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Court’s
posers Sino-Indian
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Sahib’s
wife
UN
sweepstakes
In the
queue
India on
canvas Yugoslavia’s
latest ethnic split Stop
caste-based divide and rule
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Court’s posers
The motive behind introducing OBC reservations was always suspect. Now its legal validity too has come into question through two PILs. Moving swiftly, the apex court has put three significant posers before the government, which must be having the latter squirming. The entire rationale behind the controversial move will now have to be explained to the court, and through it to the public. The first poser itself is highly vital: what formed the basis for fixing the quota. The government has gone by the Mandal assertion that the OBCs comprised 52 per cent of India’s population. This is questioned by government reports themselves. The National Sample Survey puts this figure at only 33.5 per cent. That deprives the government of the very basis of arriving at the 27 per cent reservation. The second poser is on the rationale for determining who was an OBC member. Many castes have been indiscriminately added to the list for political reasons. Then comes the question of modalities to implement the reservation policies and basis for deciding such modalities. Here the government is on even thinner ice. The court has also put the government on notice that the question whether the decision would divide the country on caste lines would also be taken up by it later. At the same time, it has also appealed to the medicos to call off their agitation. Now that the court is seized of the matter, they should feel reassured that injustice would not be done to them. After all, the prolonged strike is affecting millions of patients across the country. The medicos’ worry that even if the court finds the reservation untenable, the government will try to implement it by amending laws should be addressed by the latter effectively. The time of eight weeks given to the government to reply to the questions and the six weeks thereafter for the petitioners to give their rejoinders is too long, but it should be utilised as a cool-off period so that the the reservation issue and its pros and cons can be discussed with a cool head. The government should use this interregnum to hold talks with the agitators with an open mind. They are responsible citizens of the country with a viewpoint. Such a vital policy decision should take into account their objections rather than being pushed down the country’s gullet at the whims of Mr Arjun Singh. |
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Sino-Indian ties
The memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee and his Chinese counterpart Gen Cao Gangchuan in Beijing on Monday underlines a new beginning in the relations between the two neighbours. It will lead to joint military exercises and training programmes by their armed forces, which have fought at least one major war and have always been suspicious of each other’s intentions. The MoU, which calls for institutionalizing frequent exchanges between the Defence Ministries of India and China, will help the efforts already on to create a climate of confidence between the two major powers of Asia. An increased interaction among their armed forces will provide a sound basis for improving the quality of their relations. It is, no doubt, a major step forward as it will provide an opportunity to their air forces too to come into contact with each other, something that has never happened before. India and China do have border disputes but for some time they have devised a strategy so that this does not prevent them from developing good neighbourly relations. A gradual improvement in the quality of their cooperation in several fields is having its impact on the trade between two sides which has increased considerably during the past few years. It has toughed the $20 billion mark — not a small gain if we look at the situation that prevailed in the past. The signing of the MoU amounts to expressing the determination to take the relations with key neighbours to any level. This falsifies the belief that with the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, India has become a player in the game of containment of a rising China. A mature nation like India can never allow its own interests to be jeopardized while exploring new areas of cooperation with other countries. Nothing can impede the efforts of India and China to come closer to each other provided there is the will to do so. New Delhi and Beijing celebrating 2006 as a “friendship year” shows that the will to become friends is not lacking in the two countries. |
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Sahib’s wife
It would be funny if it didn’t capture so well the predatory bureaucracy and brown sahib culture that we all live with. A senior IAS officer of Commissioner rank goes on official tours. Naturally the Tehsildars and Naib Tehsilders have to dance attendance. He also has his wife with him, who usually decides to spend her time usefully, by doing a little shopping. Now, she cannot possibly know where the best departmental, jewellery and clothing stores in a new town are, can she? She could do with some help. And the best aides, of course, are the same Tehsildars and Naib Tehsildars. And surely, Madam cannot stoop to something as low as paying for the things she has picked up? Only the hoi polloi pay bills. Here the Tehsildar has to do it. A solid gold ‘kangan’ worth Rs 20,000. A nice mobile phone for Rs 15,000. And while you are at it, you might as well pick up some provisions and goods for the house — Rs 8000. You think it is easy being a Commissioner? There are parties to be thrown, guests to be entertained. Rs 1.5 lakh for a birthday party. It would be unfair to make a subordinate pay for it. A single subordinate that is. The Tehsildars and their deputies can pool their resources and foot the bill. A junior does not take the “hint” at his own peril. A dissident reportedly had his increments stopped. While the junior officers have approached their respective Commissioners, no solution was found. The reason is clear enough. Every citizen knows that every government office is a den of corruption. He faces it every day, for a licence, for a land record, for every little service that is actually his right. At the end of the day, dear reader, you are funding many a shopping trip across the country. |
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Sometimes poetry is emotion recollected in a highly emotional state. |
UN sweepstakes
THE election of the Secretary-General of the United Nations is like sweepstakes. Anyone can enter the race as no qualification is prescribed. The modalities are determined each time by Security Council Presidents, who rotate every month. The length of the process has not been established and the candidates are at a loss as to when to enter the fray. The early bird does not always catch the worm, but serious consideration is possible only if interest is shown in advance of the election process. The victor may well be someone who did not campaign, but just remained available in the wings. National support is considered essential, but that need not be a determining factor. Regional rotation, held sacrosanct by many, has also been challenged of late. The only comparable election is that of the Pope, but there it is certain that the Cardinals will choose the Pope from among themselves. The members of the Security Council have never elected one among them as the Secretary-General. The campaign for the 2006 elections began two years ago when the then Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka offered himself with the proviso that he would withdraw if a better candidate emerged. But he withdrew when he lost his ministership. The next to declare interest was Surakiart Sathirathai, the Foreign Minister of Thailand, young, debonair, French speaking, well known and endorsed by ASEAN and reportedly supported by China. He is now a Deputy Prime Minister. Soon to follow was the hero of the perpetuation of the NPT, a former Under-Secretary-General of the UN and a former Sri Lankan ambassador to the United States, Jayantha Dhanapala. The attention shifted from both of them to Ban Ki-moon, the South Korean Foreign Minister, when he threw his hat in the ring. Many felt that, with their dogged determination, the South Koreans would swing it in the end. The three declared candidates are more than eligible since they come from small, non-controversial countries, which maintain good relations with the United States and the other permanent members. They come from the Asian continent, which, except for some feeble noises from the East Europeans, is widely expected to provide the next Secretary-General. Competence has also not been an issue. But each has lost momentum recently. The internal political turmoil in Thailand has prompted ASEAN itself to rethink the Thai candidature. This is not surprising as the ASEAN countries have a galaxy of qualified aspirants, who have not given up hope. Dhanapala is not too popular with the new dispensation in Sri Lanka and the expected US backing has not materialised. The South Korean suffered a jolt when the nonaligned countries declared recently, at the behest of Malaysia, that the next Secretary-General ought to be a member of the movement. By no means is there any dearth of qualified and willing men and women who are likely to come forward to volunteer for “the most impossible job” in the present situation. If the minimum qualification comes to be recognized as either foreign ministership or a top position in the UN bureaucracy, the list can be shortened, but even serving Presidents, Prime Ministers and crown princes are available for the job. If gender rotation comes into play, women of caliber and charisma can be found. Among the seriously considered candidates are from Turkey (UNDP), Jordan (Royalty), Poland (Former President), Timor-Leste (Foreign Minister), Malaysia (Former President of the General Assembly) and Latvia (President). In the third category are people like Shashi Tharoor of India, Niranjan Deva-Aditya of Sri Lanka/UK and a European parliamentarian, Ali Alatas of Indonesia, Nafis Sadiq of Pakistan, not to speak of Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, who are apparently interested. Niranjan Deva-Aditya, who was born in Asia and elected to the Parliament in Europe, has gained some strength in recent weeks. His resume, obviously prepared for the race, mentions a dozen countries in which he has undertaken projects and programmes on behalf of the UN and other multilateral agencies. In the absence of any additional declared candidates, there is now a vacuum that somebody needs to fill it. Balloting may begin as early as in July as each President of the Security Council will try to be the kingmaker and also secure some customary favours from the new Secretary- General. There is a move in the General Assembly, backed by India, for the General Assembly to play an active role in the election process, instead of merely rubber-stamping a name that emerges from the Security Council. This may take the form of the General Assembly sending some names to the Security Council or insisting that the Security Council should send more than one name to the General Assembly. Such moves for reform may be scuttled by early action by the Security Council, which would like to guard its prerogative of suggesting just one name to the General Assembly. India, like the other aspirants to permanent membership of the Security Council, has refrained from aspiring to provide a Secretary-General. But since our quest for permanent membership has not made much progress, there is some expectation that India might put forward a candidate. Several countries have urged India to propose an Indian name. In fact, there was a report that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was offered the position, if he was inclined to accept it. The only name that figures in the list of probable candidates circulating in New York is that of Shashi Tharoor, the Under Secretary-General for Public Information, the seniormost Indian in the secretariat and a reputed author. His record as an international civil servant is impeccable and India has every reason to support his candidacy. He will have a good chance to win if the view prevails that an insider with management experience will be the best choice at this time. But there is no indication so far that his name will be put forward by India. In the current situation in which none of the three announced candidates has emerged as a front-runner, there is a case for India to put up a candidate. India is not committed to any of the three candidates. We are a party to the SAARC statement that the next Secretary-General should be from South Asia and the NAM declaration that he should be from a member- state of the nonaligned movement. An Indian candidate will eminently fulfil those criteria. If balloting were to begin in July, as is rumoured in New York, an early announcement will brighten the chances of an Indian candidate. Nobody can say with an amount of certainty, whether the white smoke will take the shape of an Indian, but there is a space to fill at this time and it may be wise to do so sooner than later. Like any other sweepstakes, the outcome cannot be predicted and the risk is part of the game. But the right man has to invest in the right place at the right time to win the
sweepstakes.
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In the queue
Quite a few pearls of wisdom lie scattered in the Shakespearian writings. One among these is,” Apparel oft proclaims a man”. In the same flow, I would say that queues also often declare the civilisational status of a place. More patient and peaceful the queues, more orderly would be the lifestyle of the people around. This idea regarding queues being related to quality of life got cultured in my mind spontaneously while standing in a queue before a reservation counter at the Delhi Cantt railway station recently. The first demoralising element was the very length of the line. Then it was moving at a snail’s pace - at least, that is what we in the queue felt.To top it all, the constant chants of, “Bhai sahib line mein aeyey (come in the line, brother)” was another irritant. Nevertheless, however irritated and exasperated they felt inside, most of the people in the queue were at least keeping their outer calm and quiet grace. Gone were the days when the people got into quarrels at the drop of a hat. A trip in Delhi’s Metro would perhaps further strengthen this feeling. As the time went by slowly, even the small little things started registering in my mind. Some people perhaps do not like to be seen standing with the common folk in the queue. They,thus,have a tendency to stand to a side, giving rise to the risk of another queue forming behind them. If a lady is there in the line,the man behind likes to leave a sizeable gap in between and a bulky man, in any case,makes the queue look longer than it is. Thus,when a lady or a big man or a man standing to a side got served, there was an air of inexplicable relief in the queue. Amid all this, we kept inching our way to the window. Just when it was my turn for the ticket, the booking clerk got up and walked away leaving us marooned. There were murmurs of discontent all round, though we knew the man must have gone on a short trip to the toilet. How we wished that he had been provided a commode there itself in lieu of the chair. Mercifully, to our great relief, he was back without taking much time. At long last, I got my tickets and left the window, but not before throwing a look of pity for the people still in the
queue. |
India on canvas
What has been the best investment in India in recent years? No, it is not shares of an outsourcing firm such as Wipro, TCS or Infosys. For supercharged returns, you would have done far better with a painting by Ram Kumar. A 6 ft by 4 ft oil that sold for $32,000 in 2003 might fetch $500,000 today. There has long been a global market for Indian miniature paintings, sculptures and other antiquities, but interest in the country’s modern art has lagged. Now, a robust economy, a new moneyed class and the energetic participation of young expatriate Indians are boosting sales of contemporary art to new highs. A new gallery opened in Bombay every week last month, and sellout shows are the norm in big cities across India. Jerry Rao, the chairman of software outsourcer MphasiS BFL, shows his collection in the company’s offices worldwide. Investors have started at least four “art funds” in the past two years in which a curator buys and sells art instead of stocks. The excitement the new market is generating was palpable at the Saffron Art Gallery in Bombay’s old textile district recently. On display were India’s contemporary masters: Krishna Howalji Ara and his nudes; Jogen Chowdhury’s figures; the prolific and flamboyant Maqbool Fida Husain; Sayed Haider Raza’s colourful geometrics; Francis Newton Souza’s intense landscapes; Tyeb Mehta’s mobile figures. The reserve prices for their works started anywhere from Rs 45 lakh to Rs three crore. On hand to sip wine and check out pieces that would later be auctioned over the Internet were dealers and veteran collectors, plus more than a few art world newcomers. “You can’t avoid the art market these days if you’re a sensible investor,” said Mehul Patel, 27, an Indian technology entrepreneur based in Singapore, as he swirled a glass of chardonnay. Today, Indians at home and abroad believe investing in art can be as prestigious as a good address and as profitable as the stock market, or more so. And why not? Prices for art have tripled across the board. At a Christie’s auction in New York in September, the hammer came down on Tyeb Mehta’s Mahishasura - an acrylic on canvas depicting an Indian goddess defeating a buffalo demon - for $1.6 million. Since then, at least half a dozen works by contemporary Indian masters have sold for $1million-plus. “Today, people aren’t buying art out of conviction or pleasure, but because they see money in it,” says Dadiba Pundole, a gallery owner whose father launched Husain and other top-tier artists in the 1960s and 1970s. Although most buyers are Indians - usually successful expatriate entrepreneurs or professionals - there’s growing interest among non-Indians. The two largest collections are both outside the sub-continent. The 1,000-plus works of Japanese food processing tycoon Masanori Fukuoka are housed in a three-story museum near Kobe, while 1,200 works collected by the late Texas oilman Chester Herwitz reside in the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. Christie’s will hold five auctions of Indian contemporary art in 2006, up from three annually in recent years. New Delhi’s Bodhi Art has a branch in Singapore and will open in New York in September, adding to the city’s six galleries already specialising in contemporary Indian work. And Indian expat buyers are becoming gallery owners: collector and technology entrepreneur Kent Charugundla opened Tamarind Art in Manhattan last month, with a sellout solo exhibition by abstract expressionist Bal Chhabda. With prices soaring, art lovers are predicting a shakeout. After the sell-off experienced by Bombay’s stock market recently, some fear prices for art will follow. “It has to plateau, but when?” asks Bombay gallery owner Ritu Prakash Desai. “Like the stock market, it’s a guessing game.” Already some collectors are balking. “I’m still a buyer,” says Mr Fukuoka, “but at these prices, not like before.” Even artists are astonished. Jehangir Sabavala, an elegant, cravat-wearing 84-year-old and one of India’s premier abstract painters, recalls his long years of struggle and marvels that prices are “beyond recognition”. Another fear is that artists may be sacrificing quality for quantity. Given the growing demand, some have become painting factories, says Ranjit Hoskote, a Bombay art critic and author: “It’s a trap, especially for young artists who are just churning out pictures.” And auctioneers are finding themselves embarrassed by fakes. Sotheby’s, Christie’s and the Bombay-based Osian all withdrew several works of questionable origin in March. But interest remains high. For the first time, Christie’s plans to include Indian works in auctions in Dubai and Hong Kong. “It’s about time we showcased Indian artists to a wider audience,” says Yamini Mehta at the auction house. “There’s great quality in these
works.” By arrangement with The Independent |
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Yugoslavia’s latest ethnic split
The vote for independence in Montenegro has resulted in Yugoslavia’s fourth partition since 1991 and is a legacy of authoritarianism and political mobilization along ethnic lines. Consensus on an inclusive, pluralist concept of the Yugoslav “nation” never emerged in Yugoslavia’s history, whether as a kingdom after 1918 or as a communist state steered by Tito after the end of the Second World War. After 1989 the politics of the nation-state, implying the alignment of nation and territory, and practiced by Slobodan Milosevic in Serbia and Franjo Tudjman in Croatia, precipitated the violent breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991. Although peaceful, Montenegro’s secession represents the latest failure of Yugoslavia’s leaders to reconcile its diverse peoples, and the triumph of anti-Serb nationalism in a republic were they are about one third of the population. Like Bosnia, Montenegro is a republic of minorities. The titular group in the republic, the Montenegrins, comprise about 43 per cent of the population and are the prime movers for independence. They have been backed by anti-Serb minorities including Albanians and Muslims, but the registration of voters belonging to the Montenegrin diaspora, some of whom arrived in Montenegro from abroad just to vote and constituted about 3 per cent of the electorate, may have been the main factor that led to the “independence”, championed by Milo Djukanovic’s ruling Democratic Party of Socialists, by a whisker. The small majority in favour of independence reveals how political identities, and interests linked to those identities, can change. Unlike the Croats and Bosnians, Montenegrins voted against independence in 1991-2. Serbs and Montenegrins speak the same language and belong to the same Orthodox Church, so culture is not the issue. Djukanovic’s main platform was that an independent Montenegro would be more prosperous than Serbia: as with Croatia and Slovenia in 1991, “joining Europe” implying a break with the communist past, became one of the slogans which helped secessionists to win support. What reforms Djukanovic will promote is unclear. Montenegro has a population of about 672,000. Unemployment is high at 18 per cent, and most people will want the independent government to improve their life chances. He faces few political opponents in Montenegro. He has been accused of failing to cope with organized crime and trafficking and is alleged to have links with them. Djukanovic’s greatest challenge will be to keep the peace between Montenegrins and the Serbs who voted against secession. He must assure them that they will enjoy rights as citizens of Montenegro and, in accordance with European and UN norms, be allowed to maintain cross-border ties with Serbs. The EU and Council of Europe will want the Montenegrin parliament to pass legislation guaranteeing “good behaviour” towards the Serbs and other minorities as a condition for Montenegro eventual membership of these organizations. With its scarce economic resources Montenegro may ask Belgrade to allow its citizens to use Serbian public services, including hospitals. Serbia has been left landlocked, while Montenegro’s access to the sea will give it a bargaining lever in any post-partition negotiations. Their outcome remains to be seen. But the reality is that the peoples of the former Yugoslavia people have been politically divided rather than enriched by ethnic diversity. |
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Stop caste-based divide and rule
Reservations are being used today as an instrument to capture power and divide and rule. Politicians have been taking a myopic view of the whole problem and have even forgotten to protect their own enlightened self interest. It is interesting to note that the present UPA government, headed by the Congress, is keen to implement what the Congress opposed in 1990, during the Mandal controversy. It is here that India needs not simply politicians but statesmen-politicians. Instead of attaining and retaining political power by using the weapons of caste, religion, region, language and culture, the political parties should learn to attain and retain power on the issues of development and governance. Reservation for SCs and STs, during the last six decades, has not been able to empower the poorest of the poor among them. In the first phase, the relatively aware and better off among them availed the benefits of reservations. During the second phase, their second generation and then their third generation were the beneficiaries of reservation. Presently, it is the creamy layer among the SCs and STs who are monopolising all the benefits of reservation. The same thing will happen with OBC reservations. About 72 per cent of our population is still living in rural India. Nearly one third of that continue to be below the poverty line. Majority of them are marginal farmers and landless agricultural workers. It is these ruralists who are deprived of the opportunities and the quality education. School education in rural schools, in most of the Indian states, has either collapsed or at the verge of collapse. As such they cannot get quality school education and lag behind their counterparts in the better schools. According to a very recent study, the proportion of rural students in various universities of Punjab ranges from 2 per cent to 8 per cent. Admission to professional degrees and other institutions of higher learning is largely based on entrance examinations. Only the quality schools provide education that empowers the students to get through the entrance examinations. Unfortunately, rural students lag behind their urban counterparts and poor rural students lag behind their relatively better off counterparts in the rural area. And the entire rural population is not composed of SCs, STs and OBCs. Evidently, there is a large proportion of rural poor students who are neither OBCs nor SCs and STs. To tackle the problem of the underprivileged, there is a need to go beyond caste based reservation. About two years back, Punjabi University, Patiala implemented a unique and pioneer project (Yadvindra College of Engineering at Talwandi Sabo) to provide engineering education to the poorest of the poor rural students. In the six-year integrated engineering course, all the seats were reserved for the rural students. The composition of the students reveals that they do not belong only to SCs and OBCs. Majority of them are from the non-OBCs. Around 22 per cent are SCs and 42 per cent are girls. It supports the fact that present caste-based reservation policy has not benefited the poorest of the poor among them. It has to be based on economic criterion. Even reservation based on economic criterion is not the long run solution. The long run solution is providing quality school education to all at affordable cost so that they could compete on a level playing field. |
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From the pages of LINGUISTIC PROVICES
Speaking recently at a press conference in New Delhi, Prime Minister Nehru, expressed the view that the problem of reconstituting provinces on a linguistic basis, however desirable it might be in itself, was of secondary importance in the context of the difficult economic and other problems facing the country. The question of the re-definition of provincial boundaries, he unequivocally declared, was not intended to be taken up at this stage but if it was taken up it would be on the express undertaking that there was an agreed scheme. We wish the Prime Minister had also added that the proposed, new constituent units should be financially self-sufficient, not only for purposes of carrying on day-to-day administration of the province but also for the maintenance of requisite standards of administration and for the provision of those social services which every citizen has a right to expect from a welfare State. |
A battle won may be lost tomorrow. A country won may be taken tomorrow. Riches won may be squandered tomorrow. Only the victory of man over himself is lasting. Not even a god can turn it into defeat. —
The Buddha Without dwelling on God’s Name, of what avail are our deeds? —
Guru Nanak The great consciousness is the final refuge of all. —
The Upanishadas When a young warrior accomplishes what other established and renowned warriors could not, much is aroused in the latter. Instead of acknowledging the brilliance of the young, they seek to quash him by any means available. —
The Mahabharata I’ve burned my own house down. Now, I’ll burn down the houses of those who want to follow me. —
Kabir The righteous shall truly drink of a cup tempered with camphor—a fountain from which the (faithful) servants of Allah drink, making it flow in
abundance. —The Koran |
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