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Onus on parties A tenuous ceasefire |
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Keep the change
Israeli pullout from Gaza
Chairman Hidayatullah and humour
Musharraf’s discloser on A.Q. Khan raises questions Improving ties with Afghanistan Delhi Durbar
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Onus on parties Whichever the government, the manner in which the Women’s Reservation Bill has been kept hanging fire since 1996 is a sad reflection of the typical attitude of all the political parties towards women. Sadly, despite their professed commitment to empower women through adequate representation in Parliament, the Bill has made no headway because of a lack of consensus. For the past fortnight, the government has been consulting all the parties, including its allies, the Opposition, women MPs and others so that a consensus can be evolved expeditiously and the Bill, reflecting the general will of Parliament, is passed in the current session itself. Thursday’s meeting of the UPA constituents failed to reach a consensus because of the rigid stand of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party, ostensibly to protect their vote banks. The RJD and the SP continue to demand 33 per cent quota for SCs/STs, OBCs and Muslims within the 33 per cent quota for women. They insist that if a quota within a quota is not acceptable, they would rather settle for 10-15 per cent reservation for women. However, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s meeting with the National Democratic Alliance on Wednesday shows signs of hope. The NDA’s suggestion to accept the Election Commission formula, making it mandatory for parties to give one-third of all tickets to women candidates or face de-recognition, is reasonable and practicable. Moreover, there is no need for a constitutional amendment to implement this formula. All that the parties would need to do is to amend the Representation of People Act by a simple majority in Parliament. Clearly, as almost all parties agree on the need to provide increased representation of women in Parliament and state legislatures, there is no reason why they cannot implement the Election Commission formula. The commission had, in fact, proposed it after a series of discussions with all parties. Consequently, instead of searching for elusive consensus time and again, the parties would do well to implement the formula, give one-third tickets to women and prove their commitment to women’s empowerment. |
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A tenuous ceasefire The ceasefire with the Nagas has held for over seven years now, but it is not surprising that the latest extension, by only six months, was a hard fought one. The leader of the Isak/Muivah (I/M) faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN), Mr Thuingaleng Muivah, has been sounding a hard-line stance for quite some time. They have continued to focus on the sovereignty issue and threatened to breakoff talks several times. The cease-fire extension was, in fact, announced several weeks after the deadline had expired. Offers to extend the ceasefire by “only a month” were clearly pressure tactics and the Centre did well not to succumb to them. Reports suggest that the NSCN (I/M) would be willing to dilute its stance on the demands for sovereignty and a separate “Naga force” only if its demand for a greater Nagalim, which would include the Naga-dominated districts of Manipur, is granted. This is an extremely contentious issue. The crippling 50-day blockade of the highways leading to Imphal, imposed by the All- Nagas Students Federation of Manipur (ANSFM), has only added to the Manipuri Meiteis’ resentment. The ANSFM had launched the blockade in protest against the declaration of June 18 as Manipur Integration Day, and is now threatening to reimpose it. The June 18 declaration was intended to commemorate those who died in the 2001 agitation against the greater Nagalim demand. The Nagas charge that they have been discriminated against by the Manipuri Meiteis. The emotional divide between the hill and valley people, notwithstanding the slogans of unity, seem to widen with every passing day. The Nagas themselves are not exactly a unified group, and differences with the Kaplang faction of the NSCN and other groups persist. The Centre should be particularly careful to avoid favouring one group over another, especially if it can be seen as succumbing to violence and pressure tactics. The Centre cannot hope for a resolution of the North-East situation without evolving and articulating a coherent policy, and then following through with determination. And time is running out. |
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Keep the change The bean counters can heave a sigh of relief now. Bata footwear prices will henceforth end with a rupee and without the customary 95 paise. For almost as long as two generations can remember, Bata footwear was unforgettable for its unique price tag – the 95 paise that followed the rupees. Buyers never ceased wondering why the prices of Bata shoes, sandals and chappals ended five paise short of the next rupee when it could just as conveniently have been rounded off and the decimal point done away with. That it was the butt of many jokes and derisive comments did not make Bata change its mind. On the contrary, Bata welcomed all this talk about the price of its products as so much publicity that was unpaid for, especially when they got to keep the five paise too. Of course, those prone to complain may be quick to point out that knocking off the 95 paise is hardly a bargain – after all, Bata keeps the rupees and spares you only the paise. And there might be some truth in that, because Bata prices still end at 9, such as Rs 999. Does it mean that you can ask – and get back – the one rupee? One wonders, because the five paise conundrum was never satisfactorily resolved. If you bought a pair for Rs 199.95, either the shopkeeper did not have change or the customer felt too sheepish to ask for it even when the five paise coin was around. Now that the coin has virtually disappeared as a currency, it makes little sense to stick to the old price tag. The diehards who used to insist on getting their five paise back would feel more respectable asking for Re.1 to be returned. There is hope, as long as the one-rupee coin is still around. |
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While two dogs are fighting for a bone, a third runs away with it.
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Israeli pullout from Gaza
NOT much notice has been taken of it in this country but the Israeli pullout from Gaza after 38 years of occupation is an important and hopefully promising development. Admittedly, it is only a first step towards an eventual resolution of the long festering Palestine problem, but then even the longest journey begins with a small step. If the Israelis sincerely follow the agreed “road map”, and the Palestinian militant groups such as the Hamas resist the temptation to renew violence, things can certainly move in the right direction. How future events in Palestine would unfold themselves remains to be seen. However, the historic event in Gaza has an important lesson for the rest of the world, particularly for this country, which ought to be heeded. To put it bluntly, Gaza’s lesson is that every wrong or perverse policy that any government anywhere persists in following is bound to become counter-productive, indeed dangerous, sooner or later. At that stage it becomes extremely painful and difficult to reverse it, as the Israelis have discovered to their dismay in relation to Gaza, the worst advertisement of their aggressive, arrogant and expansionist policies. India, to its credit, has never occupied or even coveted someone else’s territory. The Indian Army had played a heroic role in the liberation of Bangladesh but had voluntarily left it immediately. Sadly, however, there are many foolish and self-defeating policies that successive governments have been following at home, relentlessly and remorselessly. Witness, the degeneration of the exalted office of Governor so unashamedly typified by Mr. Buta Singh in Patna, about which no government in New Delhi has ever done anything. The time to cry halt to all such shenanigans and then gradually to roll them back has surely come. But it is doubtful if anyone in authority, regardless of his or her political hue, is even thinking of doing so. Of the numerous policies that have become steadily worse and continue to cause havoc, let me mention only three. First, the ad hoc, indeed slipshod and slapdash, manner in which almost all issues of national security continue to be handled. The functioning of the National Security Council for seven years has made no difference to this disgraceful state of affairs. Its catastrophic consequences are starkly visible all across the North-East and, to an extent, even in Jammu and Kashmir. More than a year after the blood-chilling uproar in Manipur a fresh outburst has rocked the state without anyone in New Delhi losing his or her sleep. The Centre also knows that in the chronically disturbed region even high officials have to pay protection money to insurgents. But is anyone bothered about it? The situation about the acquisition of weapons and equipment for the armed forces is equally appalling. It had taken 15 years for the Ministry of Defence and the Cabinet Committee on Security to decide on the purchase of the Advance Jet Trainer. During this period the price of the AJT had soared. The dismal story is now being repeated meticulously in relation to the French Scorpene submarines for the Navy. The entire issue has once again been reopened. Each day’s delay in decision- making costs the country an additional two crores of rupees. The second recipe for disaster that the entire political class has conspired to put together has resulted in the rule of law becoming the worst casualty in the world’s largest democracy. The concept of equality before the law exists only in the pages of the Constitution. On the ground, even the Orwellian doctrine of “some are more equal than others” has paled into insignificance. Here every law has to be adjusted to the status, clout and political affiliation of the person concerned, no matter how heinous the individual’s crimes or how egregious his or her corruption. Nothing illustrates the point more vividly than the vicissitudes of the Taj corridor case involving the Bahujan Samaj Party leader, Ms. Mayawati. At first the CBI said it had sufficient evidence to prosecute her. Later, it became expedient for the powers that be to shield her. Sure enough, the CBI — regrettably with the backing of the Attorney-General — pretended that the evidence against her wasn’t adequate at all. Now, the Chief Vigilance Commissioner has exposed the hollowness of this motivated claim. Either this institutionalised chicanery has to end or only the law of the jungle would prevail in India. Thirdly, the mania for reservations — usually on the basis of caste and caste alone — looks like becoming for this country what the Gaza settlements had turned into for Israel. There is something to be said for affirmative action in support of the downtrodden and the dispossessed. But are perennial and constantly expanding reservations the only feasible form of such action? Does anyone remember that the founding fathers had expected the purpose of the deserved reservations for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes to be achieved in 10 or 20 years? Now these reservations are to be with us in perpetuity. After the tumultuous extension of the reservation principle to Other Backward Classes — a charming euphemism for socially backward but economically powerful intermediate castes — the Supreme Court had laid down the sound principle that total reservations must not exceed 50 per cent of the available jobs. Several states have violated this ruling and got away with it. And yet more and more demands for reservations keep pouring in. The private sector has done all it takes to resist the strange official move to make reserved quotas obligatory also for private businesses and industries. But for how long? The writing on the wall is clear enough, and it is alarming. The way all political parties united to oppose the Supreme Court’s judgment on reservations in unaided private engineering and medical colleges drove the Chief Justice of India to remarking that let the politicians “abolish the courts and do what they like”. This hasn’t made a whit of a difference to the politicians’ resolve to undo the apex court’s verdict by legislation. Empowerment of women is a must, no doubt. But the current burlesque over the reservation of one-third seats in a hugely enlarged Parliament for them confirms, if confirmation were needed, that history does repeat itself. At present it is doing so as a farce. But tragedy is not far away. For those who think that you can have “reservations within reservations” for women for Muslims and OBCs, without having to extend the doctrine to men, are living in a fool’s
paradise.
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Chairman Hidayatullah and humour
I
have had the privilege to serve the Rajya Sabha as Secretary-General when Justice M. Hidayatullah adorned the office of Vice-President of India and Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. Justice Hidayatullah had a subtle sense of humour which found ample expression in his conducting the proceedings of the House. I recall a few interesting incidents. Ms Jayalalithaa, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, was once a member of the Rajya Sabha. One day during question hour, she was raising her hand to catch the eye of the Chairman to ask a supplementary question. The Chairman missed to notice her during three consecutive questions. I sent a note to the Chairman saying that Ms Jayalalithaa is a new member of the House and that she has been trying to catch his eye to ask a supplementary question. You may kindly allow her to put a supplementary. The Chairman wrote on that slip: “Jayalalithaa should catch my eye and not the Secretary General’s”. He even narrated this incident at the farewell function in his honour. During those days, prices of onions had hit the roof. Mr Rameshwar Singh, a member of the Rajya Sabha, walked into the chamber with a garland of onions and both hands full of onions which he started distributing to members. The Chairman asked him to remove the garland but he continued to wear it while taking his seat. Thereupon, the Chairman remarked: “Mr Rameshwar Singh I wonder what you would be doing if the prices of car tyres go up, or, for that matter if the prices of shoes go up.” Mr Piloo Mody was once talking to member sitting behind his seat. Mr Sita Ram Kesari addressing the Chair said, “Sir, Piloo Mody is standing with his back to the Chair which is highly objectionable.” Thereupon, the Chairman observed: “Don’t worry about Piloo Mody: he has no front or back, he is just round.” (Mr Piloo Mody was a very fat member of the House.) The office put up a draft obituary reference to two former members of the House to the Chairman for approval. Apart from other things, the draft stated: “Mild mannered and soft spoken
Shri... took active part in the debates in the House.” When the Chairman read these lines about both the deceased in the obituary reference, he quipped, and I quote: “For you people, every deceased member was soft spoken and mild mannered. If tomorrow Raj Narain passes away, you will write ‘soft spoken and mild mannered’ for him as well”. (Raj Narain was really an unmanageable member of the House who would often interrupt proceedings to make his point). Once Lord Macay, who as Lord Chancellor presided over the proceedings of the House of Lords, was in Delhi and called on Justice Hidayatullah. In the course of exchange of pleasantries, Justice Hidayatullah said: “Lord Macay, we too have a House akin to the House of Lords (reference to the Rajya Sabha) but in our case, our stupidity is not hereditary. (The reference was to hereditary Lords in the House of Lords). Once sitting in his office in Parliament, he observed that, “after conducting proceedings of the House for a few weeks, I started wondering why on earth am I here? But after a few months, I started wondering, why all of them (referring to members) are here?” Justice Hidayatullah also served as acting President of India for a short duration. During that period, President Nixon came on a State visit to India. In those days, the President used to receive his VVIP guests at the airport. Justice Hidayatullah found President Nixon a bit
pompous in his demeanour. As they were being driven to Rashtrapati Bhavan in a limousine, there were hundreds of schoolchildren on both sides of the road waving Indian and American flags. President Nixon looked at Justice Hidayatullah and said: “President, look at the thousands of children who are lining up on both sides of the road to greet me”. Justice Hidayatullah replied:
"President Nixon, these children are from nearby villages. They have all come to see the bullet proof car. They have never seen one." President Nixon felt deflated. The writer is the Governor of Uttaranchal.
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Musharraf’s discloser on A.Q. Khan raises questions
General Musharraf has now disclosed for the first time that Dr A.Q. Khan, the Pakistani metallurgist who confessed to having proliferated to Iran and Libya also provided centrifuge technology to enrich uranium to North Korea. He has done this in an interview to the Japanese Kyodo News Agency and in reply to a specific question whether Islamabad had earlier given this information to Tokyo. Presumably, Pakistan thought it necessary to part with this information since Japan is its biggest aid donor and is one of the five members involved in discussing the North Korean proliferation in the six-nation dialogue involving the US, Japan, China, Russia, South Korea and North Korea. Even while making this admission on Dr A. Q. Khan’s clandestine transactions with North Korea, the General has for the first time also made the disclosure that Dr A. Q. Khan’s contribution to the Pakistani bomb was very restricted. It was only to provide enriched uranium. All other steps such as providing uranium hexafluoride gas for the centrifuges, making triggering mechanism etc were not done by Dr Khan. It was widely known in Pakistan that Dr Khan was not allowed to conduct the Chagai tests and it was Dr Samar Mubarak Mund of the Pakistani Atomic Energy Commission who carried out the test. It is possible that through this disclosure President Musharraf is initiating a process of denigrating Dr Khan and telling Pakistani people that Dr Khan was not the father of the Pakistani bomb. Then why was he made so much of? Even while granting pardon to him, General Musharraf said that one of the considerations was Dr Khan was venerated in the country as the “father of the bomb”. While Dr Khan was not a great scientist and his contribution to the Pakistani bomb was limited, he was crucial to the Pakistani bomb effort since he ran what the IAEA chief, Dr Elbaradi, called a black-market nuclear Walmart in collaboration with various Western European companies dealing with nuclear technology, the Chinese and the North Koreans. It was his ability to be a sales agent for the black-marketing Western European companies and the Chinese that made him invaluable to the Pakistani Army, which was in overall charge of the nuclear and missile programme. Dr Khan’s self-promotion and his self-glorification as the father of the bomb were tolerated by others. Even at this stage, General Musharraf is not telling the whole truth. While he highlights that Dr Khan could not have provided a full range of bomb-making technology, he forgets that in the shipment of Dr Khan to Libya the Chinese blueprint of the bomb was recovered. If Dr Khan’s expertise was limited to making enriched uranium, how did he come in possession of Chinese bomb blueprints and was in a position to ship it to Libya? Nor does the General explain what was the quid pro quo Dr Khan received from the North Koreans, if the Pakistani Government had paid for in full for all that it bought. Again, Dr Khan, in his confession accepting responsibility of proliferation, justified it on the ground that he was discharging his Islamic obligation. Then what induced Dr Khan to supply the centrifuge equipment and parts to North Korea? Surely, not loyalty to Islam. We have to await a further instalment of disclosures from President Musharraf. The recent disclosures of the former Dutch Prime Minister bring out the CIA’s interest in Dr Khan going back to 1985 and 1975 when it intervened with the Dutch law enforcement agencies to save Dr Khan from prosecution. There is today adequate evidence to prove that Dr Khan’s proliferation activities were known to the CIA from mid-1970s onwards. Yet another CIA officer has disclosed that the US authorities knew about Saudi Arabian financing of the Pakistan bomb. The Senate Committee headed by Senator Jack Kevy brought out in its report about the CIA withholding cooperation in respect of proliferation involving Iran. In the light of these developments, both General Musharraf and the US Administration itself have problems in exposing Dr Khan completely, lest he should in turn reveal his services to the Pakistan Army and his long-term connections with the CIA. Dr Khan is reported to be suffering from serious cardiac problems. Therefore, some of these disclosures may be in anticipation of Dr Khan’s demise and burgeoning the Khan proliferation problem without too much damage to the Pakistani Army and the CIA. These disclosures by General Musharraf come at the most inconvenient moment for the American nonproliferation Ayotallahs. Next month the US Congress is to have hearings about President Bush’s new proposals to extend to India civil nuclear technology, lifting the sanctions imposed on it in 1974. The justification of President Bush is that India was a responsible power with advanced nuclear technology. The proliferation Ayotallahs in Washington argue that such a concession to India should also be extended to Pakistan. General Musharraf’s disclosures would prove that Pakistani has not been a responsible nuclear power which is the basic criterion to justify President Bush’s decision in respect of India. Pakistan has to justify US nuclear transactions with two rogue regimes as the Americans call Iran and North Korea. This disclosure of General Musharraf will be a powerful weapon in the hands of the Bush Administration to reject the Ayotallahs of non proliferation.
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Improving ties with Afghanistan Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Afghanistan can be a turning point for better Indo-Afghan relations. Afghanistan is not just another neighbour, but a buffer to an ever turbulent South Asia where terrorism, religious animosity and civilisational clashes are prevalent. It’s a land which borders Pakistan, a window to that country. Much of what our government gains in diplomacy and intelligence on that country has always come from Kabul and not Islamabad where our diplomats are routinely tailed and harassed. Afghanistan borders the Islamic states of Iran and most of the CIS, and across the strategic Wakhan corridor lies the Ugher region of China and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. Even a neutral Afghanistan under Hamid Karzai as is the case today, is not good enough for Indian diplomatic and security interests. Thanks to a lacklustre, unimaginative and mild foreign policy ever since the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, India hardly counts for much on the Afghan government screen. I have a few suggestions which can be looked into by the governments in Kabul and Delhi. First start a dialogue with Kabul, so that Afghan Hindus and Sikhs who had fled from Afghanistan and are now eking out a living in New Delhi, Amritsar and other places in India can return to their native country. Second, there needs to be a liberal visa regime for these people. Our mission in Kabul is receptive to such requests when made. The Afghan Mission in Delhi should also make travel to their country easier for the Indians. Easier travel for people is the best antidote for better relations with any country. On the trade front, what is needed is at least one passenger and one cargo IA flight every day from Amritsar and Delhi to Kabul, to ease passenger rush and also for Punjab to be able to airlift much of its agro-industrial and horticulture produce overseas. Another initiative which the PM might already be contemplating is the natural gas and oil that can be piped out to India from northern Afghanistan, and of course detailed discussions for an Iran-Afghanistan-Pakistan oil pipe line to parts of Rajasthan to meet our growing energy needs. Technical education with a large number of scholarships for Afghan students to study in India, and the establishment of such centres initially in Kabul, Jalalabad, Herat, Mazar-e-Sharief and Kandahar, is an other need of the Afghan people. The war in Afghanistan has left thousands limbless. A fresh life can be provided for these near invalids. Artificial limb centres all over the country can be one of the greatest humanitarian measures we can undertake. The major towns need hospitals. The former ICH hospital that we had set up years ago in downtown Kabul needs to be upgraded. The places of worship for the Afghan Sikhs and Hindus have over the years suffered intensive damage and need care and maintenance. From the days of Tagore’s Kabuliwalla and the Frontier Gandhi, Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, much water has flown down the Kabul river. —The writer was India’s Military
Attaché in Afghanistan from 1978 to 1982 |
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Delhi Durbar The observation of Supreme Court Chief Justice R.C. Lahoti on Tuesday that if the government so desired it could pack up the courts got the political masters into a tizzy. It was apparent the CJI took exception to a remark by Attorney General Milon Banerjee that the executive was trying to give the impression that the apex court had adopted a confrontationist attitude. The political masters went into a huddle and held an all-party meeting to assess the situation. At the end of it, the political leadership asserted that enacting laws was the prerogative of the legislature. Despite the CJI urging restraint on the part of the UPA government, Union Law Justice Minister H R Bhardwaj felt that the judiciary should not be so sensitive to criticism. After all free speech is enshrined in the Constitution and the courts are there to do their job. Legal experts like former Attorney General Soli Sorabjee and K K Venugopal sought to downplay the media hype of an emerging confrontation between the executive and the judiciary.
PM’s visit to Kabul Security agencies are a trifle concerned that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has decided to spend a night on August 26 in Kabul. The Prime Minister was also scheduled to visit Jalalabad, but that has now been shelved, thanks to the security personnel. Dr Manmohan Singh’s itinerary in Kabul includes being present at the foundation stone laying ceremony of Afghanistan’s new Parliament building, which has been built by India.
Modi’s silence irks Togadia It is believed in BJP circles that the VHP’s Praveen Togadia, who was vocal in criticising BJP President L K Advani for his praise of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, is said to be behind the fresh rebellion against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Togadia is miffed that the Modi administration has turned a blind eye to a large number of cases connected with the infamous Gujarat riots being opened against him and other VHP activists. Modi maintained a studious silence about Advani describing Jinnah as secular, which has definitely held the Chief Minister in good stead. While in Ahmedabad recently, Advani praised Modi that Gujarat under his stewardship is one of the best governed states in the country.
Cong leaders’ phones stolen Senior Congress leaders Devendra Dwivedi and Pramod Tiwari who had gone to Lucknow to attend birth anniversary functions of the late Kamalapathi Tripathi returned to the Capital rather disappointed. Touching senior leaders’ feet being a tradition in Uttar Pradesh, Dwivedi and Tiwari found to their chagrin that in the melee some posing as Congress workers used their nimble fingers to pick their pockets and escaped with their booty of wallets and mobile phones. Dwivedi and Tiwari were not the only leaders to meet such a fate. ——Contributed by S. Satyanarayanan, R Suryamurthy and Prashant Sood. |
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December 18, 1902 THE DELHI DURBAR
The Delhi Durbar has apparently been the prolific parent of many difficulties. A correspondent, writing to a Lahore contemporary, invites the attention of the Government to a prevailing rumour which has given, and is likely still further to give, rise to perplexity and feelings of uneasiness among certain officers of the Imperial Contingent troops in the Native States. The rumour is to the effect that the “Captains” or rather the officers who serve as intermediaries between the British Government and the States, will not receive the same treatment in connection with the Delhi Durbar as the immediate officers (Colonels, Adjutants, etc.) of the Native troops are expected to receive. These Captains are not going to be invited to and given a share in the military entertainments. We hardly think the rumour will ultimately prove true and if it has any foundation in fact, we trust Lord Curzon will do away with this apparently invidious and irritating distinction and give these officers their due, which undoubtedly they justly claim, in view of the part the Imperial Service troops play in Imperial politics. — “Bengalee”. |
What is God? He is the breath inside your breath. — Kabir He sleeps soundly who is undisturbed by the conflict of his emotions and desires. — The Upanishads Skill is a marvelous thing and it can adorn a humble man as much as it grace a King. The poorest can acquire skills through hard work and constant practice which the prince may not acquire despite much coaching. — The Mahabharata Purpose and happiness are not embodied in the mechanism of institutions, but in free men. — Book of quotations on
happiness
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