 |
|
Murder of justice Killings in custody |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
In launch mode Big targets for Brahmos missile The relative speed with which the Indo-Russian supersonic cruise missile Brahmos was developed was not matched by the speed of its induction into service. It is with some satisfaction that one can view recent reports suggesting that the induction of the missile into the Indian Navy is finally underway.
Conspicuous by its
absence
Lovebirds at the
lake
Union Budget: how
FM should raise resources China orders
pollution crackdown Delhi
Durbar
|
|
Killings in custody There
is a sickening regularity about how the menace of custodial deaths is dealt with in the country. Everyone is unanimous that this beastly practice has to stop forthwith. The Supreme Court has even issued detailed guidelines in this regard. Yet, the blatant murders continue behind the high walls of police stations, as it has now happened in the case of Harjeet Singh, a Dalit youth, in the Batala area. Here the policemen even cremated his body without following proper procedure. In all such cases, there are screaming headlines for a few days, the government assures everybody that the guilty will not be spared and will be given exemplary punishment. And what happens in reality? Policemen are sent to police lines, may be for rest and recreation. After a few days, the entire episode is conveniently forgotten, to be followed by yet another similar incident, as if to refresh the failing public memory. It is this certainty that they will escape which encourages many lawkeepers to take the law in their hands. Even otherwise, the police force still continues to be seeped in colonial mentality. Being true inheritors of the British legacy, they think that the only way to govern the country is through the use of brutal force. That is why many of them have been running amok. There seems to be no way to drum into their swollen heads that the shocking use of third-degree methods has alienated them from the public, which today has neither faith nor respect for them. That is why even true stories of bravery by policemen are taken with a pinch of salt. How this situation can be remedied is no secret. There are enough suggestions made by numerous commissions and committees. It is just that the government has never found the political will to implement them. Instead of going the whole hog, at least a small beginning can be made by investigating the cases against errant policemen dispassionately and ensuring exemplary punishment to them. In other words, the leaders just have to practice what they have been preaching all along. Time has come to follow a zero-tolerance of killings in custody. |
|
In launch mode The
relative speed with which the Indo-Russian supersonic cruise missile Brahmos was developed was not matched by the speed of its induction into service. It is with some satisfaction that one can view recent reports suggesting that the induction of the missile into the Indian Navy is finally underway. The Navy had to be completely sure that the missile conformed to its requirements vis-à-vis range, accuracy and lethality, not to mention other parameters like stealth. The DRDO and the Indian and Russian production agencies involved have shown a desirable keenness to capitalise on the export potential of Brahmos. Brahmos’ supersonic speed, its 300 kilometre range, low radar cross-section, and its “fire and forget” features will certainly find a market; if backed up with not only lower cost and compliance with performance parameters, but efficiency in delivery and service. Of course, the makers have to use it first. It still remains to be seen if Russia inducts the missile. Russia should not continue to cite some of its archaic laws which prevent induction of missiles with foreign components, if that indeed is the problem. the DRDO has also indicated that trials for the land-based Army version have started. Every effort must be made to make it a success, as there are both tactical and strategic uses for a precision missile of this kind. The air force version of the Brahmos is intended for the Sukhoi – 30. The IAF has understandably been a little squeamish about the Brahmos, as any major modification of the Sukhoi would have been a very complex task, with not only time and cost implications, but also operational ones, considering that 50 Sukhoi-30s are already in service and the production run for 140 more is already on at HAL, Nasik. The Brahmos chief has said that one missile, with a lighter booster, can be carried even without structural modification adding that the IAF had accepted the feasibility report in this regard. All involved parties should work together to make the Brahmos a success – on all fronts. |
|
Cured yesterday of my disease, I died last night of my physician. — Matthew Prior
|
Conspicuous by its absence ON several occasions in recent days but most notably at the launch of the journal of the Association of Indian Diplomats, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has pleaded for “long-term strategic thinking” in this country. Discarding the text, the good Doctor spoke from the heart. Gently deploring the lack of long-term strategic thinking, he declared that this was due “partly to the absence of a class which in some other countries (is) described as the establishment”. He defined the establishment as a group of people who have a “long-term stake in the system, maybe whose place in society is secure enough” so that they can take a long view and “debate, discuss, shape and reshape public policies in diverse fields”. Bureaucrats, inclined to pick up the “last file to land on their desks”, could not play this role. Evidently, the course of the debates on the Iran vote and the Indo-US nuclear deal has troubled the Prime Minister because, in his view, it bespeaks of Cold War mindsets. However, his government and the Congress party leadership have done precious little to impart direction to these discussions. Indeed, neither seems even aware of the need to educate and mobilise public opinion. Why could not Dr Manmohan Singh’s pertinent statement to Parliament on Iran’s nuclear activities, with the help of infamous A.Q. Khan of Pakistan, and their security implications for India be made earlier? Even afterwards, neither the government nor the party has done anything to disseminate his powerful arguments. In fact, it is no secret that many Congressmen themselves are more worried about the imagined impact of the Iran vote on the Muslim electorate than on the country’s security and strategic interests. That, however, is a different story. As for the Prime Minister’s basic theme, the lack of long-term strategic thinking, again one must ask what exactly has the United Progressive Alliance done during nearly two years to rectify the depressing state of affairs rooted in Indian culture and ethos — traditional, political, bureaucratic, academic and whatever? On this subject, one has to begin with George K. Tanham’s seminal study, “Indian Strategic Thought: An Interpretive Essay”, published 13 years ago. Its main conclusion, valid to this day, was that this country lacked strategic culture and thinking and was therefore content to have a “predominantly defensive and reactive orientation”. Most Indians were offended. An array of retired military and civilian officials angrily demanded of him whether or not Chanakya was one of the greatest strategic thinkers. Obviously, these patriotic souls did not perceive the irony in their inability to name another Indian strategic thinker during the 23 centuries since Chanakya. At that time India did not have any institutional structure to undertake long-term strategic thinking or planning of security policy. Ad hoc and slapdash decision making, with generalist bureaucrats briefly posted to defence and other ministries dealing with security “assisting” the even more uninformed political bosses, was the order of the day. This situation remained unchanged until, after the 1998 Shakti tests, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government appointed the National Security Council. (The one named a decade earlier by Mr V.P. Singh, during his short-lived tenure, was literally stillborn.) High hopes pinned on the multi-tiered NSC, together with the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB), have sadly been belied. The NSAB did produce a draft nuclear doctrine that, after being downplayed by the then Foreign Minister, was eventually adopted as the nuclear doctrine. The rest of its work remains “top secret” and is therefore of no use to anyone. Some months ago, the former secretary of the council, Mr. Satish Chandra, gave a detailed account of the NSC’s achievements. What it added up to was a lot of useful nitty-gritty that has somewhat enhanced inter-services cooperation. But fundamentally nothing has changed in the government’s way of working or in the public discourse. The solitary decision of the only full-dress meeting of the Vajpayee NSC — establishment of an institute for South Asian studies — has never been implemented. The report of the Committee on National Defence University has also been gathering dust in some Defence Ministry pigeonhole. One can go on multiplying such dreary examples. Until the mid-sixties when the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) was born, there was no think tank in this country devoted to strategic and security studies. Since then such institutions have proliferated. Retired members of the armed forces, bureaucrats, diplomats and academics have been churning out reams and reams of publications on the subject but to no great avail. Why? Because, unlike in most other countries there is an iron curtain between the government ministries concerned with security and the numerous non-official expert bodies. The IDSA is wholly government-financed. But to quote the man who built it up, Mr K. Subrahmanyam, the “government doesn’t give it even the time of the day”. Since it is fashionable these days to compare India and China, there is news from that country of which New Delhi should take notice. In China, there has been an explosion of security and foreign policy think tanks. Non-government scholars and academics run almost all of them but in the closet concert with all the relevant government agencies. One must add that the numerous research institutes in this country tend to repeat or paraphrase what their foreign, especially American, counterparts are saying. The habit of thinking things through from the Indo-centric point of view remains regrettably limited. Of course, all sections of society are to blame for this dismal situation. But the culpability of the politicians, who rule the roost and set the standards, is the greatest. What can expose the nation’s casual approach towards national security more pathetically than that the Defence Budget is sometimes passed without a single minute’s discussion in Parliament? Moreover, this august body hasn’t yet found time to discuss the Kargil Committee’s report, a document of the utmost importance. The Group of Ministers’ subsequent report, outlining measures to give effect to the findings of the Kargil Committee, has met the same fate. The crowning irony is that the GOM report’s most important recommendation — for the creation of the post of the Chief of Defence Staff — has been consigned to the freezer both by the Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh governments. Obviously, P.V. Narasimha Rao wasn’t the only Prime Minister to make a virtue of indecision. Meanwhile, an elaborate Integrated Defence Staff has been put in place, which amounts to building up an arch without the capping
stone.
|
Lovebirds at the lake The
creators of the beautiful artificial lake at Chandigarh perhaps knew that they were also making an ideal habitat for birds. Leave aside the exotic pintails, teals and mallards who camp here annually on their peripatetic march, it provides a salubrious promenade on its banks to the old and young alike and more noticeably to the lovebirds. Go and take a walk alongside the lake on the crescent and you would know what I mean. The recommended hour is dusk — that is when most of the walkers converge religiously on the lake. It is also an anonymous hour when one’s accountability is at its minimum. It is neither broad daylight nor too late in the night. A good hour for temporary elopement or serious exercise — for whatever you may choose to go. I find the lovebirds of Chandigarh lake more emancipated than their counterparts at the Boat Club lawns in Delhi or the more pertinacious kind of the Victoria Memorial gardens in Calcutta. Slouching at the tree trunks the lovers are utterly oblivious of the jealous bystanders. At the India Gate lawns in Delhi you often see them in the Mirza-Sahiban stance under the lengthening shadows of the trees. Quite differently the lovebirds of Chandigarh lake are more audacious and walk arm in arm literally at your face lost in the rapture of proximity. While the partially conscious ones would turn their back on you towards the hazy hills in the distance, the more committed ones would confront you clasping onto each other. Another type would sit on the benches and get lost in the inaudible whispers. If you are a health faddist or a serious walker your nonchalance is most welcome. What they perhaps do not like is an “ophthalmic hunter” who makes them conscious of his presence. You are supposed to mind your business as they do theirs. What disturbs me the most is an occasional drowning tragedy that takes place in spite of the “baywatching” police presence. The lake was never intended to be a watery grave. Or is it a case of optima corrupta
pessima? |
Union Budget: how FM
should raise resources Finance
Minister P. Chidambram is presenting the Budget for 2006-07 at a time when the economy is booming and this fiscal’s projected GDP growth is about 8 per cent. Manufacturing remains buoyant well supported by robust domestic and export demand, expanding bank credit, rising capacity utilisation, sustained corporate profitability and growing business confidence. This euphoria is confronted with unsatisfactory performance of the farm sector. The drop of agricultural growth to 1.5 per cent during 2002-05 should be a matter of concern. In order to sustain and accelerate the growth level of the economy and also ensure greater equity, the Finance Minister has to lay emphasis on agriculture and allied sectors, infrastructure, education and employment generation. The declining growth of agriculture from 1.9 per cent in 1990 to 1.3 per cent since 2000-01 has prevented the economy from realising its full potential. The importance of this sector is that it is providing employment to about 58 per cent of the country’s labour force and sustains over two-thirds of the population. Unfortunately, the non-farm sector has also not been able to absorb the balance of the labour force. Mr Chidambram, therefore, has to create more employment opportunities in the farm as well as non-farm sectors, particularly in the rural and agro-processing industries. This can be possible in case the agriculture and allied sectors growth is ensured at 4 per cent per annum. In order to make farmers globally competitive, the Finance Minister has to find alternatives. Resource moiolisation is another formidable task confronting the Finance Minister. The food and fertilizer subsidies account for Rs 26,000 crore and Rs 16,000 crore respectively. These subsidies often does not reach the target groups. If Mr Chidambram can reduce these by 50 per cent, he can spare Rs 20,000 crore for the irrigation project. Presently, irrigation is grossly neglected. According to Planning Commission sources, the cost of implementing the backlog of irrigation projects is around Rs 90,000 crore. It is possible to raise more resources by reducing the non-merit subsidies and raise electricity, LPG and water charges to at least cover the cost of supplying these inputs. The government’s subsidy bill has bloated to over Rs 1,10,000 crore or 20 per cent of its total revenues. Dr Manmohan Singh has estimated that India needs $ 150 billion over the next 10 years for infrastructure. The Rakesh Mohan Committee on commercialisation of infrastructure development had estimated the funding requirement at $ 300 billion by 2015. In the last budget it was proposed to create a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for creating funds for investment in infrastructure, but it has yet to take off which means that financially viable projects will continue to suffer due to the resource crunch. To raise resources for infrastructure, efforts are needed to invite private and foreign investment. In this context, the decision to invite the private sector for the modernisation of the Mumbai and Delhi airports is a welcome step. Private sector involvement should be encouraged to modernise other airports, at least one in each state, to start with. Foreign investors should be invited for the improvement of sea ports also. Large amounts of funds (Rs 30,000 crore) could be created if divestment of non-profit making industrial units is carried out. The country needs to create world-class infrastructure in the manufacturing sector to invite FDI for its speedy growth to at least 12 per cent per annum to be globally competitive. Presently, its growth is 9 per cent which is 17 per cent of the GDP. However, it needs to grow at 25 to 30 per cent over the next 10 to 15 years. This will also help in generating employment for the skilled and the unskilled labour in the manufacturing sector. Another sector that needs attention of the Finance Minister is education for which allocation is 3.8 per cent (including 2 per cent cess charged from the income tax payees) of the GDP. This needs to be increased to 6.2 per cent of the GDP because the 35 per cent of the population (census 2001) is still illiterate which is unacceptable for any growing country. The standard of primary and secondary education in most government and municipal schools is poor. Special attention has to be paid towards the primary and secondary school education by allocating more funds in the Budget. Except for a few IIMs and IITs and a few universities the standard of higher, technical and management education is very poor. Graduates coming out of these institutions often lack basic knowledge and skills. Reforms in higher education are overdue. Of late, knowledge-based industries such as automobiles, pharmacy, electronics, and services such as information technology, research and development have made great strides. Presently, the allocation of R&D is 0.8 per cent of the GDP, whereas it should be more than 3 per cent for better R&D facilities to researchers, scientists and medical sciences. If the country is to maintain the growth momentum and lead in the skilled labour-intensive services there is an urgent need to focus on the quality of higher education. |
|
China orders pollution crackdown Turning
a blind eye to environmental degradation could now cost Chinese officials their jobs, state media announced Tuesday. However, environmentalists raised concerns about enforcement of the new regulations. The government announcement comes in the wake of a string of embarrassing pollution incidents that forced Beijing to grapple with the downside of a runaway economy and its impact on the ecosystem and public health. “By cracking down on corruption and environmental destruction, we are correcting the wrong principle of pursuing fast economic growth by sacrificing environmental quality,” Liu Yufu, vice minister of supervision, told the Chinese media. Local corruption has been a major stumbling block for the central government’s effort to rein in environmental violators. Under the new rules, officials who fail to shut down projects that cause widespread pollution, who reduce or cancel fees imposed for violations or who allow factories to illegally discharge industrial waste will be severely disciplined. However, the government did not spell out what punishment might be imposed other than to note that helping to cover up environment accidents could result in dismissal. Environmentalists said the announcement was a good sign that Beijing recognizes the urgency of adapting a more sustainable developmental policy. “The Chinese government knows if we continue at this pace of development the harm to the environment can only be greater,” said Kevin May, toxics campaign manager with Greenpeace China based in Guangzhou. “There have always been laws, but very little enforcement. Now we have new laws. How will they be different? That remains to be seen.” To show this time they mean business, Beijing also last week announced Cabinet level directives to clean up the country’s damaged environment in the next 15 years. Top on the agenda is to improve the country’s water, air and soil quality. By the government’s own admission, most of China’s rivers are polluted and over a third of the country is ravaged by acid rain. “The issue of pollution has become a ‘blasting fuse’ of social instability,” Zhou Shengxian, director of the State Environmental Protection Administration, or SEPA, told the New China News Agency last week, referring to the rising number of public protests over the country’s environmental problems. Zhou’s predecessor was forced to resign after a chemical spill into the Songhua River last November caused millions of people in northern China to go without drinking water for days. The river crosses the border in Russia, raising fears there about contamination. Since the fall, SEPA has tried to flex more political muscle and rectify its image as a toothless watchdog without enforcement power. Earlier this month, the agency demanded that toxic spills be reported within an hour. The Songhua spill was not made public for days, adding to the chaos and challenge of crisis management. Earlier this month, SEPA threatened to shut down 11 companies and 10 factories, including riverfront smelters and chemical plants, if they fail to control the contaminants. To help the environmental agency combat protectionism, the central government plans to link local officials’ performance ratings not just to their ability to promote economic development but also environmental protection. — LA Times-Washington Post |
|
Delhi Durbar In
a sign of changing perceptions of Pakistan on Kashmir, National Conference President Omar Abdullah will visit the neighbouring country for a conference in the second week of March. Omar is likely to meet President Pervez Musharraf during his four-day stay in Pakistan. Omar’s father, Farooq Abdullah, had been vocal as Chief Minister in criticising Pakistan for the cross-border militancy in the state. Omar says the NC stand on various issues, including violence and autonomy, is clear and known. Omar will be the first top leader from a mainstream political party of Jammu and Kashmir to visit Pakistan which has been hesitant to acknowledge the role of mainstream political parties in finding an amicable solution to the Kashmir problem. Kapil Sibal in a new role Elevated to the Cabinet rank, Kapil Sibal, Minister for Science and Technology, has been entrusted with a new role which he is relishing. Even though Sibal was not initially happy that he had been accorded the minister of state rank, he held firm it was the Prime Minister’s prerogative. Now he appears to enjoy being the minister in waiting during the just-concluded visit of French President Jacques Chirac. South Block mandarins believe that Sibal is any day a better choice as minister in waiting than former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s usual choice of Digvijay Singh, who never tired of telling the visiting dignitaries what he was doing. There is a talk that Sibal might also be the minister in waiting when President George Bush comes calling in the first week of March. Raj Babbar plans rally Rebel Samajwadi leader Raj Babbar is organising a public rally in Agra next week where he will declare an open war against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mualaym Singh’s Man Friday Amar Singh. Slogans to ignite the popular mind are being coined. These slogans focus on Amar Singh and his profession. One such slogan is “Jahan, jahan maal hai, wahan Amar Singh hai”. Raj Babbar has been advised by his friends that he should continue his tirade against Amar Singh before he switches to any other party. Next week’s rally is only the first demonstration of his popularity as many more are said to be in the pipeline. Swami joins
Uma campaign Former Minister of State for Home Swami Chinmayanand has joined former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti’s campaign. Recently, he was in the Capital to address the media. After the press conference, a scribe asked him what the goal of Uma Bharti’s campaign was. Uma Bharti’s outfit was Tiwari Congress which merged with the Congress after former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao was out of power. So what will Uma Bharti do? She along with her supporters may go back to the BJP. Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh is already working towards this end, says a senior
leader. Contributed by Prashant Sood, Satish Misra and R. Suryamurthy |
|
From the pages of Akali agitation at Patiala
The decision of the All-Sikh Parties Conference to postpone the agitation started by the Akali Dal in the Patiala State for the release of Sardar Sewa Singh makes it all the more necessary as well as desirable for the State to release the Sardar. It is a matter of common knowledge that there was a difference of opinion among the Akalis to the desirability of conducting the agitation, but the Opposition was mainly the outcome of the general belief that the interests of the Patiala State, which is the premier State of Punjab, would suffer in case the Akalis carried on an agitation like this. Sardar Kharak Singh explained to the Conference the point of view of the Akali Dal and said that their intention in starting the agitation was to bring to the notice of the Maharaja the injustice done to S. Sewa Singh. That purpose has now been served. The Patiala authorities, therefore, can now order the release of S. Sewa Singh with both wisdom and grace.
|
They who devour human beings, offer namaz (i.e the muslim prayer) They who wield the butcher’s knife wear the sacred thread round their neck! — Guru Nanak The senses are exocentric. So man sees the outer and considers it real —
The Upanishads The king, if not skilled himself, patronises the one whose deeds are unmatched. He takes joy in the comradeship of that one. And still greater joy in the dread that one’s name inspires in his foes. —
The Mahabharata
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
