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Big Brother born again The King in his palace PC gives in |
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New awakening in L. America
No silly point, this
Nuclear technologies vital for energy security Be more proactive in Afghanisatan Delhi Durbar
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Big Brother born again THE Constitution gives the government some extraordinary powers, for a brief period at best, which come with the explicit provisio that these are to be used in the rarest of rare instances. But they have a very poor track record in such matters because they tend to use them on a large scale indiscriminately. The Central government has lived up to this dubious reputation by passing an order under which all private cellular service providers will have to provide “monitoring” on all value-added services. That, simply put, means that while you read this, the Intelligence Bureau, the Research and Analysis Wing, the Enforcement Directorate, the Military Intelligence and heavens know who else may be tapping your cell phones, reading your SMSs or pouring over your GPRS-enabled e-mail. The snooping is sought to be done so widely that all such authorised agencies want separate dedicated lines so that they can tap onto every bit of information that is on the electronic waves. Mind you, all this is being done in the name of national security, but by ignoring detailed Supreme Court guidelines. Broadly, the apex court has ordained that such snooping can be taken recourse to only in specific cases, where the security of the country is in grave danger, and that too only after procuring a signed order from the Union Home Secretary. But the government seems keen to go way beyond the guidelines and thereby compromise the privacy of every citizen. Rather, the generic excuse of ensuring national security is being misused to appropriate sweeping powers which should have no place in a democracy. As it is, there are numerous instances of unauthorised tapping of telephones by government agencies. The new order makes such gross infringement in the case of cellular phones perfectly legal. Service providers are being hustled into submission. This is a violation of democratic norms, pure and simple, which must be resisted forcefully. That the US and the UK too have passed some such laws in the wake of 9/11 and other terrorist activities is no excuse for India following their example without much debate and ignoring the Supreme Court guidelines. |
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The King in his palace THE stringent rules and regulations, including the imposition of a curfew and banning of public gatherings in Nepal, have failed to dampen the spirits of the anti-King forces there. People in large numbers are participating in the anti-King rallies and demonstrations, a part of the general strike which began on Thursday in Kathmandu and other parts of the kingdom following a call given by the Maoists and leaders of the seven-party alliance. The strike, which was initially planned for four days, will continue for an indefinite period. The large-scale arrests by the police before it resorted to firing and merciless beating of protesters only helped in the country-wide protests becoming a success. The latest developments, in which many people have lost their lives, prove that King Gyanendra is getting more and more isolated from the people, who no longer want to be referred to as their subjects. Interestingly, the government has put the blame mainly on the Maoists for the anti-King show of strength, perhaps with a view to creating confusion among the people and in the ranks of the pro-democracy forces. The designs of the King got exposed when seven-party alliance leaders announced on Sunday that they were determined to continue the strike for as long as they could. This must have caused further desperation in the King’s camp. King Gyanendra should realise that the ground situation is not in his favour. He has used almost every tactic he could think of to perpetuate monarchy, but in the process he has only further complicated the situation. He held the municipal elections on February 8, which turned out to be a lacklustre affair with a mere 20 per cent voter turnout. The King should read the writing on the wall and restore democratic activity before his beautiful country slides further downhill. This is how he can create the right atmosphere for negotiations with the forces struggling for having democracy in Nepal. Or, is it already getting too late for him to do so?
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PC gives in THE week-long SBI strike has ended with Finance Minister P. Chidambaram complimenting the management and the unions for a satisfactory conclusion. If the ideal solution was so within grasp, one wonders, why could it not have been concluded earlier? Millions of customers and the nation could have been spared the losses and inconvenience with 2.1 lakh employees of the country’s biggest bank going on strike, shutting down all of its much-touted 9000 branches. Everything from personal banking to government finances to industry and export transactions were seriously affected. If, on the other hand, the strike came to an end because the Finance Ministry blinked when it should not have, we continue to have a serious problem. Powerful entities have time and again proved that they can stop the whole wagon till they get what they want. SBI employees are maintaining that they were only seeking justice, as the cut-off salary level, of which they will get 50 per cent as pension, had not been revised upwards for more than nine years. (The cut-off is now Rs 21,040, up from Rs 8,500, above which they will get 40 per cent as pension.) SBI employees, however, already get the benefit of both the contributory provident fund and the pension fund, plus gratuity. Other bank employees have to choose between the provident fund and pensions, along with gratuity. Given the bank’s enormous resources, including a claimed Rs 700 crore interest on the corpus of SBI’s pension fund, the new agreement may indeed leave the state exchequer unaffected. The same, however, cannot be said of the state of the reforms process in general. While the strike has highlighted the need for the process to go on, any message that the government will capitulate to pressure, even if there is no injustice involved, will have serious consequences. It will remain a mystery why the Finance Minister ultimately gave in.
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Irrationally held truths may be more harmful than reasoned errors. — T.H. Huxley
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New awakening in L. America HAS President George W. Bush’s neoconservative crusade met its match in his own backyard, Latin America? The world conceives of the continent as the home of the Munroe Doctrine warning off outsiders to keep away. It was the happy hunting ground of American administrations in bringing down or propping up governments - some 40 by one estimate in the 20th century. Yet this continent of the world’s greatest inequalities is poking Uncle Sam in the eye, veering left and revelling in a wave of anti-Americanism. President Bush, a Texan by upbringing, vowed to place Latin America at the top of his agenda at the beginning of his first term, but then Nine Eleven happened and the administration’s attention turned to wider geopolitical avenues and chasing terrorists. No one likes Big Brother, and American bullying and interventions were fertile ground for anti-Americanism. It did not bother Washington overmuch in recent decades because the ruling establishments in Latin American and Caribbean countries were with the US administration. There was the bad boy Cuba, under sanctions since the John Kennedy days in the sixties, but the fall of the Soviet Union was a disturbing development for the maximum leader Fidel Castro, who defied the odds to survive, refusing to bend. The seeds of the gradual but dramatic developments that have buffeted one country after another in Latin America lie in the neo-liberal economic policies advocated by Washington, buttressed by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. As one country after another was crushed under heavy debt burdens and revolts from poorer sections most burdened by austerity programmes, new leaders came to the fore and more and more persons from the middle and professional classes questioned the economic model. Among countries most affected was Argentina, in many ways a leader in Latin America. Banks closed their doors, a great number of members of the affluent middle class became paupers and Argentineans brought their pots out in a traditional form of dissent to create a people’s revolt. This ultimately gave rise to the victory of the left-leaning Nestor Kirschner whose government has been following unconventional policies to set its house in order and recover the country’s poise and dignity. Venezuela has been hogging the limelight, thanks to the colourful personality of Hugo Chavez and his running war of words with the United States. A sample of his rhetoric is: “I think Hitler would be a suckling pig next to George W. Bush”. Mr Chavez has not forgiven President Bush for supporting the short-lived coup against him. More to the point, the Venezuelan leader has set himself up to propagate a new model of economic development. Thanks to the soaring price of oil and Venezuela’s bountiful reserves, Mr Chavez is winning friends and influencing people by spreading his largesse in the continent to good political effect, apart from adopting pro-poor policies at home. He gives Cuba, among other countries, cheaper oil in exchange for Cuban doctors and nurses staffing his clinics for the poor. Brazil, more a continent than a country, underwent its own leftist change, with the coming to power of Luis Lula da Silva, a poor man who became a trade unionist finally to wrest the presidency. He has disappointed his supporters by accepting the rules of the economic game set by the US and other rich countries and his regime has been tarnished by scandals, but he represents the new Latin American personality. Brazil is making its presence felt in the world by reaching out to India and South Africa and, particularly by embracing close economic relations with China, provoking US Congressman Dan Burton to remark, “We are concerned about the leftist countries that are dealing with China.” Bolivia has seen a dual transformation: the first time an indigenous leader Evo Morales, originally a coca farmer, has been elected in Latin America and the new radical policies he espouses. Chavez has claimed him as a brother and Morales dutifully paid a visit to Fidel Castro before assuming office. How far he will be able to succeed in renationalising the gas industry remains to be seen. His frosty reception in Madrid when he called on Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was not merely because of his dress sense - he wore a striped cardigan with an open collar. Spain is an investor in Bolivia. If Peru, which went to the polls last Sunday, returns front-runner Ollanta Humala, he would join the growing ranks of leftists. He has pronounced himself against corporations and globalisation and declaims on the failures of neo-liberal policies. And if would be a great irony if Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega and his Sandanistas the US successfully dislodged would return to power in the forthcoming elections; his chances are deemed good. Latin America is a great continent and although the leftist tide is sweeping one country after another, there are shades of red and pink. Chile’s first woman President Michelle Bachelet has been steering her country through pragmatic policies that also reflect a social conscience for the disadvantaged and for the region as a whole. She is a socialist and was jailed by the Pinochet regime which had tortured and killed her father, a senior Air Force officer. Mexico, which has special compulsions to deal with its big northern neighbour by the very size of its diaspora, both legal and illegal, had been left on the shelf because of President Bush’s other preoccupations. Yet the successor to President Vicente Fox, whoever emerges as the front-runner, might hold some surprises. Against this backdrop, a few developments stand out. The imposition of wrong policies has helped the leftward march of much of Latin America and there has been a new social awakening of the poor and the indigenous people in asserting their rights. These trends work against the United States because of its traditional support for elite ruling establishments and its propensity to set up pliant rulers by toppling the less friendly. And Washington has discovered with some trepidation that others have been making forays while it was not minding the store. The Bush administration has been sufficiently alarmed by China’s activities in its backyard, particularly in Venezuela and Brazil, to send a senior official to Beijing. Washington’s objective is to draw red lines that China should not
cross.
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No silly point, this THIS time, he was batting hard for cricket. Two years ago, he was crazy about tennis, and a year before that he couldn’t have enough of skating. And, somewhere in between he got a kick out of football and hockey. Candidly put, it goes thus: this time he wanted nothing more than a cricket kit which cost Rs 1800 upwards; two years back I shelled out Rs 600 on a tennis racquet that is now not “pro” enough for him; and the skating shoes, gathering dust today, came for Rs 1600. In the last five years, my 10-year-old son has tested more games and declared them unfit than I’ve in a lifetime and, of course, as a consequence spent more on sports than I could ever dream to. Each time he evinces interest in some sport, I am glad he is opting for a healthy activity that would probably lessen his love for the cartoon-and-soap box. But every time the interest — more for the sports goods rather than the game — has simply ended up as a passing fancy. Despite possessing a regular pair of skates, he had insisted on buying skates attached with shoes to compete with the rest. I admired his competitive streak till I found him spending more time tightening the skate screws than on the rink. The tennis tale too has a similar finish. After the initial euphoria, came the cribbing about the tiring warm-up and strength-building sessions. Why couldn’t he just play a match, was his perpetual complaint till he altogether stopped courting the game. This time round, his days-on-end demand was: “I can’t join cricket in school till I’ve the whole kit.” The bat and ball he already owned wouldn’t suffice since other students came “fully equipped”. All my talk about Kapil Dev and many others making it big without a kit to begin with not only fell on deaf years but also loudened the pestering. So, finally, the kit it was. At the shop, the clued-up salesman in no time put together a miniature cricket gear, complete with white sports wear, bat, leather ball, wickets, helmet, gloves, pads, and the arm, thigh and loin guard. How could a child possibly run with all this paraphernalia, I wondered. Seeing other parents make similar purchases with all seriousness should have reassured me, but I still couldn’t say a cheerful yes to the three-foot-long kit. Post purchase, sure enough came the predictable chain of events. Day one, the gear was tried and re-tried a number of times. At night, it found its way to the bed too. Day two, even a small speck of dirt on the pads had him worried: “Will it go away, shall I wash them?” Day three, he was ecstatic over the cricket practice, but worried more about the first tear on the kit. Day four, grumbled about not being given a chance to bat and thus found little use of the helmet and those fancy guards. Day five, enviously mumbled that the basketball students were having more fun playing matches. Day six onwards, I’ve kept my fingers
crossed!
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Nuclear technologies vital for energy security
MAJOR oil and gas importers, including India, are becoming ever more dependent on distant, and often politically unstable, parts of the world for their energy requirements. The continued availability of indigenous coal is doubtful beyond a few decades. Advanced nuclear or renewable technologies thus hold the only keys to energy security. According to Dr Ravi B Grover, Director, Strategic Planning Group of the Department of Atomic Energy, there is already a gap in demand and supply of coal for thermal power plants. “For India, and the whole world, it is necessary to reduce dependence on fossil fuels; that can be achieved only by advanced nuclear technologies including fast reactors, accelerator driven systems and fusion systems, or breakthrough, renewable technologies,” he says. Dr Grover, who was in the capital recently for a conclave on energy security, says fossil fuels will continue to play a dominant role in the short to medium term but nuclear energy has to play a very significant role in the medium to long term. He says research and development on energy systems needs to be significantly enhanced. The overall generation of electricity in India may be about 700 TWh in the current year. Considering that the average cost to consumer is of the order of Rs 3 per kwh, the total size of the market is about Rs 2100 billion per year. Emphasising that a country of the size of India cannot plan its economy on the basis of a large scale import of energy resources or energy technologies, Dr Grover says that indigenous development of energy technologies based on fuel resources that are available domestically, or can be procured at competitive prices without supply disruption, should be a priority. While R and D with long-term objectives are pursued, several steps have to be taken to meet energy needs in the short to medium term in an environment friendly manner, he stresses. “In the Indian context, these would include exploiting full potential of hydro as soon as possible, intensification of exploration for all energy sources including uranium, coal and petroleum, improving resource recovery during extraction, developing clean-coal technologies, exploiting new fuel resources such as gas hydrates, and bringing in efficiency in the use of non-commercial energy sources such as animal residue, biomass, urban and rural waste including agricultural waste.” While India is amongst the top 10 countries of the world in production of electricity by hydro, coal, oil and gas, it is nowhere near the top 10 in respect to nuclear power generation. Dr Grover, who along with Mr Subash Chandra of DAE, has done a study on strategy for growth of electrical energy in India, says there is a correlation between rise in per capita GDP and per capita electricity consumption. The study notes that policy initiatives of the Government during the past decade have resulted in a faster growth of GDP and forecasts by several agencies point towards continued growth of Indian economy. India’s consumption of energy is around 3.4 per cent (The USA accounts for 24.5 per cent) of the world’s commercial energy consumption, while its population stood at 16.6 per cent (USA 4.6 per cent). Noting that India’s population continues to rise and could reach 1.5 billion by the middle of the century, the study says per capita commercial energy consumption in India stood at nearly one fifth of the world average and 1\26th of that of USA. Dr Grover says that to keep the energy import at an affordable level and to have diversity of supply sources, it is necessary that the share of nuclear energy be increased from the present one of about three per cent of the total power generation. “Growth of nuclear installed capacity in India would depend on the characteristics of the concept chosen for fast breeder reactors and associated fuel cycle technologies,” he says. Referring to the Kyoto protocol under which industralised countries have agreed to reduce their collective emissions during 2008-12 by at least 5.2 per cent to below 1990 levels, he says the largest environmental impacts associated with fossil fuels are carbon dioxide and other forms of air pollution, which can cause chronic illness. In addition, the volume of waste generated in case of energy generation from fossil fuels is quite large. “Technically, nuclear energy is much more benign and much of the cost is already internalised in financial plans. Nuclear power operators, for instance, are required to provide funds for decommissioning of installations,” he says. The scientist says per capita carbon emission in India is 1.1 tonnes per year, while it is 2.5 tonnes per year in China and 10.9 tonnes per year for OECD countries. “In developing future energy technology mix, nuclear energy has to be an important part as it produces virtually no CHG emissions.”
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Be more proactive in Afghanisatan THE present democratic government in Afghanistan, established under US control and led by President Hamid Karzai, is resented by Pakistan. Pakistan wants Afghanistan under its control or under its influence, as it can provide Pakistan strategic depth. But President Karzai’s government is against the Pakistani design to destabilize its government by inducting Talibans into Afghanistan once again. The US government has been pressurising Pakistan not to interfere in Afghanistan but Pakistan is determined to bring Afghanistan under its influence once again. The rift between the two countries became evident during the recent visit of President Bush to Afghanistan, India and Pakistan. Never in its history has Afghanistan been brought so definitely into the Western Camp, as is the case at present. It is obvious that Pakistan’s role has become more critical than ever before and President Bush emphasised to President Pervez Musharaff that he must ensure that Pak trained Taliban are not sent to Afghanistan. Pakistan did give its assurances but USA as well as other countries do not really believe in the Pakistani promises. President Karzai turned down a Pakistani proposal for fencing the Pakistan-Afghan border to prevent infiltrators, as that would sanctify the Durand Line without stopping Pakistani infiltration into Afghanistan. According to President Karzai, “if the attacks don’t stop from Pakistan, the consequences will be that this region will suffer along with us, exactly as we suffer. In the past we suffered alone. This time every body will suffer with us.” The present public mood in Pakistan is fast becoming anti-American because of American support to the Karzai government in Afghanistan as well as due to improvement in Indo – US relations. The Pakistani military harbour the grouse that the Americans usurped power in Afghanistan from Pakistani Talibans using “muscular diplomacy” in the region, to use Kessinger’s words. Unless a political process is soon started by the United Nations to sort out the Pakistan – Afghanistan problem to ensure stability in the region, the security situation may become irretrievable. At the same time, the Karzai regime in Afghanistan is shaky. Many warlords in various parts of Afghanistan do not accept the Karzai government. Pakistan is giving money as well as weapons to these warlords and is also infiltrating well-equipped Talibans inside Afghanistan. Pakistan doesn’t allow any Indian exports to Afghanistan via its territory. So the Indian companies have to send their supplies and equipment via Iran, which increases the cost considerably. At present, the Indian government is constructing a road connecting southwestern Afghanistan with Iran. It has sent a few hundred para-military troops also to ensure security of our engineers who are constructing the road. India is also giving a lot of economic aid to the present government to improve its economic condition. It would be worthwhile for India to consider sending more engineering units to Afghanistan to improve the infrastructure of the country along with para-military forces to give them protection.
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Delhi Durbar Railway Minister Lalu Prasad has chosen to become an advocate of the Apex Court by getting the membership of the prestigious Supreme Court Bar Association. But the inimitable RJD chief is reportedly not happy over the manner in which a section of the media tried to play up the news, by suggesting that the membership of the Bar was offered to him on a platter. SCBA President P H Parikh, also his advocate in the fodder scam related case, says Lalu Prasad got the membership by going through the normal procedure and was fully entitled to it, being a lawyer registered with the Bar Council of India and having the membership of the Bar Council of Bihar and the Bar Association of the Patna High Court. The SCBA membership was not given to him merely on the basis of a law degree and Lalu had submitted an application a few months back which was duly processed by the Bar's executive, he stressed. Cong divided in Tamil Nadu The Congress is sharply divided in Tamil Nadu even as union Programme Implementation minister G K Vasan will spearhead the party's campaign in the southern state where assembly elections are scheduled for May 8. The TNCC received a severe jolt when its former state unit vice president Muktha Srinivasan, 73, resigned from the primary membership of the party protesting the improper selection process of candidates. With the Congress having been allotted 48 seats in the upcoming assembly polls by the DMK, which is heading the democratic alliance, Srinivasan alleged that those overseeing nomination of party candidates have distributed the seats among their supporters, thus betraying the party and the workers. Union minister P Chidambaram will work in tandem with Vasan in Tamil Nadu and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi will hit the campaign trail after the party manifesto is released soon. Third Front
on trial The fate of the proposed Third Front propounded by UP Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav and TDP supremo and former Andhra Pradesh Chief minister Chandrababu Naidu hangs by a slender thread in Assam. It will depend on the results of the ensuing assembly elections as the Asom Gana Parishad, the principal Opposition and the BJP are reluctant to remain in the Opposition for another five years. The Congress high command is keeping a close watch on the developments in the North-eastern state. The AGP is keeping its options open about having any truck with the BJP in a post election scenario in case its alliance does not secure a majority Frequent flyer BJP President Rajanth Singh, who is known to be a "kisan" leader, has set a record of sorts, say party insiders. If he had been travelling any scheduled airline he would have earned the status of a frequent flyer by now with many free tickets to his credit. That is not to be as he travels on chartered planes and the party has to bear the cost. Singh, who took over the reins of the party on January 2 this year, is being given the title of being the most frequent flying president of the saffron party. Contributed by S S Negi, Satish Misra,
S Satyanarayanan and Prashant Sood.
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From the pages of A bigger hell in lahore The opposition to the proposal to extend the limits of the Lahore Municipality is daily gaining momentum. If the Government does not drop the ill-advised proposal, it is bound to create a terrific storm. Lahore under the municipal administration, past or present, has remained a city of dirt and sink. The other day one of the Ministers of the Government himself said that the conditions were so foul that the people might as well go about with gas masks on. This is a state of affairs when the administration has to look after only 27 square miles. We dread to think what will be the condition of the city if 92 square miles are placed at the mercy of the administration. By extending the bounds of the Lahore Municipality at present you will only extend the bounds of the hell that Lahore is.
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Meekness consists in refraining from causing bodily injury to another person and thus leading a peaceful life upon earth. — Islam God has created the Universe for his own delight. He, the Sovereign, sees, comprehends and knows everything. — Guru Nanak Do your duty with one hand and the other hold to God. After the duty is over, you will hold to God with both hands. — Ramakrishna
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