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King climbs down Business with
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Minority for now
Why ‘fade
away’?
Delay and denial
Ripper the tiger Desperation amidst
prosperity Why globalisation
has stalled
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Business with Berlin Germany
expressing its desire for greater cooperation with India in areas like fighting terrorism, energy security and reforms in the UN Security Council is a welcome development. It is heartening that the two countries have decided to set up a joint energy forum for taking care of their energy-related problems. However, India needs German assistance for faster growth in three key areas: infrastructure development, manufacturing and high technology. German business presence in India has increased considerably after the introduction of economic reforms. Berlin is today the fourth largest investor in India. But, sadly, small and medium enterprises are missing in this picture. There is need to change the situation, as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pointed out on Monday while addressing the Indo-German Business Summit’s inaugural session in Hannover. Cooperation between the two countries can be taken to greater heights if Germany realises the pressing need to liberalise its visa regime for Indians. This was pointed out to German Chancellor Angela Merkel when Dr Manmohan Singh had discussions with her in Hannover, but she avoided making any such commitment. Germany, perhaps, requires more persuasion to change its unhelpful attitude in the grant of visa, which has been coming in the way of business and trade expansion, as also migration of information technology professionals from India. As a result, both countries have been the sufferers. No one can deny that there have been cases of visa misuse by Indians. The unscrupulous elements must be given exemplary punishment. But this is no excuse for having a rigid visa regime. In fact, India has to take up all such problems with other European countries, too, with a view to increasing business interaction with that continent. Germany as the current head of the European Union can help a lot in this regard. But, first of all, it will have to review its visa policy vis-à-vis India.
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Minority for now MONDAY’S Supreme Court ruling restoring the minority character of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) is a step in the right direction. Of course, it is only a temporary reprieve for the university because the apex court has referred the matter to a five-member Constitution Bench. As the issue pertained to AMU’s minority character and its proposal to reserve 50 per cent seats in postgraduate medical courses for Muslims raised important constitutional questions, a Constitution Bench alone can examine it in greater detail and take an appropriate decision. The university’s proposal for a quota for Muslims kicked off a controversy because it sought to reverse a tradition established since the university was founded in 1920. On January 5, the Allahabad High Court had struck down the quota move on the ground that AMU was not a minority institution. It upheld the view that AMU, which was established by an Act of Parliament and has the status of a Central University, is not a minority institution. It struck down two sections of the AMU (Amendment) Act, 1981, that purportedly gave it a minority status. In this context, the High Court echoed the Supreme Court’s 1968 judgement in the Azeez Basha case. In that ruling the apex court held that AMU could not claim minority status as it was set up by an Act of Parliament. Consequently, the apex court ruled that AMU does not have the constitutional protection of Article 30 (1), which gives linguistic and religious minorities “the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice”. The Constitution Bench is due to hear the case on May 10. Its verdict will be keenly awaited by the student petitioners, the Union Government and AMU because it will finally decide whether AMU is a minority institution and whether it has the right to reserve seats for Muslims. |
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Courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point.
— C.S. Lewis |
Why ‘fade away’?
Gen
Douglas Macarthur, a very famous General of the twentieth century, who served his country, the United States of America, with dedication and elan for over half a century, both in peace and war, had made a famous speech on April 19, 1951, addressing both Houses of Congress at Capitol Hill. This was on his return from Japan, after his dispute over policy decisions with the US president and after he was relieved of his command on April 11, 1951. It was a momentous speech, quoted extensively throughout the world, but this piece only focuses on one sentence, which stated that “old soldiers never die, they only fade away”. Although General Macarthur did tremendous service for his nation, I am afraid he did considerable harm, albeit inadvertently, to the armed forces of India, because of this sentence in his speech. The sentence was soon picked up by our redoubtable bureaucrats (mostly of the ICS variety at that time) and it was given the desired spin, including de-emphasising the word “old”! The result was that the political leadership, the media and even the intelligentsia became convinced that it was the best option for retired soldiers, irrespective of their age, who must quietly “fade away”. It may be recalled that these were the days when many nations were becoming independent from their colonial masters in quick succession. Unfortunately, many of these newly independent nations were also falling prey to military coups staged by some elements of their armed forces. Hence, this “fading away” appealed immensely to these elites of the nation and they did everything to perpetuate such thinking. No one bothered to find out the circumstances under which General Macarthur had included this sentence in his speech. Let me enlighten everyone. General Macarthur’s life as a soldier had covered 45 years of the history of the US Army, from the Civil War, through the Indian wars, to World War I in Europe. He rose to the highest appointment in the US Army in the 1930’s and was thereafter appointed military adviser in the Philippines. During World War II, he was appointed commander of the US troops in the Pacific theatre and under his command the war in the Pacific was won. He was 65 years old when he presided over the fall of the Japanese Empire in the Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945. After the war, General Macarthur became military governor of Japan, overseeing its occupation and reconstruction. With the outbreak of the Korean War, his Far-East Command became responsible for the conduct of the war in Korea, on behalf of the United Nations. General Macarthur was dismissed by President Truman in the midst of the Korean War. When he returned under a cloud and made his famous speech, he was over 71 years old. For General Macarthur to include this line in his speech had a lot of meaning. After all, he had served the nation in many a battlefield and in many complex situations, and had come out unscathed and with glory. For a person like him, who had seen it all, “fading away” was highly appropriate, especially at the age he was then. However, is that really applicable to the officers and men of the armed forces of India who retire at much younger age and who have the bulk of their lives ahead of them? One should also factor in the increase in longevity from what it was in 1950 and what it is today. That being the case, how can these soldiers “fade away” or, more appropriately, why should they “fade away”? On account of the spin given to the famous line, either intentionally or by default, the bureaucracy managed to eliminate a fair chunk of aspirants to the limited number of post-retirement opportunities available to retiring government employees. The result, in real terms, is that while practically every bureaucrat who retires gets an assured plum job in a government appointment, personnel of the armed forces are left high and dry! This is obviously grossly unfair; especially as the bulk of the appointments do not need any specialisation, only administrative acumen. In this field, the officers of the armed forces are perhaps as good, if not better, as their bureaucratic counterparts. They are also honest, which should perhaps be the biggest qualification in our corruption-ridden country. Unfortunately, the senior hierarchy of the armed forces of the early fifties, — i.e. soon after Independence — was of a different mould than what they are today. They mostly came from aristocratic families, from the upper middle classes or from the landed gentry. They had joined the armed forces for its adventurous life, their love for the outdoors or for the dignity and respect that the donning of the uniform brought, and not as a vocation or a job. Consequently, they were not looking for another career after their stint in the armed forces. Hence, this line from General Macarthur appealed to them too. After all, “fading away” does sound theatrical and has a touch of melancholia about it. The result was that very soon everybody expected all veterans of the armed forces, irrespective of their age, rank or financial condition, to “fade away” quietly to some obscure corner of the country, in the so-called retirement mode. This must obviously change. The soldiers and officers of the armed forces of India retire at an extremely young age. Our jawans retire in their thirties, junior commissioned officers in their forties and the bulk of our officers in their fifties. Instead of fading away, what they need is a second career. As opposed to them, all bureaucrats retire at the age of 60 years and, perhaps, most of them do not need a second career. Yet, no bureaucrat who wants to continue working for the government need be disappointed, as adequate slots are earmarked, ready and waiting for them and they are loath to part with any of them. The result is that either the veterans of the armed forces are left to fend for themselves or are encouraged to “fade away”. But there is need to urge all soldiers, young and old, not to fall into the trap of “fading away” and waste their considerable talent doing nothing or in inconsequential and infructuous endeavours. While in service, you served the nation with dedication and loyalty and sacrificed your comfort for the safety and security of the country. Your contribution to nation-building has been unmatched. You need to continue in this vein even after retirement, so that you continue this process of nation-building, albeit individually now as opposed to the institutional framework in which you operated earlier. We, unfortunately, lack a cohesive institutional underpinning for the veterans, but your continuing love for your country and for your countrymen must not get constrained by the lack of a coherent and vibrant organisation or the machinations of some spin doctors, whose sole aim has always been to feather their own nests, by any means possible. Never get affected by the “fading away” syndrome, but continue with the soldier’s dharma, which has always been “karma”; your salvation and that of the nation lies only in this small but potent
word.
The writer, a former Vice Chief of Army Staff , is currently the Director of the Centre for Land Warfare Studies.
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Delay and denial All
law-abiding citizens in the country were shocked at the acquittal, recently, of persons accused in the one case of the murder of a young woman and, in the other, of the rape and murder of another. The first concerned Jessica Lal who had refused to serve a drink, after closing time, to one Manu Sharma in an unlicensed bar in the Mehrauli area of south Delhi. The case dragged on for several years until March this year when all the nine accused, including Sharma, were acquitted by the trial judge as no less than a hundred witnesses had turned hostile. As there is no law in our country to bar witnesses from retracting their original statements, they could do so with impunity. I seem to remember that initial Press reports had mentioned the presence of some police officers in the bar, enjoying its fare. Admittedly, they were not there on duty but their testimony, had they dared to give it, would have been of great help to the prosecution. An interesting point is that Dr K.K. Paul, Delhi’s present Police Commissioner, who was then a Joint Commissioner, had written to his Chief that he was not satisfied with the way the police investigation was being conducted and that certain aspects of the case needed to be looked at more closely. His advice was ignored and the tampering with the evidence continued as, for instance, the substitution of shells and the theory that two pistols were fired, not only one. Neither of them was found. Coincidentally, perhaps, the day after the accused were acquitted, the trial judge was elevated to the Delhi High Court. The second case centres round the rape and murder of a girl called Priyadarshini Mattoo as far back as 1996. The judgement was pronounced only a few weeks ago, highlighting the inordinate delays that are a common feature of our judicial system. Again, the accused, the son of a police officer, was acquitted by the Addl Sessions Judge who made a historic pronouncement (seen on TV). He said: “I know you are guilty, but my hands are tied”. Tied, because the prosecution could provide no evidence to convict the accused. All it boils down to is the lack of public-spiritedness and the fear of being involved in prolonged legal proceedings. Also, there is the fear of reprisals from the supporters of the accused person and, of course, the combination of political pressure and bribery. Very recently, a man was sentenced to seven years in jail for raping a German tourist in a hotel in Alwar. The trial took only 10 days. The circumstances, however, were entirely different. The woman was able to get through to her Embassy in Delhi who, no doubt, must have approached our M.E.A. The Rajasthan government, now patting itself on the back, must be duly relieved that the sordid incident will not do its valuable tourist trade much
harm! |
Ripper the tiger The
recent killings of four tigresses, three in the buffer zone of the Corbett National Park and one in the neighbouring Ramnagar Division, were initially explained as the work of a male tiger with the tendencies of a serial killer. Someone like “Jack the Ripper” who had terrorized the East End of London in 1888 by murdering a number of young women. As in the case of the ‘Ripper’ where the actual culprit was never caught or even identified, the tiger ‘Ripper’ of Corbett will also never be identified — but in this case it is simply because the tiger-murderer just does not exist! The government machinery is working overtime in Delhi and Uttaranchal to throw people off the scent. The explanations being given out for the killings have changed several times. Initially, media reports quoting the Deputy Director of Corbett; an upright young forest officer, stated that preliminary investigations by the Park staff had revealed that the pugmarks of a male tiger had been found near the sites of the killings. In addition, some ‘marks’ found at the site of the killings matched the injury marks on the bodies of the dead tigresses. Although the types of marks referred to in the statement were not clarified, the reference cannot be to anything other than claw marks because nothing else will make marks on the ground as well as on the body of the dead tigresses. This is absolutely astounding jungle detective work! Will some ‘expert’ kindly educate me as to how a claw mark left on the ground can be reliably compared with an injury mark made by the same claw on the body of a victim, under field conditions? One is aware of so called ‘signatures’ left by gun barrel on a bullet fired through it, but the ability to compare claw marks on two different medias i.e. ground as well as flesh, that too under field conditions during preliminary investigations, is absolutely phenomenal! This is field level detective work at its very best and in my over fifty years of fairly close association with Indian jungles, I have NOT come across a single individual; tribal or otherwise, with such a phenomenal expertise! The explanation of the deaths changed in subsequent reports and the Director, Project Tiger, has been quoted in the press saying that two of the tigresses, which were cubs, could have been poisoned. But he hastens to add that the deaths however are not due to poaching! Has the law undergone a change? Since when does the killing of tigers through poisoning not fall under the ambit of poaching? Another point worth noting is that in the initial information released by the Park authorities after postmortem examinations had been carried out in each case, each of the three tigresses killed in the buffer zone of Corbett was stated to be about four years old. Now two of these have become cubs! Was the investigating staff of Corbett and the vets who carried out the postmortem incapable of differentiating between cubs and adult tigresses? Since this is too far fetched to accept, one is left wondering about the truth. What is the catch behind this deliberate misreporting of the age of these animals? To cap it all, the initial theory that these may have been killed by a male tiger has also been thrown overboard without offering any explanation for this major contradiction. There is a very strong rumor that the tigress killed in the Ramnagar Division had four one year old cubs. If true, they would have also perished within a few days of their mother’s death, as cubs of that age cannot survive without maternal care. The magnitude of the tragedy may therefore be far more devastating than what has been reported. We may have actually lost eight tigers instead of the I sometimes wonder why most of us displaying more than just a casual interest in the conservation of our beleaguered wildlife are held in such contempt by the government and are repeatedly subjected to such slipshod explanations? While the common man’s knowledge and access to ground realities may not permit him to see through half truths, those of us who claim to be in the profession of conservation must be able to question such weird, impossible tales. And if we don’t, there have to be good reasons for such cowardly behaviour, both by individuals as well as conservation NGOs, including ‘giants’ in both categories. Is our instinct for self preservation so strong that we are determined to accept even blatant lies, lest we invoke the wrath of the government and lose out on lucrative contracts and the possibility of being appointed on various committees? And while doing so, we find it entirely acceptable to sacrifice the interest of wild animals we profess to be conserving? Are we so incompetent that we do not even understand what is possible and what is not and accept any statement by a government functionary as the only truth? Is conservation of our rapidly dwindling wildlife only a topic of Bar Room gossip? Worse — are we entirely gutless!? The truth may lie in a combination of some of these factors. |
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Desperation amidst prosperity A spate of suicides by quite a number of Punjab farmers has been reported of late. At a recently held discussion on the agricultural crisis in Punjab, Mr H.K. Dua, Editor-in-Chief of The Tribune group of papers, who chaired the symposium, rightly expressed his surprise and concern that “suicides were taking place in a wealthy state like Punjab.” On a closer look at the “wealthy-ness” of the state one finds that it is Punjabi prosperity that is perhaps abetting farmers’ suicides. Most of the riches of the state, in the form of big land holdings, lie in the hands of a limited number of families that also have the power to manipulate politics. The green revolution, apart from bringing an overall prosperity to the state, also brought along with it a nouveau-rich jagirdar-like “kaka-ji” culture amongst the big land holders, who sooner than later graduated to become complete non-tillers. These by-proxy-agriculturists soon added to their riches by wisely investing their tax free agricultural profits in lucrative non-agricultural avenues, including politics. Little wonder that the comfortable life style of Punjabi “kaka-jis” became a much desired goal even of marginal land holders, who in fact were the actual tillers in the real sense of the word. With a steep fall in the land holdings of a majority of Punjabi tillers, due to various socio-political reasons, the gap between the rural poor and the rich has increased considerably. But the high aspirations of the now poor peasantry never diminished. For, who would not want his son or daughter, like the neighbouring “kaka-jis” and ‘beeba-ji’s to go and study at least in Chandigarh, if not in an advanced western country! The recent onslaught of killing consumerism that has invaded even the Punjab villages added fuel to the fire. Increasing number of Chandigarh-like kothis, equipped well with cosy comforts of air-conditioners, dish antennas and what not (even Mr Badal’s cook reportedly had all such luxuries!), have of late dotted almost every Punjabi village. With waning work-culture, partially because of the dependence on easily and cheaply available imported labour force from eastern Indian states, crowned by the lure of acquiring luxury goods that the market-oriented consumer world promises for every one, a large number of Punjabi villagers are under heavy debt. It is thanks to the state’s prosperity that Punjabi rural masses can easily be termed as alcohol addicts; per capita alcohol consumption figures do substantiate this assertion. No wonder that middle and low rung tillers of today’s Punjab, under the unfortunate siege of financial loans, available easily from various private and public sources, is driving them first towards addiction to drugs that are easily available through the neighbouring porous border with Pakistan, and finally to the sordid suicides. Albeit branded as cowardly acts of weak and fickle minds, certain suicides are considered as self inflicting revolts also. Medha’s recently enacted fast unto death, which could have been fatal, is one such example. Would the suicides by Punjab farmers’, or even those by city dwellers, like the not-so-recent self-immolation at Patiala, bring about any revolutionary change in our social system? Perhaps not. For, this is a complex social situation where all of us seem to have become desensitised towards the miseries of fellow human beings. |
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Why globalisation has stalled A few years ago, anti-globalisation rioters were clogging the streets, disrupting the meetings of the world’s multilateral organizations. Today, something more serious is afoot. The protesters have mercifully vanished, but international institutions are in disarray. Anti-globalization may have lost its voice, but so has globalization. Start with the breakdown of trade negotiations. In the wake of the terrorist attacks of 2001, the whole world agreed that rich countries should open up to poor exporters. But now the Doha Round of trade talks is virtually dead. This month’s deadline for a breakthrough will be missed; the European Union has refused to offer serious cuts in farm tariffs, and the Bush administration has signaled that it’s giving up by moving its trade czar to the budget office. Now consider the International Monetary Fund. Critics from Tim Adams, the top international man at the Bush Treasury, to Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England, declare that the IMF needs to justify its existence by shaming currency manipulators, foremost among them China. This is tantamount to saying that the IMF should close down, since there’s no chance whatsoever that the Chinese are going to change their currency policy just because the IMF tells them to. Meanwhile, Asians are “dissing” the IMF by building up foreign-currency reserves, rendering the IMF’s backstop services unnecessary. Argentina and Brazil have paid back their IMF loans early, and the loss of these large interest-paying clients has driven the IMF into a budget crisis. Then there’s the World Bank, which is struggling to find its way under its president, Paul Wolfowitz. It’s not that Wolfowitz has bad ideas; his focus on corruption is justified. But the new boss gives major policy speeches without bothering to seek input from the professionals on his staff, and he has alienated the board members who represent the bank’s major national shareholders. As a result, donor governments are less inclined to launch aid initiatives with the bank’s help. They are more likely to set up parallel structures, reinventing the wheel expensively. The troubles at the IMF, World Bank and World Trade Organization are paradoxical. It’s not that the underlying forces of globalization have gone limp; it’s that nobody wants to invest political capital in global institutions. Trade is expanding, and bilateral trade deals sprout like weeds; but governments don’t find the multilateral Doha talks to be a congenial setting in which to reduce tariffs. Equally, aid is expanding; but too much of the new money is flowing through uncoordinated bilateral channels rather than through the World Bank. International financial flows continue on a massive scale; but countries don’t seem interested in sustaining the IMF in its historical role as the insurer against crises. Fifteen years ago, there were hopes that the end of Cold War splits would allow international institutions to acquire a new cohesion. But the great powers of today are simply not interested in creating a resilient multilateral system. Europe is distracted by its economic malaise and by the challenge of building its own union. Japan has yet to translate its economic clout into political or military power. China’s dictators care about keeping the lid on simmering unrest, not about helping to resolve global financial imbalances or Iran’s nuclear crisis. India has huge potential as a Democratic superpower, but has only just begun to realize it. The United States remains the only plausible quarterback for the multilateral system. But the Bush administration has alienated too many players to lead the team effectively. Its strident foreign policy started out as an understandable response to the fecklessness of other powers. But unilateralism has tragically backfired, destroying whatever slim chance there might have been of a workable multilateral alternative. By arrangement with LA Times-Washington post |
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From the pages of Linguistic horror in Kashmir
The vexed language question has been solved in Kashmir! Hindi has been put on the Procrustean bed of the Education Department of the State and maimed and mangled. There are few instances in the history of cultural cruelties illustrative of such inhuman treatment of languages. Look at the irony of it. A simple, sensible and sound language has been tortured and mutilated in the name of nationalism. Is it really enlightened nationalism that demands the excision and distortion of languages and introduction of deadening uniformity in our cultural life? No. It is fanatical jingoism which does so, nurtured and supported by the vested interests.
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When the king wishes to give his daughter to the most valorous of all without making enemies of others, he sets the suitors a task. A task so stupendous that none but the greatest would even dare to attempt it. — The Mahabharata Do you wish to know what is serenity? The wise experience it when they understand the truth. Then their minds are like deep underground lakes, completely still, unruffled by any stray thought or desire. — The Buddha They who witness no falsehood, and when they pass by what is vain they pass by nobly. — The
Koran God who has created the universe, can also destroy it (when he so wills). — Guru Nanak Live in the world like an ant. The world contains a mixture of truths and untruth, sugar and sand. Be an ant and take the sugar. — Ramakrishna |
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