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From the cans We are French |
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A-word in Kashmir Autonomy is the key to conflict resolution PRIME Minister Manmohan Singh’s assertion on Monday that the UPA Government was in favour of granting greater autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir is bound to bring the issue into sharp focus once again.
‘Lakshman rekha’ for media
An unauthorised biography
Ifs, butts and quits UPA govt strives for transparency
High potential for Indo-Pak trade
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From the cans THE idea of an officer selling battle plans to facilitate the canning of fruits and vegetables sounds downright laughable, but the crime as charged is serious enough to merit a response. Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee has done the right thing in announcing an investigation into the allegations made by former Pakistan President Ayub Khan’s son Gohar Khan. An expeditious probe into whether an Indian Army Brigadier, still alive, sold ‘battle plans’ during the 1965 war would help avert the denting of morale and the subjecting of senior servicemen to whisper campaigns and malicious gossip. The credibility of the charge is without doubt under question. Pakistani generals have a tendency to indulge in image-makeovers and disinformation campaigns, especially in the face of failures. Ayub Khan was no exception. And these are the days when books and films are no longer marketed solely on the basis of artistic worth, historical truth or astute analysis. A little spin here, a little controversy there, is de rigueur. Gohar Khan will, no doubt, be thinking about the potential sales figures of his forthcoming autobiography in December, where he plans to reveal enough detail. What makes the charge intriguing is that unlike in the 1971 war, where flanking attacks and quick parries carried the day, the 1965 engagements were force-against-force affairs. Pitched tank battles were fought on the plains of Punjab. Pakistan had followed up the failure of Operation Gibraltor, where huge numbers of infiltrators were supposed to facilitate a mass uprising against India in Kashmir, with a largely successful infantry-cum-tank thrust through Chhamb in the Akhnoor sector. This so-called Operation Grand Slam necessitated India escalating the war by launching offensive strikes across Punjab, to draw forces away from Akhnoor. Khan’s point is that the Pakistani thrust in Chhamb was successful because it was aware that it was unguarded, and that it could defend Indian attacks across Punjab because it was aware of where India was going to attack. Even if a large-scale battle plan did not exist prior to the Chhamb thrust, it is a possibility that theatre-level plans did exist. It is better to respond quickly with the facts |
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We are French THE resounding “No” against the proposed European Constitution by voters in France is a reality check to the continental community. Before assuming the form of the European Union, the bloc had evolved from being a Common Market to an Economic Community. These progressions were driven by an integrating vision of a market — through the development of a common economic, foreign and defence policy — emerging as Union that transcends the nation-state. Unfortunately, the market, as the French referendum and other nay-sayers remind us, cannot be separated from the cultural condition in which are also rooted a nation-state’s socio-economic impulses. Hence, in market terms, the French setback to the EU is a “correction”. The result is a rebuff to President Jacques Chirac as well as Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin that would boost the Left as well as the nationalist right. Yet, the result underscores much more, not only for Europe but also the United States and the global community. The French rejection of the EU constitution would strengthen the Eurosceptics and the results of the referendums to follow in the Netherlands, Denmark and Poland is anybody’s guess. Britain, due to preside over the EU from July, too, may be compelled to shelve the constitution treaty, which requires to be ratified by all 25 members. The development of the EU being slowed down from emerging as a counterweight to the US cannot but be welcome to Washington, which has spared no effort to draw a distinction between the New and Old Europe. At a larger level, the gathering tide against the EU constitution shows that for all its avowed commitment to globalisation and market values, the continent is still home to prejudices and the protectionism arising from it as well as narrow nationalism. After all, it is the fear of the New Europeans taking away their jobs and occupying their socio-cultural spaces in a borderless Union that has tilted the scales. So much for Europe, home of the Enlightenment and once a thriving marketplace of ideas that unremittingly advocated free movement of goods, capital, services and people! |
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A-word in Kashmir PRIME Minister Manmohan Singh’s assertion on Monday that the UPA Government was in favour of granting greater autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir is bound to bring the issue into sharp focus once again. It had been lying dormant after Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil announced in January that the Centre would constitute a committee to study the J&K Assembly’s autonomy resolution adopted in June 2000. What happened later on is not known. But Mr Patil had elaborated that the committee would discuss the issue with the National Conference — which was in power when the resolution was passed — before submitting its report to the Home Ministry. The nation must be told what happened to the committee and whether it has finalised its report. The matter is crucial for peace in the border state. Mr Patil was criticised by the Opposition for opening what was described as Pandora’s box since the controversial resolution was rejected by the then NDA government. The NDA’s argument was based on the 1974-75 agreement between Indira Gandhi and Sheikh Abdullah who had found the situation “unalterable”. But that was a different time. The circumstances that exist today were not there. That is why many well-meaning people want the idea of greater autonomy to be tried in the interest of peace in J&K. The Assembly resolution sought the restoration of the pre-1953 status of the state. It wanted the Centre to limit its control to defence, finance and external affairs. This is certainly unacceptable to a large section of the population. Greater autonomy with a soft border seems to have found many new supporters. But, as Dr Manmohan Singh has stressed, Pakistan will have to ensure that terrorism is destroyed root and branch. The monster still has enough sympathisers on the other side of the divide. It must not be allowed to vitiate the prevailing atmosphere, which is essential for taking the peace process to its logical conclusion. |
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God be in my head, And in my understanding.
— Anonymous
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‘Lakshman rekha’ for media
LOK Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee reminded recently that institutions in a democracy have to operate within a “Lakshman rekha”. Of course, his observations were in the context of the Supreme Court’s interim order on how the newly elected Jharkhand Assembly should conduct the vote of confidence. But the larger issue involved is the need for the pillars of democracy to maintain a “constitutional balance” so that harmonious relationships are maintained in such a way that each one does its job the best. In the context of mass media more specifically, former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, while inaugurating The Hindu’s 125 years celebrations, called upon the news media not to cross the “Lakshman rekha” in its coverage. Other leaders too have reminded the news media of violating the “Lakshman rekha”. In fact, cautioning the media against “unwarranted criticism”, the Supreme Court (on April 25, 2005) felt that the “Freedom enjoyed by the media was no licence to indulge in sensationalism, and a mechanism should be devised to check the criticism from crossing the limits”. The concept of “Lakshman rekha” implies that there is need for certain equilibrium between relationships and responsibilities of various pillars of democracy and that each of them should not loose track of boundaries separating their functioning within the provisions of the Constitution, written and unwritten. “Lakshman rekha” also implies operating not only with certain responsibility and accountability but also with concerns for the consequences of what is being done, or not done today, on the larger values to do with freedom, objectivity, equity and ethics. It involves both legal and ethical dimensions. Nevertheless, most elected democracies in the world have one or other restraint on the operations of the media even when they are relatively free from the government’s interference. In India, a free and independent media is inherent in the freedom of speech and even guaranteed by the Constitution but “subject to restrictions operating in a very narrow sphere”. It assumes that the media is fair, free and responsible and operates under certain checks and balances, a hallmark of the Indian Constitution. It is expected that media observes certain standards of objectivity and responsibilities and responsiveness inherent in the concept of the Fourth Estate. The media itself is expected to maintain its own code of conduct and credo of self-restraint in such a way that dignity of other democratic institutions and the privacy of individuals is in no way adversely affected. That is how a two-judge Bench of the Supreme Court called for some mechanism “to check the publication which transgresses the limits of fair and bona fide criticism”. Freedom and democracy require such a responsibility and certain standards of behaviour and self-discipline. That is how, in the context of broadcasting, the Supreme Court’s landmark judgment of 1996 observed that “airwaves belongs to the public” and as much as they cannot be used for personal profit, and called for an independent regulator. A former Chief Justice of India, Dr. A.S. Anand, observed that “while commercialism has a legitimate
pace in the business office of the newspaper, it becomes a danger when it invades the editorial room”. Stating that “today, there are some genuine concerns about the way in which some sections of the media function,” he said, “the liberty of the Press cannot be confused with its licentiousness”. The role and relevance of the news media are to do with their concerns and contents. Until a few years ago these were to do with the fourth Estate notions and standing of the media as a “watchdog”. For, that is how the news media has been enjoying certain privileges and societal status. It is expected to have larger and long range concerns, not just market compulsions. Today the media is more a corporate voice than the voice of the community. New definitions, new news values and new priorities dictate the media today. It is in this process that the question of “Lakshman rekha” arises. With the proliferation of TV channels and newspapers recently in the country, the overall role, reach and relevance of the media have expanded much beyond (two-thirds of people) what it was a couple of years ago. Also, the range of coverage of the news media should have expanded beyond urban India. But there has hardly been any change in both respects. This was because the competition within and across the media has been for the same sections of people, the ones having deeper pockets. That is how the rural reach as well as the coverage of the basic issues of concern to the common people are still negligible. An increase in circulation and viewership
nevertheless is because of multiplicity, not because of big expansion in the reach. Despite the boom in 24-hour news channels, the extent and range of their coverage has not increased. Then, of course, there are controversies to do with the blurred distinctions between news and views, news and advertisements, etc. There is no independent and objective analysis of these changes in the media operations and their implications. We need to understand that advertising and market research in many ways
determine the scope of mass media, including journalistic trends. With allowing 100 per cent FDI in both these fields in the last couple of years, these functions are in the hands of corporates, controlled mostly from abroad. Advertising, market research and media planning set the pace of the media, including in the case of the ownership pattern and journalistic trends. By and large, the control of these “determining factors” has changed hands recently with no one raising an issue of long-term implications. No wonder then why the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting recently took the initiative of consulting the stakesholders, including civil society groups, as to the measures to regulate the contents of television channels, and even cancelled the unplinking licence of one TV channel and issued notice to another for “indecent contents”. Both Houses of Parliament also discussed the issue specifically in the wake of news channels too going all-out chasing TRPs even if it amounts to reducing themselves to the promoters of porno TRP mania has caught on the news channels, and newspapers are already catching up with frequent “market surveys”. For, it is no-holds-barred competition which is dictating the contents, not the concerns of the people or the core issues before the nation. The chase is “for what interests” the people, not for “what is in the interest” of the people. In this order, it is the marketing people in the media who are setting the priorities. The news media is no longer journalist-driven as in the earlier years and as the
Fourth Estate concept implies. Virtues, values and criteria, cherished all along by newspapers, are under a push-pull to fall in line with the “new order”. It is against this background that “Lakshman rekha” becomes relevant even in the case of the media. Should this situation be allowed to drift further? Or should we look for some correctives? It is time we had a national debate. The “Lakshman rekha”, however, should not mean curbing or curtailing the freedom of the Press. But if an independent body could help promote responsibility, standards of behaviour and self-discipline, it deserves to be considered. |
An unauthorised biography
MY friend was a lawyer. While at the Bar, he was a free man. Easily accessible to his friends. He could meet anyone. Go anywhere. Attend any function. Eat in any restaurant. Go to see any movie with his family or friends. Play golf. Attend parties. Vote at the elections. Make money. And he had done everything in good measure. But nothing lasts for ever. My friend was sworn in as a judge. He had moved from the Bar to the Bench. Physically, it was nothing significant. He had just moved from one side of the Bar to the other. The dress and address had remained unaltered. Instead of standing and speaking, he had to sit quietly and listen patiently. Though apparently insignificant, yet it was a change. He had suddenly become elusive to his friends. It had meant no golf. No more movies or going to restaurants. No parties. He had moved from full freedom to absolute abstention. He believed that justice must not only be done, but should be even seen to be done. It also meant an ungrudging sacrifice by the family. Economically and socially. But it strengthened the family ties. Brought economic discipline in the house. Still more, sitting in judgement over a fellow human being was a demanding duty. It brought a deep sense of responsibility. The fear of going wrong and doing injustice made him work harder. He sweated without anybody seeing. Every day. All the days of the year. Still it was satisfying. To the man in the street, the judge’s office appears to be glamorous. To the litigant, the judge seems to be very powerful. The man who wins always thinks that he had a good case. The judge had no choice. But the one who loses never believes that his case was weak. He finds only faults. Just blames the judge. Relentlessly. And the litigant apart, often there is a whisper campaign against the one who is doing well. Sometimes, it is actuated by personal rivalry or even jealousy. My friend had more than a fair share. Yet he was unruffled. Totally at peace with himself and the world. When asked, he said: “A judge’s only shield is his integrity. I carry a clear conscience to bed every night. She is my constant companion and a source of immeasurable strength”. Thus, he had gone on with his job. His reward lay in the inner satisfaction that he derived out of doing the duty without delay or demur. In following the discipline that the august office demanded. In dispensing justice without fear or favour, affection or illwill. He treated everyone alike. A man or a woman. Young or old. The rich and the poor. He worried about the cause. The consequences were not his concern. And therein lay his strength. And then he retired. Only from the job. Not from life. In fact, he became free. Now he is relaxed. He has got back to his normal life. To where he belonged. And is happy ever after. Perhaps contentment and happiness are his reward. |
Ifs, butts and quits THE first kiss and the first puff are the most enjoyable. And when they are combined, they become the most memorable. It was a lazy afternoon when I nicked a cigarette from the silvery box in which my uncle used to keep his cigarettes and went to my neighbour and friend Mohammed Ali’s house. His mother was having her siesta while his father was away at work. Their kitchen was all to ourselves when we went there, lit a matchstick and lighted the cigarette. I took the first puff and inhaled the smoke. It was not a pleasant experience. I could not take a second puff because I was already coughing. And my eyes were filled with tears. Ali’s condition was no better. We threw the cigarette into the hearth and came out. Just then my uncle called out my name and I rushed home. As I reached there, he bent down and said, “Beta, give me a kiss”. He was very fond of me but to demand a kiss at that time in the humid weather was quite odd. I had no choice as I strained my neck to plant a kiss on his cheek. That is when he asked, “Did you smoke?” My impulse was to tell a lie. “Then, how come you are smelling cigarette?” My bluff was called. He was good at that. Once I took his new shaving blade, sharpened my pencil with it and put it back. He did not find anything amiss when he took it for shaving. But the moment he put the razor to the face, he called out my name. “How did he know?” I wondered as he boxed my ears. I was too young to know that one could smell of cigarette. He took a cane and thrashed me. He had a justification for the spanking: “This is not for smoking but for telling a lie”. It would not have made any difference if the spanking was for stealing or for smoking. It would have been equally painful. A few hours later when remorse got the better of him, uncle put me on his lap, caressed me and let out the secret, “I saw you going to Ali’s place with the stolen cigarette. Since I smoke myself, I cannot advise you against it. But you should smoke only when you can buy your own cigarettes”. That is a condition I could not fulfil when I started smoking while still at college. A burning cigarette in hand was a sign of adulthood — every adolescent’s dream. Little did I know that soon I would become a slave of nicotine. My addiction grew from a few sticks a day to several packets a day. I needed a cigarette when I got up, another when I had my first tea and yet another when I read the newspapers. Any occasion was an occasion for cigarette - before breakfast and after breakfast. A time came when I could not write a single sentence without a puff. It also began taking a toll on my health. I tried to reconcile myself to my affliction — smoker’s cough. Whenever I had a slight cold, I would have bouts and bouts of cough. I began stocking cough syrup when the remedy my mother suggested - bite a pepper - no longer had an effect on me. I wanted to quit smoking but did not know how to go about it. It was during this time I had a small boil on my left foot. I ignored it in the belief it would disappear. But it did not. Rather, it began to spread. My home remedies did not work. By the time I realised it was serious, my foot had turned bluish. The friendly doctor at Jesse Ram Hospital referred me to a surgeon. “Thank God, you have come at the nick of time. Otherwise, gangrene would have set in, in which case amputation would have been the only remedy,” said the surgeon. He did a quick surgery, removed the pus and put me on medication. How did this happen? “This is a rare disease among smokers - one in a million, perhaps. You are definitely in that small privileged group”, he explained. Was it a scare tactic? Around this time, I read a cover story in the Sunday Magazine of the Malayala Manorama written by Thoppil Ravi, an actor and brother of Thoppil Bhasi, whose play “Ningal Enne Communist Aakki (You Made Me A Communist) played a major role in the growth of the Communist movement in Kerala. Ravi described how the doctors snatched his leg from the jaws of amputation and how he stopped smoking afterwards. He described how he and other prisoners smuggled beedi into the jail when he was once lodged there as a political prisoner. Whenever a prisoner was taken out for court appearance, he had to carry with him a small piece of banana leaf, which turned foldable like plastic if you applied a bit of oil on it and put it in the sun for a few minutes. The prisoner was expected to procure somehow a packet of beedi. It was then wrapped up in the banana leaf and stuffed into the anus to hoodwink the police. As soon as he returned, the prisoners assembled around him as he took out the beedi packet. I figured myself as one of the prisoners, who found the smoke “heavenly”, as Ravi described it. I felt shameful. It was time I quit smoking, I thought. The day came when, 15 years ago, I boarded the Kerala Express. I smoked the last cigarette on the platform, threw the packet on the rails as the train chugged out of the station. It was difficult to contain the urge to smoke. There were occasions when I went right up to the paan shop to buy cigarettes. But I managed to resist the temptation. The news of my quitting smoking spread in the corridors of Hindustan Times House where I worked. “Mr Philip, you should celebrate the occasion”, HT city editor A.R. Wig suggested and everyone concurred. Off we went to the Press Club. There Mr Wig, who was once again elected President of the Delhi Press Club last week, made an impromptu statement, “Ladies and gentlemen, Mr Philip will soon give another party when he resumes smoking”. Poor Mr Wig, he is still waiting for that party. |
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UPA govt strives for transparency ON May 22, 2004, a new chapter opened for India’s thrust towards development. On that day Dr Manmohan Singh was sworn in as Prime Minister. The UPA coalition was formed with the mission of building India economically as a major nation in the world, driving out poverty and securing to the poor and the under-privileged full social and economic security. The first achievement of the UPA government was to reach a consensus on the common minimum programme. The direction, vision and goals are clear. The government has achieved much that was possible in one year; economic, social and administrative reforms are all in motion. The implementation of the CMP with full consensus is not an easy task. But friction also leads to progress. To illustrate, serious differences on the Patents (3rd Amendment) Bill were resolved by the adoption of 10 of the 12 amendments proposed by the Left parties. The Budget has been approved and the Finance Act passed. The compromise to give 9½ per cent interest on the EPF is also consistent with the spirit of give and take. These achievements have shaken and frustrated many adversaries. They indulge in wishful talk of differences between two sources of power — Sonia Gandhi as the INC President and the Prime Minister as the Head of Government. A section of the media is inventing a non-existent discord between the party and the government. The past year has shown that both are a confluence of two rivers broadening the river bed of development and equality. The major achievement of the UPA is to translate welfare measures like employment guarantee into legislation. The bounty of the government will become a legal entitlement of the poor and underprivileged. Though the GDP growth may fall short of 8 per cent, the industrial and service sectors have met expectations. The UPA government took over after a poor monsoon slowing agricultural growth, the UPA has firmly put agriculture development as a top priority. The Ministry of Agriculture has become as important as the ministries of Home, Defence, External Affairs and Finance. POTA has been repealed. Terrorism has shrunk in J&K as also in the North-East. Tourists are flocking to J&K. Internationally, India is regaining its old glory. The UPA government has been striving for transparency, accountability and probity for good governance. The infrastructure sector in growing. The open skies have brought in unmatched expansion of air traffic in the country. The most relevant part of infrastructure development has been the emphasis on building rural roads along with the highways, something which the BJP-led NDA had totally ignored. This ensures better integration of rural India with urban India. The BJP frustration is reflected by the futile boycotts of Parliament. The party is making a mockery of parliamentary democracy. The time gained by boycotting Parliament is used by its for sledging against one another. Internal dissension of the BJP and the RSS is now in the open. |
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High potential for Indo-Pak trade THE annual free trade between India and Pakistan can reach $ 6 billion within a year if the trade barriers between the two nations are removed and illegal trade is legalised,” states a FICCI study “Business Beyond Borders: A Study on India Pakistan Economic Relations.” A FICCI delegation led by its President, Onkar S. Kanwar, which visited Pakistan, has found “tremendous scope for enhancing benefits through cooperation among industries of both countries.” Significantly, Pakistan’s annual imports worth around $ 15 billion include petroleum products (20 per cent), machinery (18 per cent), chemicals (17 per cent), transport equipment (6 per cent), edible oil (5 per cent), fertilisers (2 per cent). The textile and machine tool industry of Punjab, pharmaceutical units in Himachal and auto component units in Haryana can find a new market in Pakistan, as they would not have to spend any extra cost on transport. Similarly, Punjab Tractors can sell its tractors and harvesting machines in the vast market of eastern Punjab. The re-rolling mills of Mandi Gobindgarh and Ludhiana may import raw material via Karachi port instead of importing through Mumbai port to save transport costs. Similarly, agricultural universities can contemplate to start joint research projects on cotton, wheat and milk products. Pakistan can act as a bridge-head for India’s contact with West Asia, Afghanistan and India as a corridor for Pakistan’s contact with South East-Asia. Opening of trade will also offer Pakistani industry to tap the vast market of North India including rich states like Punjab, Haryana and Delhi. “Pakistan can export with advantage products such as cotton yarn and textile fabrics, leather products, surgical instruments, sports goods, electric fans, vegetables and fruits,” states the FICCI study. Currently, the legal trade between both countries is estimated to around $ 700 million though illegal trade via third countries is believed to be over $ 2 billion. In fact, Pakistan trade with its war-ravaged Afghanistan is over $ 1 billion annually. Pakistan’s economy, which had been written off by “expert” economists, is once again booming under President Musharraf’s regime. Wide-ranging structural reforms, prudent macro-economic policies, financial discipline, consistency and continuity in policies have transformed Pakistan into a stable and resurgent economy. A broad-based economic recovery has already gathered momentum, and its economy is now set for accelerated growth of 7-8 per cent per annum over the next 3-4 years. Its government is making all efforts to attract FDI in all sectors. The real GDP growth rate of Pakistan, which had dipped to 1.8 per cent, picked up to 6.4 per cent in 2003-04. The government has succeeded in bringing down the fiscal deficit from 6.1 per cent in 1998-99 to 2.4 per cent by 2003-04. The US and EU sanctions on Pakistan, after it declared itself a nuclear power in 1998 following the footsteps of India, and “forced a U-turn” by the President after the 9/11 incident, has enabled the country to follow the path of economic reforms. Consequently, Pakistan is today considered as one of the most investors’ friendly nations in the region.
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From the pages of Kashmir affairs
Changes in the Kashmir Administration are impending. Changes are the order of the Administration. When the late Maharaja Ranbir Singh died, Dewan Anant Ram was Prime Minister. He was an able and good administrator. Soon after the death of the late Maharaja, Dewan Anant Ram began to show signs of a failing intellect, and he was replaced by Dewan Govind Sahay, who was no good. Dewan Lachman Das, who had never distinguished himself in anything except feeding and feasting the Europeans, was for that sole distinction made Prime Minister and President of the Council — not by the Maharaja. The only good thing he has done during his office is the removing of one or two bad characters. But he has removed a number of able and good officers to make room for his own creatures. They fill the highest offices in the State, and the interests of the State have been, and are being, allowed to go to the dogs. |
Beauty does not still one’s craving; the more one sees it, the more one desires it. — Guru Nanak Lust befriends beauty as spontaneously as hunger befriends the taste. — Guru Nanak Ahimsa is a science. The word “failure” has no place in the vocabulary of science. — Mahatma Gandhi In vain our labours are, whatsoever they be, Unless God gives the Benedicite. — Rebert Herrick Vedic sacrifices are directed to the acquisition of material rewards but the Gita asks us to renounce all selfish desire and work, making all life a sacrifice, offered with true devotion. — Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan God is too great to be withstood, too just to do wrong, too good to delight in anyone’s misery. We ought, therefore, quietly to submit to his dispensations as the very best. — Bishop Wilson Ahimsa is the strongest force known. — Mahatma Gandhi  |
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