial beings in the Andromeda Galaxy?”
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Document A concerned PM seeks help from media
THE following are excerpts from the Prime Minister’s speech at the Media Leaders Summit on HIV/AIDS held in New Delhi on January 6: I believe this meeting is a sequel to the Global Media Initiative hosted by the United Nations Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, in January 2004 in New York. It is an important milestone in our fight against the AIDS pandemic. The world has come to recognise this as a global threat to humanity. However, like so many other such threats that mankind has battled, I am confident that we shall overcome this one too but it will require massive efforts on the part of Government, media and all actors in civil society. In this campaign the media plays an important and determining role in educating the public, creating awareness among them and transmitting crucial information so that people become aware, remain alert and take measures to prevent its occurrence. We all know that information is power, and that awareness therefore empowers. We are meeting here today to help ensure that AIDS awareness becomes an integral part of mainstream media and that it is able to reach out to the people through its tremendous creative and communicating power. I am glad that the Ministries of Information & Broadcasting and Health & Family Welfare have teamed up with Non-Governmental Organisations like the Richard Gere Foundation to organise this summit. Last November, I had the opportunity to join hundreds of young people from across the country when they gathered in this city to organise a “Students and Youth Parliament on HIV/AIDS.” The manner of their coming together had confirmed to me that India’s democratic institutions provide the best means to fight the worst threats we face. I expressed the hope that the young women and men gathered there would prove to be energetic and vibrant partners in stopping the transmission of HIV and ameliorating the situation of those living with this dreaded disease. From one reported HIV case in 1986, the number of HIV positive people in India has already crossed the five million mark. HIV/AIDS is no longer just a public health issue, as my colleague the Health Minister mentioned just a moment ago, it has become a serious socio-economic and developmental concern. If not checked, it can hurt our ambitions in economic growth and development very severely. Though HIV/AIDS can affect everyone, it is often the poor, youth and women in distress who are most vulnerable. We have no choice but to act, and act with firmness, with urgency and with utmost seriousness. I assure you, our government is committed to substantially strengthening the national AIDS control efforts. This is an important commitment of the National Common Minimum Programme. As you are aware the Congress President, Smt Sonia Gandhi, continues to take great personal interest in AIDS awareness and had gone to Bangkok last year to participate in the Global Summit on HIV/AIDS. Different Ministries of our Government have joined hands to evolve a National Action Plan for spreading awareness and improving access to services related to HIV/AIDS. However, these efforts will require more and more partners and more and more active participants from all sections of the society to create a massive and truly people’s movement. To push this effort forward we constituted the National Council on AIDS and I myself head this Council so that the combined attention of the government as a whole is given to our campaign against AIDS. While focussing attention on research for finding a vaccine for this pandemic, we must leave no stone unturned in preventing its occurrence by using media in an intelligent and creative manner. In the absence of a vaccine, the social vaccine of education and awareness is the only preventive tool we have. It is appropriately said that prevention begins with information. Media, which conveys information and moulds public opinion, must remain at the heart of our campaign to help people make informed choices. Countries such as Thailand that have recorded declining trends of HIV/AIDS infection have shown us that this pandemic beats a retreat in the face of determined leadership, massive efforts in generating awareness among people, and empowering people with information to combat it effectively. Visibility in the media, and informed and sympathetic visibility at that, is a first step towards creating greater awareness. Leaders of media, in alliance with other segments of our polity and society, can play a significant role in educating public opinion. All of you are aware that there are many misconceptions about AIDS that need to be dispelled. Half information is often more dangerous than no information. I urge you to invest in educating your own staff so that they are able to purvey correct information to the public at large. I conclude by repeating the three messages I had given to the Youth Parliament in November.
I would like to urge you to transmit your messages in all Indian languages so that they reach the widest cross section of our society. While as a public service broadcaster, Doordarshan has a special role to play, I do believe that all media should be pro-active. I am encouraged by the presence of important private sector media organisations. Finally, I must compliment Mr Richard Gere for his personal commitment to this cause. Public personalities like him can play an important role in promoting public awareness and they deserve our appreciation and support. Our government is committed to helping civil society organisations. |
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Warm goodbye to 2004 by Devi Cherian IT was a turbulent year, to say the least. But Delhi-ites decided to bid 2004 goodbye with a large-heartedness in Dillistyle. Dressed warmly, armed with balloons, streamers and confetti, the young and the old strolled in the new happening Connaught Place. Laughter and bonhomie were the order of the day. The new metro station being the main attraction along with music bands playing in each block. Colourful lights, golgappas, clowns spread joy and happiness, hugs, warm handshakes and best wishes exchanged with family and strangers in the circle of C.P. was a reminder of the old charm of the Connaught Place. Party time in Capital Balle, Balle, shava shava, Tutak, Tutuk etc were the many ways the janata in the Capital brought in their New Year. The party animals here shed their inhibitions to make the most of the last few hours of 2004. The Olive Bar & Kitchen, known for its ambience rather than food, as usual had a fair share of Bollywood. Saif Ali Khan made his first public appearance with Italian girlfriend Roza and sisters Soha and Saba. You know how rude Delhi-ites can be in trying to size up a newcomer here. Poor Roza! Performers, flamingo’s belly dancers were in all corners here. Anthena, the new happening place in town, gave its guests dinner and breakfast. There are the Mumbaikars who have taken Delhi by storm with their many restaurants. Must say, page 3 people, politicians kept away. But who ever partied also made sure they paused for the course. Donations for the tsunami-affected were on the priority list. Before the T.V. cameras turned towards celebrity donors and before the jotting began outside his office for the small change to be counted, the Prime Minister was the first one to donate his full salary. The public wonders how the money is accounted for. It’s what everybody talks about everyday. Well, this year all the money being reimbursed to the tsunami victims is being paid by drafts directly into their bank accounts and not to the state governments as was done earlier. Amar Singh’s
woes Guess what! Well, nothing really new. Amar Singh is livid once again. The leader of the Samajwadi Party these days is so right when he says he is not being treated well in the Capital. Hence he is no more loud smiling or amusing now for his fair-weather friends. Mr Singh’s two daughters have been refused admission in the prestigious most sought-after school in the city called “Sanskriti”. Actually one does wonder why! According to Amar Singh he is paying for his political alignment. In the past on his recommendations many admissions have taken place. Now, that is surprising. Mr Singh believes that gain and pain should be shared. Amar Singh does not know whom to blame. He wants to believe it could be because the chairperson of the school was playing safe with 10 Janpath. Now this sounds a bit far-fetched. He has written to the Home Minister etc. In politics anyway you are only as big as your last victory. Amar Singh believes he is no more a part of the 100 elite A list families who seem to run Delhi. He also believes this is compounded after the social snub from the Congress party. This is one matter he can try and lampoon the Congress President, but won’t work for she is not about to respond to such issues. Amar Singh is now most probably waiting for the U.P. elections to strike back. |
It is indeed a fool who is enchanted by the glitter of diamonds, pearls and rubies. Forever, he seeks to guard them, even in the middle of the night. Forever he is scared lest someone make off with them. All happiness that he had is contaminated by this fear. — The Buddhism When a person is really good deep within, he does not crib and complain. In every person, in every circumstance, he searches for that which is good. Even in something apparently bad, he tries to find something good. — The Bhagvad Gita When a young warrior accomplishers what other established and renowned warriors could not, the latter consider it a personal insult. The saplings of hope in their hearts shrivel and this they cannot tolerate. — The Mahabharata Let us all keep the joy of loving God in our hearts, and share this joy of loving one another as He loves each one of us. — Mother Teresa  |
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