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Jan Morcha again Urban pollution A PM for Iraq |
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Endangered monarchy
Pessimistically optimist
Learning and doing The scourge of human trafficking Delhi Durbar
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Jan Morcha again FORMER Prime Minister V.P. Singh has struck again by setting up a new political forum, Jan Morcha, to be led by Mr Raj Babbar. It is supposed to be the political arm of the Kisan Morcha he had set up a few years ago. Nobody knows what exactly the Kisan Morcha has done so far, but the purpose of the Jan Morcha is pretty clear. He wants it to contest the next Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh in alliance with “like-minded parties”. In choosing Mr Raj Babbar, who parted company with Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav because of his clash with Mr Amar Singh, the former Prime Minister hopes to cash in on the resentment against the ruling Samajwadi Party in the state. Unlike when Mr V.P. Singh revolted against then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on the Bofors question, there is no dramatic issue to propel the Jan Morcha to power in Lucknow. In fact, it will have to position itself as the fourth, if not the fifth, player in UP where the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party, the BJP and the Congress will never let a new player take the lead. The “like-minded parties” Mr Singh has in mind are too insignificant to push his dream to fruition. It is true that as a film star, Mr Raj Babbar enjoys certain clout in UP, which emboldened him to square up to Mr Amar Singh but that is insufficient to lead a party to victory in such a large state as Uttar Pradesh. There have been instances of film stars doing precisely the same as in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. But replication of what M.G. Ramachandran and N.T. Rama Rao did in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh respectively is difficult because, unlike Mr Raj Babbar, both of them had been super heroes in the states concerned for decades and had enjoyed a groundswell of support. In any case, sub-nationalism has never been strong in the North so much so that even Bihari Babu Shatrughan Sinha could never summon up courage to chart an independent political course despite provocations. Caste forces are so strong in UP that it is almost impossible to break. The Jan Morcha can serve a useful purpose if it cuts across the caste lines of UP politics and voice the feelings of the common man, who is suffering because of lack of governance under Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav. |
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Urban pollution WHEN it comes to pollution, India’s small towns are not lagging behind the big ones, On both fronts there is cause for worry. Any decline is marginal, and air is still nowhere as clean as it should be in places like Delhi and Mumbai. While Delhi would have had 38 per cent more particulate matter but for the CNG intervention, SPM (suspended particulate matter) is only one index of pollution. Carbon monoxide and oxides of nitrogen are responsible for poisoning air, and much of this comes from vehicular emission as well as burning of fossil fuels in factories and thermal power plants. While the awareness and intervention levels in some big cities are high, resulting a little decline, other major cities and small towns are suffering from rapid growth unsupported by infrastructure. Rising income means more vehicles clogging the same insufficient road networks. Certain unregulated vehicles like the “autos” of Chandigarh, Pune or Bangalore are responsible for the bulk of air and noise pollution. The pollution of ground water and rivers are another serious problem. The CSE study is an important wake-up call for central and state governments to get cracking on infrastructure, including public transport, connectivity to big cities and regulatory enforcement, in growing towns. Apart from resulting in healthier air, these measures will reduce population pressure on the big cities. |
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A PM for Iraq Iraqi
President Jalal Talabani asking the Shia bloc’s new nominee, Mr Jawad al-Maliki, to form a government in the violence-torn country ends the impasse that has been continuing since the parliamentary election results were announced in December 2005. The choice of Mr Maliki as the Prime Minister-designate follows the resignation by Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafri, whose renomination was vehemently opposed not only by Mr Talabani but also the Sunni and Kurdish members of Parliament. Mr Jaafri’s forced departure has helped his right-hand man in getting the plum position, but Mr Maliki’s nearness to the outgoing head of government, criticised for his administrative failures and blatantly sectarian approach, may prove to be a handicap for him in the days to come. However, Mr Maliki may have little difficulty in finalising his council of ministers because of the goodwill he enjoys in various camps. The real challenge before him is how to control the crippling insurgency, which has become more intense after last year’s parliamentary elections. The insurgents can be divided into two groups: one mainly hitting at American targets and the other indulging in sectarian violence. The Maliki administration may have to first concentrate on ending killings and lootings by sectarian armies, which may make it easier to take on the other insurgents. How he handles the most dreaded militia, the Mehdi Army, headed by young cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr, close to Mr Maliki, will be interesting to watch. Muqtada, a strongly anti-US and pro-Iran influential figure, may resist all efforts to disband the militias or make them a part of the Iraqi security force. Mr Maliki has one great advantage: he is not as much a suspect in the eyes of the US as was his predecessor. This is proved by the highly laudatory message from President George W. Bush after the announcement of his name to head the new government in Iraq. But Mr Maliki’s political leanings are no different from that of Mr Jaafri. Both come from the Al-Dawa political movement, which has been drawing inspiration from the Iranian religious leadership. Mr Maliki will have to acquire an entirely different image to remain in the good books of the US, a must for his political survival under the prevailing circumstances. |
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Why should a man be in love with his
fetters, though of gold? — Francis Bacon |
Endangered monarchy
As Nepal undergoes its gravest convulsions in recent times, two trends stand out. The time for King Gyanendra is running out as is India’s traditional two-pillar policy for the kingdom: a constitutional monarchy and multi-party democracy. There have been many twists and turns in Nepalese history, of kings and Ranas fighting each other, of absolute monarchy yielding place to rule by political parties amidst much horse-trading and political fragmentation. A seminal event in recent history was the 2001 palace carnage of King Birendra and his family by the Crown Prince who then killed himself, with the slain king’s brother Gyanendra ascending the throne. In February last year, the new King took the fateful decision of giving himself absolute power. The House of Representatives had been dissolved earlier and a series of prime ministers dismissed. The justification offered was the politicians’ inability to cope with a growing Maoist insurgency, which had claimed some 13,000 lives. In March last year, Dr Tulsi Giri, one of King Gyanendra’s key advisers, explained to me and two other journalist colleagues at his residence in Kathmandu his concept of governance, which was as far removed from democratic functioning as can be imagined. In fact, he took pains to deride commonly accepted norms of democratic functioning. There was no significant dent in the raging Maoist emergency in the countryside in the new regimen and the downhill journey of the Nepalese monarchy had begun. It was, in fact, King Gyanendra’s significant achievement that for the first time in the kingdom’s history, a seven-party alliance signed an agreement with the Maoists on a demand for a constitutional referendum. The Maoists then promised to give up arms. And it took two weeks of unprecedented street protests of an impressive array of Nepalese people for King Gyanendra to offer to revert to the pre-February 2005 situation, asking the seven-party alliance to name an interim The King had been egged on by a rather belated visit by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s emissary, Dr Karan Singh, a distant relative of the Nepalese monarchy. India has an open border with Nepal and a special relationship, despite Kathmandu’s tendency to balance relations between New Delhi and Beijing to give the kingdom more room for manoeuvre. But the protests had developed a momentum of their own. The rejection of the King’s offer was expected because he had not addressed the main demands of the resuscitation of the House of Representatives and a referendum on the future of the monarchy. The symbolism of Dr Karan Singh’s visit was not lost upon the Nepalese, who construed it as an Indian attempt to buttress a shaky monarchy. Indian strategic interest in Nepal is well recognised and there are few reasons for New Delhi to welcome the upsurge in Maoist clout, given the problems their Naxalite cousins are posing for the country. But there was sufficient alarm in India over the turn of events for the Indian Foreign Secretary, Mr Shyam Saran, to back-pedal from the traditional two-pillar policy to declare that New Delhi respected the will of the Nepalese people. One phase of the Nepalese turmoil is over, with the King’s offer and its rejection. It is plain that a mere restoration of the pre-February 1, 2005, order is unacceptable to a charged people demonstrating on the streets of Kathmandu and in towns in the districts. The seven-party alliance called the King’s belated offer “meaningless and inappropriate”, with the Maoist leader Prachanda describing it as “an insult”. The longer the protests continue, with attendant deaths and injuries, the greater will be the attacks on the institution of the Nepalese monarchy. To contrast the plight of the Nepalese monarchy with the institution of the British monarch, who has just celebrated her 80th birthday, is to emphasise the obvious. Perhaps the greatest mistake committed by King Gyanendra is to disturb the balance between the ruler and the ruled. He wished to revert to an earlier era, disregarding the lessons his predecessors had learnt. The Nepalese people had by and large accepted the crown, despite past conflicts, as the great unifier and symbol of the state. The question now is whether the people will persuade themselves to regard the monarchy in the same light. There is at present a dichotomy between the cautious welcome India, the United States and the European Union have given to the belated offer of the King to revert to the previous regimen and the people’s anger and the Maoist insurgents’ desire to bring the issue of monarchy to a head. The omens do not look good for King Gyanendra. India’s immediate interest is in helping bring about stability to the kingdom while its political future unravels. But New Delhi’s dilemma is a familiar one, of events having spun out of control making them immune to outside influence. King Gyanendra has not helped himself or his friends by his foolish February 2005 decision and in refusing to listen to reason in the following year and more. Yet India cannot remain indifferent to what happens in neighbouring Nepal with its long open border and the deep cultural links between the two peoples. An ideal solution would be to bring the Maoists into mainstream Nepalese politics. Prachanda is on record as having said that the Maoists would support a constitutional monarchy were the people to endorse it in a referendum. Such an outcome would depend upon a great measure of flexibility on the part of the monarch and the political parties in the fray. The Nepalese Army’s attitude towards fast-moving developments will also have an important bearing. How the Army balances its traditional loyalty to the monarch with its wider responsibilities remains to be seen. Nepal has supplied the British and Indian armies with Gurkha troops and demobbed soldiers are now members of Nepalese society receiving well-earned pensions. The coming weeks and months will decide the fate of King Gyanendra and the institution of the Nepalese monarchy. History would judge King Gyanendra harshly if Nepal chooses to become a
republic.
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Pessimistically optimist
Life presents itself in different hues. Human mind also wavers accordingly and we become an optimist at times and a pessimist at other times. Thus, our behaviour is largely controlled by the situations around us. The first description of an optimist and a pessimist came from how a person perceived a glass which had some quantity of liquid in it. ‘Half full’ says the optimist; ‘Half empty’ says the pessimist. Similarly, a pessimist complains that the roses have thorns, whereas an optimist rejoices because thorns have roses. According to Caroline Dahr, a pessimist is someone who complains of the noise when opportunity knocks. In Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, the great writer expresses that our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft may win, by fearing to attempt. The optimist is a part of the answer and therefore becomes a winner. The pessimist is always a part of the problem and therefore a loser. There goes a Chinese proverb, “If a problem has a solution, there is nothing to worry! If a problem does not have a solution, there is nothing to worry.” In spite of this, pessimists keep on worrying. Thus, a pessimist’s mind is a closed mind. It has been said that life’s battles do not always go to the stronger or faster man, but sooner or later the man who wins is the man who thinks he can! Lady luck smiles on those who have the will to strike, to seek and to find but not to yield! Miracles happen and impossible becomes possible for those who work ceaselessly and never give hope. Even though pessimists are regarded as negative personae, there are advantages to being one of them. Since a pessimist expects bad things to happen, he is much rewarded when things turn out to be good, whereas the optimist for the same reason gets a raw deal. High expectations by optimists are a sign of over confidence and leaves a bitter taste when castles in air come crashing down. Whether you are an optimist or a pessimist, the basic fact remains the same. Chance favours the prepared mind and the ratio between hard work and luck is 70:30. I am neither an optimist nor a pessimist but a combo of both. You may call me an opti-pessimist. I have always been influenced by the proverb, “Hope for the best and expect the worst”. As it has been said — if at first you do not succeed try to hide your astonishment! George Will says, “The nice part about being a pessimist is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised.” If it is right, well and good and if it is wrong, you will find out soon enough. Now to end this piece on a hilarious note, let me narrate two small real-life episodes that depict how far optimism could go. All his life, an 88-year-old man, never won anything. Finally he received a prize for being the oldest man attending a local dinner. An wanna guess the prize? It was a $ 50 bond which would reach maturity in another 18 years! In another episode of its kind, a lady wanted to visit here ailing sister, so she stopped by a florist to buy a bouquet. However on her way, as luck would have it, she met with an accident and was soon put in an ambulance. The nurse who attended her observed thus: “This is the first time I’ve seen a lady bringing her own
flowers!” |
Learning and doing Asked to give a presentation to a venerable think tank in Delhi on national security, and batting at number 5, I talked on energy, water, employment, growth and our global destiny. Later a senior journalist came up to me and observed that it took an economics professor from Ahmedabad to raise the real issues, because we don’t have a national elite. Now elitism is not quite a virtue but there is something to be said for the idea that nationhood is about shared memories and some things we will fight about and perhaps a few others things we, elites and others like me, will agree upon. I know the reader won’t change his or her mind easily, but I would like you to consider the fact that both on the nuclear issue and on capital account convertibility, there is a fairly long tradition of agreement in the country about the basics. It is just that many of us, particularly ‘responsible leaders’, cannot resist the attraction of grandstanding. In September 2003, Placid Rodrigues, the hero of the Kalpakkam Kamini experimental fast breeder reactor, was to explain the nuclear roadmap to his countrymen. He made a reference to a discussion he had with me when I was Minister of Science and Technology, about the costs of FBR reactors as we moved up the learning curve and into series production. I explained that when BHEL made the first PHWR steam generator it took 1679 days but the eighth one stabilized at 258 days. This was the basis on which I gave a cost reduction award to BHEL and the Nuclear Power Corporation. The important point Rodrigues makes is that if the cost of the first of a kind PFBR is 100, the replica will be 71.7. Twelve plants at three sites will cost 57.7 per reactor. Rodrigues is not talking of pipedreams, because our own technology and management has come of age; as way back as January 1997, the Lok Sabha had statistics that our nuclear plants were running at designed load factors and when resources are available, construction schedules are met. Strategic analysts the world over now know that when India decides to do something on the mission mode, it does it — whether it is the super computer, the FBR or the GSLV. It is reasonably certain that the US takes all this into account in working out its policies towards India. It is not very rewarding to push the Indians to a stage where they simply go along their own trajectories and path. The US engaged India in a major science and technology agreement in 1997. This agreement was worked out with Frank Wisner and Richard Celeste. In November 1997, Madeleine Albright was scheduled to initial it with me as Science Minister, but she was called back to Europe prematurely and her visit was curtailed. The agreement was signed later and high technology cooperation was a part of it. On 9 February 1997, a newspaper reported that the Prime Minister had, in an interview with Nihon Keizai Shimbun, stated that his Government intends to allow “foreign ownership of nuclear power plants in India.” I had also reported to Parliament that the Government was open to specific offers of private sector participation in nuclear power generation and that they will be considered based on technical suitability, economic attractiveness and attached. The Left parties were a part of the Government or major supporters and obviously took a strategic view on nuclear cooperation and expansion. Policy is a continuum without sharp breaks. The NDA Government, of course was far more aggressive in its search for an agreement. Going from Kamini to a state of the art FBR based on the thorium route is the foundation of energy security for India, since we have almost unlimited reserves of thorium and we need to complete the fuel cycle with our own resources. Placid Rodrigues is quite right. We will experiment on our own and mission oriented efforts are important to India, but as he has shown, learning is important and collaboration can be an important part of reducing costs. China collaborates with the US, France and Japan on fast breeders and we must not waste time. There will always be some differences within, given the nature of democratic politics, but they cannot be an excuse for delay. Capital account convertibility to me is one of the final guideposts of reform. We have wisely chosen a path of phasing and harmonising, but we are a big country and now have strategic options. In the Approach Paper to the Ninth Plan as Planning Minister, I wrote in the introduction in 1996: “Capital account convertibility will be sought to be achieved by ensuring that the prerequisites for such convertibility are attained.” The prerequisites are fiscal stability, high export, financial reform and exchange reserves accretion. The Tarporewala Committee was then set up in 1997 and gave a road map for reform. I have always held that it was correct for Dr. Rangarajan to have kept on nudging interest rates downwards and it was a mistake since then to push them up. The exchange rate fluctuations in East Asia were too high to allow us to react by marginal changes in the Indian interest rate. We actually shot ourselves in the foot and paid with low growth, particularly in manufacturing, during the Ninth and early Tenth plans. Ashima Goyal, one of the country’s serious econometricians, has estimated, along with colleagues, a long run supply function for India which corroborates my stand. The 1997 recession in industrial output they say emerged when “real interest rates were raised drastically in response to rupee fluctuations.” And so “policy could not translate the increased potential into actual output growth.” |
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The scourge of human trafficking Almost every country in the world is affected by the scourge of modern slavery. According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which has compiled the first such study from open sources in an attempt to define the extent of the problem, 127 countries of origin, mainly in developing countries, and 137 destination countries, mainly in the industrialised world, are involved. The report also highlights 98 transit countries. “The fact that slavery — in the form of human trafficking — still exists in the 21st century shames us all,” said UNODC chief Antonio Maria Costa. The report, which is to be presented to this week’s meeting of the UN crime commission in Vienna, calls for the protection of victims, particularly women and children, and for the systematic prosecution of offenders. “Traffickers are evil brokers of oppressed people whom they deliver in the hands of exploiters,” Mr Costa says. “They capitalize on weak law enforcement and poor international co-operation. I am disappointed by the low rates of convictions for the perpetrators of human trafficking.” West Africa is one of the main reported origins of human trafficking, along with parts of Latin America, Eastern Europe and Asia. Asian victims are reported to be trafficked within Asia, in particular to Thailand, Japan, India, Taiwan and Pakistan. The victims from central and south eastern Europe end up enslaved in western Europe, as do those who are brought from Latin American countries such as Colombia and Brazil. Countries such as Germany, Greece and France are among about a dozen identified as having a “high” incidence of being used as a transit country. Ten countries are named as the top destination countries for trafficking victims: Belgium, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Thailand, Turkey and the US. Britain is among the countries on the “high” index of destination countries. Human trafficking for sexual exploitation — mostly affecting girls — is reported more frequently than trafficking for forced labour at the global level, according to the report. The report also calls for governments to publicise the risks to vulnerable people through information campaigns. “A main challenge is to reduce demand, whether for cheap goods manufactured in sweatshops, or for under-priced commodities produced by bonded people in farms and mines, or for services provided by sex slaves.” The absence of data has been a major handicap in tackling the crime of human trafficking. “Our experience in compiling this report has been that some countries of destination have great difficulty in acknowledging the level of trafficking within and across their borders,” he said. Mr Costa urged governments to “try harder” in reporting abuse, saying that efforts to understand the scale of the problem have so far been inefficient and uncoordinated. The report also acknowledges possible dangers in interpreting the available data. Some countries could appear to have a serious problem simply because their data are honest and accurate, while others “could appear in an unduly favourable light because of inadequate statistics.” Nevertheless, “it is difficult to name a country that is not affected in some way,” he concluded. —
By arrangement with
The Independent |
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Delhi Durbar Human resource development minister Arjun Singh’s proposal for reservation for OBCs in institutions like IITs and IIMs may be on the backburner for now — but the Capital’s hyperactive political grapevine has not stopped speculating about the wily minister’s real motive in taking up this issue at this stage. An overwhelming view is that Arjun Singh is positioning himself as a Presidential candidate, although the election for this post is over a year away. Whatever his reasons, his Cabinet colleagues are furious at him for raking up this issue just when the middle class was veering towards the Congress. The general view among Congress leaders is to buy time on this contentious matter, by referring it to a committee for further in-depth scrutiny, and to ensure that it does not reach Parliament in a hurry. If that were to happen, vote bank politics will prevail and no political party will be in a position to oppose this Bill.
Have it, eat it, Left-style The BJP and the Left parties may be bitter rivals but the former has no qualms in adopting Left-style strategies whenever it suits it. If a senior leader of the saffron party is to be believed, the opposition party is to emulate the Marxists on the ticklish “Office of Profit” issue. The BJP has not responded to the UPA Government’s letter seeking its inputs for the proposed Bill clarifying what constitutes an office of profit. The leader explained that as and when this Bill is tabled, it will oppose it on the floor of the Parliament, but will not hesitate to take all the benefits provided by the legislation. By doing so, he said, they would only be following in the footsteps of the Left parties who oppose the move to increase the salaries of MPs each time a Bill to this affect is tabled in Parliament, but once it is adopted, they don’t shy away from availing the increased salary!
Uma’s choices Ever since Uma Bharati was expelled from BJP, the fiery sanyasin has been on the warpath. Having been done out of the chief minister’s kursi by her own party, she was determined to make it difficult for the present Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan who is contesting an election to the state assembly. Failing to find anybody suitable, she is now supporting the candidate fielded by the Gondwana Gantantra Party, a relatively small outfit which has been always opposed to the BJP’s Hindutva brand of politics, of which Uma Bharati herself was a major proponent. Since the election symbol of the GGP is an axe, her opponents are pointing out that Uma “ne apne paon pe kulhari mar di.” Money, money The administrative staff of the Supreme Court recently realised that they were drawing less salary than the Delhi High Court staffers, despite being the employees of a superior court. They promptly filed a writ petition in the apex court seeking a wage increase. When the matter came up for hearing, even Justice Ruma Pal was equally surprised at this anomaly. The issue was immediately taken up with the law minister by solicitor-general G E Vahanvati, and the Centre promptly removed the discrepancy. It was subsequently revealed that the apex court staffers had been suffering from their own lethargy as their counterparts in the High Court were alert enough to take up this issue with the law ministry from time to time. —
Contributed by S.S. Negi, S. Satyanarayanan and Anita Katyal |
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From the pages of Atlantic charter in action India knows Mr Amery. She had, therefore, no other feeling except that of amusement when he declared in a recent speech that the British Government had applied the principles of the Atlantic Charter to India long before it had been drawn up by President Roosevelt and Mr Churchill. But when the same declaration is repeated by Lord Halifax whose feeble attempt to apply not the principles of the Atlantic Charter but the elementary principles of freedom and justice to India met with strenuous opposition among the ruling classes in England, one is naturally both amazed and perplexed. Has Lord Halifax so soon forgotten the rebuke administered to him by one of the most distinguished members of these classes for having invited Mahatma Gandhi, then as now the accredited leader of the overwhelming majority of politically minded Indians, to the Viceregal Palace, met him on equal terms and actually entered into a pact with him?
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Alms-giving, charity or religious observances cannot equal the contemplation of God’s Name. — Guru Nanak No other medicine, charm or incantation is as effective as the contemplation of God, which alone destroys all sin and affliction. — Guru Nanak The way a man uses his energy during the day is reflected in his mind at night. — The
Upanishadas God would surely meet one who would become innocent and pure like a child without any preconceived ideas or prejudices! — Kabir Marriage is a matter of choice. — Mahatma Gandhi |
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