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Black Saturday In-house review |
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Punjab needs N-plant
Tactics in the neighbourhood
(M)other tongue
Adm Nanda: man of action Chinese eye leadership succession Chatterati
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Black Saturday
IT is at best a conjecture how long it would take to measure the enormity of Saturday’s earthquake. The death toll has been mounting with each passing hour. As Muzaffarabad in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir was the epicentre of the quake that measured 7.4 on the Richter scale, it is the neighbouring country, which has suffered the most. It will take several weeks, if not months, before communication is restored in the affected areas, the debris is cleared and normalcy restored. Areas on India’s side of the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir have also suffered enormously; the death toll in India has gone up to 700. Reports of deaths and destruction have also come from several places in North India. While rescuing those trapped under the debris will be the first priority, the government and civil society organisations have a huge task on their hands. Several times the number of the dead, conservatively put at 30,000 in Pakistan alone, have been rendered homeless in the two countries. With the night temperature constantly falling in the affected areas, their plight is bound to become worse. Relief material has been pouring into Pakistan from all over the world. India may not need such assistance to cope with the tragedy as it can depend on its own resources as has been proved in the case of the tsunami disaster that struck its southern coast early this year. Natural calamities call for united efforts and no country should be found wanting in this endeavour. That even the United States accepted international assistance to tackle the Katrina-induced tragedy is a telling commentary on inter-dependence in the global village. There is as yet no foolproof system of earthquake prediction. Scientists are still engaged in answering the whys and hows of the phenomenon. But, over the years, earthquakes have imparted lessons, which can help in minimising the damages. The complete collapse of a tower in Islamabad when many such tall structures in the same area escaped the nature’s fury points to poor construction, a trend noticed in the Gujarat quake. The earthquake in Latur in Maharashtra showed that buildings made of stone boulders were the worst affected. Quake-resistant technologies can be put to greater use in the preparedness to face earthquakes. But for the present, it is everybody’s duty to empathise with the quake-hit in the subcontinent and provide them timely relief. |
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In-house review
The Chandigarh conclave of 15 Congress Chief Ministers was meant to be a detailed stock-taking exercise. The presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi was a measure of the seriousness attached to this meeting. But unfortunately it was overshadowed by two events. The first was, of course, the Supreme Court order holding the dissolution of the Bihar Assembly unconstitutional. If that was not enough on the first day of the two-day conference, the second day was affected by the earthquake. In a symbolic way, both these unrelated events had a bearing on the brainstorming session. The Bihar episode must have taught the Chief Ministers – and more than them, the Congress high command – that the attempt to abort the formation of a non-Congress government in a state can boomerang. And the earthquake should have taught the Chief Ministers to always prepare for unforeseen eventualities beyond their control. Such meetings are supposed by an occasion to have introspection and to take a hard, dispassionate look at the performance. Hopefully, this exercise in Chandigarh was thorough. The Congress high command wanted the Chief Ministers to be on toes and align their policies with that of the UPA government at the Centre. It would be good news if the Congress high command succeeded in making its Chief Ministers shed complacency and begin delivering what the party had promised before the elections. The danger is that after the event the Chief Ministers might forget the main tasks the party and the people had set before them. The Chandigarh conclave will be regarded as a great success if the Chief Ministers are able to implement, if nothing else, the employment guarantee scheme. Considering that down the line promises get diluted and not all the money is spent for the purpose it was meant, the purpose of good governance gets lost. Collective exchanges with Chief Ministers at intervals are useful because they can be educative and introduce an element of accountability. What may help is also the review the high command should carry out individually of all the party’s Chief Ministers and suggest correctives, where necessary. The Congress will ultimately be judged by the promises it can keep on the ground and improve the lot of the people. |
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Punjab needs N-plant
The demand for a nuclear power generation plant made by Punjab Congress President Shamsher Singh Dullo on Friday needs serious consideration as, according to him, it is cost-effective and the state needs it. That Punjab is power-deficient is widely known and the state has to purchase power at exorbitant rates when demand peaks in summer. Thermal power is expensive and production gets disrupted due to irregular coal supplies. Hydel power is a cheaper alternative, but the region’s hydel potential remains under-utilised due to the lack of political cooperation and conflict of interests among the ruling parties of the north-western states. As the demand for power keeps rising, the nuclear power option remains the only viable alternative. Mr Dullo is not the first to make this demand, though he promises to pursue the issue at the highest level. The issue has been pushed by officials of the Punjab State Electricity Board from time to time. The demand gained momentum in 2000-01 and it was even announced that the nuclear plant would be located at Drauli village, near Patiala. Residents of Patran and other nearby villages, however, opposed the move to locate the nuclear power plant in the fertile and populated area. The wisdom of having a nuclear plant close to the India-Pakistan border was also questioned. To allay public fears, power board officials even took a busload of irate villagers to Uttar Pradesh’s Narora nuclear power plant, but the protesters were not convinced. The then Chief Minister of Punjab, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, who had supported the demand initially, took a surprising about-turn and backed the villagers as the elections were drawing near. The matter unfortunately ended there. To prevent the project from meeting a similar end, the nuclear power plant viability should be seriously studied and implemented to meet the power needs of the state. |
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Never cry over spilt milk, because it may have been poisoned. — W.C. Fields |
Tactics in the neighbourhood
During his recent visit to the United States, General Pervez Musharraf launched an assiduous campaign of seducing the US to step up both economic and military assistance to Pakistan and overlook Pakistan’s lack of cooperation in hunting Al-Qaeda and Taliban remnants in Pakistan. It is understandable that the Pakistani leader should do so. What is most surprising is that he succeeded in his seduction. The US has signalled that it would be prepared to give Pakistan F-16 aircraft in three figures. While the US media, the academia and the legislators then expressed their displeasure about India not publicly coming out in favour of the harsh US stand on Iran’s non-cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), not one of them referred to the fact that the origin of the Iranian proliferation was Pakistan. There was no demand that in order to clear up the full extent of the Iranian proliferation, the US and the IAEA should have access to Dr A.Q. Khan and his associates to get the full facts. There were no demands that Pakistan should publicly declare itself in support of the US policy vis-à-vis Iran. On the other hand, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pleaded for Pakistan’s case for concessions on Kashmir with the Indian Prime Minister. President Hamid Karzai’s plea that there must be greater military focus by the US on the Taliban and Al-Qaeda outside Afghanistan, impliedly Pakistan, was ignored. What allurements from Pakistan could have resulted in this seduction? President Musharraf unveiled the long-existing clandestine contacts with Israel and openly came out in favour of establishing normal relations with that country sometime in future. He addressed the American Jewish Congress and won rapturous applause. He even evoked Foreign Minister Shalom’s declaration that Pakistan was never Israel’s enemy, overlooking Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s claim that the Pakistan Air Force and land forces were in action in 1973 war. General Musharraf’s attempts to woo Israel and the US Jewish lobby did not create in Pakistan the uproar that used to be predicted. The General was trying out the reaction of the Pakistani people and he is now reasonably hopeful that the Pakistanis are not as anti-Israeli as his propaganda machine used to project. But this move to reconcile with Israel alone could not have earned for Pakistan all the rewards the US has indicated — an increased number of F-16s, no pressure for action against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, no demand for direct access to A.Q. Khan, perhaps — who knows — a rehyphenation of the India-Pakistan relations and pressure on India for concessions to Pakistan on Kashmir. It is now up to the Indian security establishment to assess what could have made the US to succumb to Pakistan in such a short period, between July 18 and September 13, 2005? It is not
very difficult to guess the nature of the Pakistani inducement which could have made the US to pay the price General Musharraf demands and overlook all past and present damage Pakistan may have inflicted on US security and interests. General Musharraf should have dangled before the US leadership the possibility of Pakistan offering a couple of divisions of Pakistani troops for service in Iraq after the elections in October. The US is finding itself in a very difficult situation in Iraq. The US military involvement there is becoming increasingly unpopular at home. Next November the US President is likely to face Congressional elections. His effectiveness in office will depend upon the composition of the Congress to be elected. Some of the recent events in Iraq have cast doubts on the loyalty of the Iraqi police force and the Army raised and trained by the Iraqi government. Therefore, the Americans are desperate to have additional forces and are willing to pay the price for it. General Musharraf is a shrewd bargainer. The move towards Israel is a way of testing the popular opinion in Pakistan about his next move of sending troops to Iraq. Pakistan sent Gen Zia-ul-Haq to Jordan and he put down the PLO under Yasser Arafat during the Black September campaign. Pakistani troops served in Saudi Arabia in the seventies and the eighties. The new Iraqi government will have legitimacy and, therefore, Pakistanis will be acceding to the request of a legitimate and constitutionally elected Iraqi government. General Musharraf’s judgement on the basis of Israeli venture is, perhaps, that troops to Iraq would not raise an unmanageable degree of opposition in the country. The benefits for Pakistan will be enormous. Will this work? It might, if only the Americans are sensible enough not to alienate Iran at this crucial juncture. If, after creating all this scare about referral to the Security Council of the IAEA report on Iranian non-cooperation on inspections, the US works out a modus vivendi with Iran and secures Iranian support to an emerging Shia government consolidating itself in Baghdad, the Pakistani forces in Iraq may prove successful. On the other hand, if Iran is alienated by the US indulging in a confrontationist posture, Iran has the capability to destabilise the Persian Gulf area and create problems for the US, Pakistan and the world at large. The problem with the Americans is they are advice-proof. While they are smart on short-term planning, they tend to overlook long-term consequences. That is how they came to overlook the consequences of Pakistani proliferation to Iran and jehadification and Talibanisation of Afghanistan by the Pakistanis. They ignored the consequences of permitting and siding with Saddam Hussein in the use of weapons of mass destruction (use of gas against Iranian forces). It is quite likely that Indian troops on a peace-building mission in Iraq may be more acceptable to Iran provided the US will offer to Teheran a face-saving solution on the nuclear issue and establish diplomatic relations. India is in a position to play a mediatory role provided the US is in a position to listen that India can persuade the Iranian leadership that the Iraqi situation can be converted into an opportunity for its own advantage provided it is reasonable on the nuclear
issue.
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(M)other tongue
I was brought up on a two-language
formula. The chaste, high-falutin Urdu that I learnt at school was as
different as chalk is from cheese to the common but more down to earth
vocabulary I picked up in the lanes and by-lanes of Old Delhi. To hear the language spoken in the way that Zauq and Ghalib had used it to express their thoughts is like listening to music produced by a virtuoso but, all said and done, it would be difficult to find any language in the world that is so full of sentiments that one does not expect to be taken seriously. In other words, if you wish to call a spade a spade you would have to use other words. To someone familiar with the finer points of the language it can be disconcerting to be told that the palatial house in which he was being entertained is his house; or that the pretty girl to whom he has been introduced is his daughter. This verbal and “tehzebi” transfer of ownership. However, stops short of his host’s wife. A man’s generosity has its limits which even a true Dilli-walla will not transcend. And if you wish to express your solicitude for someone who has not been well, you don’t say “I am sorry to hear you have been ill. You say “I am distressed to learn that your enemies have been indisposed”. But whether you speak the Urdu of the “mehfil” or the streets you can always be polite. “Ab angrezi mein samachar suniye” sounds a little peremptory. But to say, “Ab aap ke samney angrezi mein khabren pesh ki jayengi” (You will now be presented with the news in English) seems to offer a choice, apart from being more respectful. If the “presentation” is more than full of ministerial pronouncements, the listener can always turn to pop music. I have with me an official pamphlet issued a long time ago. It bears the title, “Constituent Assembly of India — list of equivalents tentatively accepted”. It is the neatest and most concise government publication I have ever seen but reading its contents, which are alphabetically arranged, I cannot help feeling relieved that some of the “tentative” equivalents were not pushed down our throats assuming, of course, that our twisted tongues had let them get down so far. For instance, if someone had asked me if I approved of women being given “vayaskamatadhikara”, I should probably have replied that I don’t remember my Kama Sutra very well, not knowing that the word means “adult suffrage”. There is a word in the list, however, with which I am very familiar because it describes the state which I find myself in from time to time. The word “divala” (insolvency) is common to Urdu as it was probably something akin to what Mirza Ghalib had in mind when he wrote “rectitude and caution? Ah how they stifle all emotions! I crave for mad abandonment in limitless proportion”. (translation by Sufia
Sadullah) |
Adm Nanda: man of action The Navy was fortunate to have had a man of his stature to lead the service at that turning point in its history. He played the stellar role in leading from the front and if there was one man who could be called the pivot, he was such a man. Adm Zumwalt, in his tribute to the role played by Nanda, years later termed him as the person who held the key to the war, in not allowing it to escalate beyond control. Admiral Nanda was always a man of action. It was his idea that the war must be taken to the enemy and the attack on Karachi was the result of such spirit. The innovativeness of towing the missile boats was the key to surprise and success. He always listened to ideas of his younger staff. In fact, he was open to suggestions, to new ways of operating and trying out new methods. He would listen, but make up his own mind and once that was done, there was no going back. He would force his way through even against opposition of the waivering staff. One remembers when we had to prove the missiles at sea by firing but we could not find a suitable target. The Soviets were asking too much time to supply and we simply did not have that time. It was Nanda, who tasked his staff to find a suitable solution and radar reflectors were mounted on the BPT (normal gunnery target) to make it suitable for missile firing. When our missiles made the direct hit, it sent a wave of morale boosting through the veins of every man. Take the case of Vikrant. The entire staff was against sending the ship to sea because of its poor material state. But Nanda knew that if the Carrier was to remain in harbour during the forthcoming hostilities, it would be the death knell of naval aviation. This was totally unacceptable. So certain risks had to be taken. Vikrant had to be deployed at sea where it could play its role and at the same time not be too vulnerable because of its slow speed due to poor material state. The aircraft must be launched but we needed speed for that. He personally overseered the engine trials and the ship cleared the speed to enable flight operations. The role played by Vikrant and the eastern fleet in closing the escape routes of the Pakistani army hastened the end of the war. Then again when the news of the 7th Fleet entrance into the Bay of Bengal reached Naval Headquarters, it caused only a minor flutter. The situation demanded a cool response. Nanda knew that the Americans were in no position to interfere. There was no need to over-react. In the war against Pakistan in 1971, the Indian Navy came out with flying colours. Every sailor could hold his head high. Many stood up and took notice of the fledgling service. The name of the Indian Navy was indelibly etched in the Indian Ocean. Much of that was due to the actions of Admiral Nanda. Today’s generation owes much to Admiral Nanda. More than anything, he is a great role model. An ideal leader who took total responsibility for his actions. He remembered the 1965 action in which the Indian Navy had remained a passive spectator and he had then vowed that he would never allow such a thing to pass in future if he had anything to do with it. He knew, for example, that the attack on Karachi could cause casualties to the missile boats, but it was a calculated risk worth taking. Even the Soviets were taken aback by the missile boat action, since the range of action was clearly outside the performance of the missile boats. The Pakistani Navy had never anticipated that such an action could be taken by the Indian Navy and they were completely caught by surprise. A simple innovation of towing the missile boats increased their range of action. Throughout his service, the Admiral was always decisive and action-oriented. He left his hallmark wherever he served. He built the modern Bombay naval dockyard as its first Director General for expansion, laid down the foundations for a modern warship building at Mazagoan Docks Ltd by starting the frigate building programme and finally enlarged and restructured Naval Headquarters for ensuring the continuous excellence and growth of the modern Indian Navy. Today we pay our tribute to this great man. Admiral Nanda will be remembered not only as a great seaman but also as the greatest Chief the Indian Navy ever had. His achievements in the merchant marine field are equally great. After retirement he was made the Chairman of the Shipping Corporation of India. He greatly expanded it and formed Irano Hind Shipping Company — a joint venture with Iran. Most importantly, he left behind a culture of dedication and discipline. It would have been appropriate if a grateful nation had recognised his services by appointing him as our first 5-star Admiral of the Fleet. Some naval officers feel that he is in the same league as the Legendry Russian Admiral Gorshokov. The Soviet government made him a 6-star Admiral of the Fleet. We can do the same. It is late but never too late. |
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Chinese eye leadership succession
Chinese Communist Party chief Hu Jintao opened a four-day meeting on Saturday seeking to cement his grip on power, pushing his “harmonious society” platform to cope with rising social tension and possibly naming an heir apparent. The plenary session of the 354-member Central Committee is also poised to unveil the 11th Five-Year Plan — a new roadmap for the world’s seventh-biggest economy that scraps a long-standing policy of faster growth in favour of improving social services and curbing widespread environmental devastation. The closed-door plenum at the Soviet-era Jingxi Hotel in Beijing will be a test of whether Hu, 62, has fully consolidated power after replacing Jiang Zemin, 79, as Party chief in 2002, state president in 2003 and military chief last year. It is Hu’s first plenum without his influential predecessor holding some form of office, although Jiang has stacked the party’s upper echelons with his allies. One focus will be on whether Hu can manoeuvre protege Li Keqiang, 50, who cut his teeth in Hu’s power base, the China Youth League, into the decision-making Politburo, which currently has 24 full members and one alternate member. “Li Keqiang is very likely to become the fifth generation leader,” a source with ties to the leadership told Reuters, requesting anonymity. Hu is the country’s fourth generation leader after Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping and Jiang. Another independent source said Li’s star was rising, despite mediocre performances as provincial party chief in Henan and in the northeastern rustbelt of Liaoning. Hu’s trusted aide, Ling Jihua, may also move up the political ladder, the sources said. The results of the meeting are not expected to be made public until it closes on Tuesday. Hu began to emerge from Jiang’s shadow and start his long drive to consolidate power after ending a government cover-up of an outbreak of the SARS virus in 2003. He has since sought to portray himself as a man of the people, championing the have-nots left behind by the country’s economic boom. He has sought to boost government transparency and instil greater accountability. At the same time, Hu has presided over a clampdown on the media and the Internet. The Chinese Communist Party, which has monopolised power since 1949, is obsessed with social stability and has sought to eliminate the threat of “colour revolutions” like the popular uprisings which toppled dictatorial regimes in post-Soviet Ukraine and Georgia. Still, Hu rekindled hopes that he might be a closet liberal with a bold decision this year to rehabilitate a predecessor, Hu Yaobang, whose death sparked the Tiananmen Square demonstrations for democracy, crushed by the army on June 4, 1989. In another political opening, Hu Jintao allowed pro-democracy Hong Kong lawmakers, among Beijing’s harshest critics, to set foot in the mainland for the first time since 1989. Hu still needs cooperation from Jiang’s men to deal with problems which have sparked unrest, including corruption and the widening gap between rich and
poor. — Reuters |
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Chatterati The Gymkhana Club elections last week saw three powerful men contesting. It was a bitter and hard-contested battle. Dining and wining went on for weeks at the expense of businessmen and officers, who were happily making contacts with the powers that be. The three contestants were — R.K Bhargava, ex-Home Secretary, former Raw Secretary A.S. Daulat and Civil Aviation Secretary Ajay Prasad. Campaigning was done in style. Letters were issued. Phone calls were made for networking. Anyone who could vote or even influence votes was contacted. It was, actually, a shameful display of power and influence to sway votes. The voting was the highest ever in this prestigious club. There were some who argued vociferously against serving government servants standing for presidentships and not without merit. Clubs are not meant to serve as extensions of government departments. They are associated with retired people and fun. Well, the happy ending was no amount of private jetting or quotas could sway the members and retired IPS guy Daulat won against the serving IAS Ajay Prasad.
Desi cooks for local flavour Tandoori nights with the desi touch are in vogue in the Capital now. Taking a cue from the global biggies, restaurants of the Capital are taking great pains to create and retain that authentic Indian flavour. So dhaba cooks are making merry with high salaries and chef caps. Cooks even from ‘Parantha Wali Gali’ are selling their recipes secret at over-the-top-prices. From the imported chef, who cooks from his head, to the dhaba guy who cooks from his heart each tries to get the local flavour. To keep up with the desi stuff, Daler Mehndi rocks with robust tara rar ra”. Again this desi hero’s appeal and his connect with the masses and classes remains intact.
Award for Srivastava An evening with distinguished bureaucrats and diplomats with the right touch of politicians. The occasion was to celebrate the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award given to bureaucrat C.P. Srivastava for his contribution in the field of maritime exploration and excellence in public administration, academics and management. The Lt Governor along with his wife, Nalani Singh, the all-rounder Congress Secretary Dalbir Singh, lawyer R.K. Anand along with Suresh Pachouri and his pretty wife Suparana enjoyed a relaxed evening. Girija Vyas was a bit perturbed that evening. Obviously with the court’s saying that at 15 a girl can marry. Come on! At 15 the kid is still in school. In our conservative world she has had no exposure. How can she possibly make a decision to live with someone for the rest of her life? It is going to encourage child marriages and in a society where girls are still looked upon as a burden the girl child will be got rid of now legally. Our girls are not exposed to or aware of the outside world due to our orthodox thinking. Even in the West it is illegal. |
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From the pages of Indians’ Sufferings
In the great and epoch-making meeting at the Town Hall, Bombay, if there was one feature more remarkable than the rest, it was the striking unanimity and solidarity of all classes and sections of the people. As Sir Currimbhoy Ibrahim, president of the gathering, pointed out in his feeling pronouncement from the chair, “in South Africa itself all our countrymen have felt and acted and suffered together as Indians without distinction.” Indeed it would be an eternal shame if Indians at home, be they Hindus, Mohammadans, Sikhs, Parsees or Christians, fail to be impressed by the courageous sacrifices and manly sufferings of our patriotic brethren who, in the interests of their motherland and for the honour and good name of their countrymen, have stood shoulder to shoulder in the constitutional fight for the pledged rights of the Indian people. All honour and glory to them. Honoured shall be their name with the coming generations of Indians as it is with their own. |
Goals give purpose. Purpose gives faith. Faith gives courage. Courage gives enthusiasm. Enthusiasm gives energy. Energy give life. Life lifts you over the bar. — Bob Richards, Pole Vaulter |
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They say destiny favours the brave and the bold. Every major event in history has its man of the moment. For the Indian Navy in its war against Pakistan in December, 1971, that man was Admiral S.M. Nanda.