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Handshake in Havana Task for Koda |
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Whose Improvement? Let government explain its stand The pandemonium in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha on Friday over the multi-crore Ludhiana City Centre scam, which led to the suspension of the entire Opposition and adjournment of the House till Tuesday, was unprecedented. It was unfortunate that honourable members displayed such unruly behaviour on the floor of the House.
Divided by history
Bihar revisited
SEZ policy a threat
to food security World Bank
challenged on agenda Chatterati
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Task for Koda WHILE a government headed by Mr Madhu Koda is a certainty in Jharkhand, nobody will bet on its longevity. Even if he is able to prove his majority within the stipulated time, he will still be at the mercy of powerful politicians like Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav and Mr Shibu Soren, who have their own personal agendas to subserve. For an Independent like Mr Koda, running a government calls for deft handling of diverse interests espoused by heterogeneous parties. This apart, the new government will be judged by how it tackles the Maoist menace. Successive governments in Jharkhand had attempted their own strategies against the Maoists but without any measure of success. Today vast swathes of the tribal-dominated state are not controlled by Ranchi but by various outfits collectively known as the Maoists or Naxalites. Not one district out of the 22 that Jharkhand has can be said to be free from the stranglehold of the Naxalites. There have been umpteen instances of violence resorted to by them in which hundreds of people, including policemen, were brutally killed. In some areas, they are even able to hijack trains and get away with it. The Operation Black Thunder that the then BJP government headed by Mr Babulal Marandi launched to tackle the Naxalites lies in a shambles while a Salwa Jadum-type initiative undertaken by the state is a virtual non-starter. In sharp contrast, the People’s Guerilla Army of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) has been able to set up what in the Maoist parlance are called guerilla zones. What’s worse, while the police remains hamstrung, the Maoists are able to coordinate with their comrades in neighbouring states like West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar and Chhattisgarh and strike at will. Mr Enos Ekka, one of the Independents, whose defection brought about the downfall of the Arjun Munda government, knows only too well the striking power of the Maoists as he himself had a narrow escape not long ago. But then, it is not for want of information that the state has been unable to control the menace. Ensuring law and order is the prime duty of a government and if it fails in this basic task, it has no right to continue. All Jharkhand’s hopes of attracting investment, foreign and domestic, will remain a pipedream as long as the Naxalites call the shots in the state. |
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Whose Improvement? The
pandemonium in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha on Friday over the multi-crore Ludhiana City Centre scam, which led to the suspension of the entire Opposition and adjournment of the House till Tuesday, was unprecedented. It was unfortunate that honourable members displayed such unruly behaviour on the floor of the House. What was all the more regrettable and ironical was that this mayhem let the government off the hook in a way. The government is indeed on a sticky wicket on the issue and the Opposition should have insisted on getting a detailed statement from it. The unruly scenes made sure that the beleaguered Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, and the Local Bodies Minister, Chaudhary Jagjit Singh, could not be pinned down to any definitive explanation for what happened. All that was said was that the problem arose because “our orders were not adhered to by the LIT”. Even the supporters of the government would not be convinced by this excuse. It is quite clear that money — a lot of it — changed hands under the table. That is why the Ludhiana Improvement Trust stands dissolved and a vigilance probe ordered. But the minister cannot simply pass the buck to the LIT chairman. The former does not only hold moral responsibility but also, perhaps, legal one. In a similar manner, the Chief Minister is also caught up in the controversy and it would be in his own interest to clear his name in a convincing manner. It is obvious that Punjab’s salvation lies in massive industrialisation. That drive will flounder if the scandals of the Ludhiana kind keep on emerging. Such projects involve mega-bucks, with a distinct possibility of siphoning off at various levels. The whole stinking episode should be investigated thoroughly to identify the superficial as well as the real beneficiaries. Making it only a political tug of war will allow the behind-the-scene culprits to escape punishment. |
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Common sense is nothing more than a deposit of prejudices laid down in the mind before your reach 18.
— Albert Einstein |
Divided by history This
incident happened more than 20 years ago. But it is worth narrating today because it lends perspective to the current “Muslim” complaint that “the Hindus” are against “us”. In the context of the complaint, the origins of this incident are as instructive as is its end. It had been my good fortune for over 15 years that I was able to pass every summer in Dalhousie, a delightful hill station in Himachal Pradesh, and every year in one or another of the many comfortable houses in Upper Bakrota which could be hired by the month because for one reason or another their owners could not use them. One of the earliest houses I was permitted to use in this way was Tandon House, which like most of the others too stood alone in the cool majesty of its own hill, far from the turbulent Akali agitation which had come to the boil in the plains of Punjab. But when the police and the Army went into action in Amritsar in 1984-85, the fear grew in Upper Bakrota that because of their best asset, their isolation and privacy, these houses might become the hideouts of escaping militants. Therefore, there was trepidation in Tandon House when there was an unexpected knock at my door quite late one night. My wife, who was in the sitting room at one end of the house, crept into my study at the other end to ask with an ashen face whether we should ring up the police. When I said I should first see who at the door was she urged me to be careful because she had caught a glimpse of the visitors, and when I saw them my heart also missed a beat. One was an oversized Sikh with a long sword by his side, and the other had a short kirpan. The appearance of both would have been normal in normal circumstances, but that night it did not seem so. But before I could think of what I should do next, both of them bent their heads low in respect, folded their hands in greeting, and said they had been sent by their leader to request me to join him for lunch the next day. I asked them who their leader was and why this visit at this hour, and the first part of their answer was hardly reassuring at first. They said their leader was Mr Simranjit Singh Mann, famous then as the most uncompromising among the more militant Akali politicians, who had been elected to the Lok Sabha but had refused to be sworn in because he was not allowed to carry his full-length kirpan into the House. They said Mr Mann had learnt only that evening that I was in town, and it had taken them time to locate me, but he wanted to “consult” me quickly about what he should do. That lunch became a discussion session with his extended personal and political family, and I and my wife were the only ones in the room who were not Sikhs. When he turned to me I said he should give up his improper insistence on carrying his sword into the Lok Sabha, should take the seat for which his voters had elected him, and start working with others to rekindle the high respect in which everyone had once held the Sikh community but few did now. He turned on me testily and said nothing had happened to that respect, and in return I narrated how my wife and I had been thrown out of our wits merely because two Sikhs had knocked at the house at a late hour of the evening. I did not have to labour the point much, because an elderly Sikh lady expressed similar concerns. She said it was not only that two Hindus had reacted as my wife and I had done in lonely circumstances, but a Sikh family in the crowded city of Amritsar would also tremble for a minute if two armed Sikhs woke it up the same way. Someone else added that even in Chandigarh, where Hindus and Sikhs had mingled as nowhere else, it happened often now that a roomful of Sikhs or Hindus would slip into an awkward silence lull if a Hindu or a Sikh happened to walk in. After that no one disagreed when I said the problem would persist as long as the ongoing fratricidal strife continued, because each community would see itself in the victim or the perpetrator of the latest killing, but normality would be restored as quickly in sitting rooms as it was restored in the street. That’s what has happened, nearly if not quite, despite efforts to the contrary by the fanatics on both sides. What “perspective” does this “incident” lend to the currently growing gap between Hindus and Muslims? Quite a good one, I am sure, but I fear the context is more discouraging. Not only are these two communities more divided by history and memories than Hindus and Sikhs are, but the past divisions also make each of them more prone at present to shrink into its own mould, at the slightest provocation by the other, whether real or imaginary. But even worse is it that the whole world seems intent on not letting them forget that they are different, or letting them remember that the similarities between their real interests are much greater. The more that world events rake up the “clash of civilisations” as so many of them do, the more the dust of that clash drifts into India, forcing Hindus and Muslims to see each other only through that haze, whether the theory of that clash is true or false. This restricts the autonomy of its actions for each community. But - and the pity of this is even greater - such autonomy as each has is put to the same poisonous purpose by each community: to bind itself still more tightly to its narrowest view of its own identity, and to its narrowest view of the identity of the other. This ties both to the most shortsighted forms of rival communalisms, and since the “communal” brush is always blind in any case, and paints the whole of each community in unrelieved colours, the differences within every community are obliterated in the eyes of everyone. The recent past has thrown up many examples of this. But two of the latest will do. It has been proposed that jobs and educational and other opportunities should now be reserved not only on the basis of the castes of the claimants (though bad enough even that would be), not on the basis of the economic plight of classes and areas (which would be much better) but also in terms of their religions, so that the most permanent, most pervasive, and most persuasive demarcations in our society will come into play, and will remain there in the most indelible manner, because each time an applicant is denied a job everyone will be reminded of how fortunate or unfortunate it is to belong to this and not to that religion. The second relates to “Vande Mataram”. Everyone was happy enough to sing or not to sing it when the occasion arose, or to sing the whole or any part of it. But no. We had to comb through its history to discover a seed of discord in any part of it which would be big enough to distort the whole, and on an entirely communal basis at that. The result is that everyone has found a reason to be unhappy: some because they imagine they are being forced to sing a part they don’t want to sing, some because they are not singing the whole ! So, in today’s perspective the road ahead is
long.
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Bihar revisited
I
was visiting Bihar after three years. Having virtually grown up in Lalu’s Bihar, old memories were vivid. I am proud to be a Bihari, but what I saw there pained me. While travelling, I noticed people casually invaded the AC compartment as if they had rightful entry to it. Jhal mudhi wallas were shouting at the top of their voices, carelessly brushing past berths, causing curtains to ruffle. Yet, my happiness knew no bounds — I had entered my territory. I have been optimistic about Nitish’s Bihar. Lalu had failed, but Nitish wouldn’t. I didn’t expect instant metamorphosis, but some change was expected. While some locals are all for Nitish, some continue to suffer from the Lalu hangover. They hope he will keep the cow belt flag soaring high, perhaps in the next elections. The bumpy roads kept me on painkillers for days. I discovered that even now there were only patches of pucca roads. The national highway was pitiable. Again, I hoped Nitish would use a magic wand. Last heard, he was tightening up the PWD Department. There has been an improvement in the power scenario with about 10 hours of supply. A certain improvement on Lalu! Yes! it is something to cheer about. Nitish is getting there. The law and order situation has always been a blot on Bihar. In the past, it had been at the mercy of a few musclemen who played havoc in the state in the face of its paper- tiger police. However, Nitish is working on this, too. Lawlessness is now on the downward swing. Leaving my parental house in Saharsa, the thought of travelling to the Katihar railway station by car to board a train at 11 in the night, left me cold. No family in Bihar travels after 8 pm for fear of kidnapping and we had reached well before seven. Accompanied by my cousins, I braced myself for the journey ahead. Our journey began once again on the bumpy roads. I was exhausted by the time we reached the station, but they were beaming. I was horrified to hear that they had enjoyed the journey. “We Biharis are a different lot. We love everything about Bihar. Had there been proper roads, the essence of Bihar would be lost. We love Bihar the way it is,” they said with unmistakable pride. Nitish is striving to bring the state out of darkness and his government is working hard to improve the law and order situation, besides attracting private companies. However, he has a daunting task ahead. What would he do about the Bihari mindset that has got used to the old
Bihar? |
SEZ policy a threat to food security In
the name of promoting exports and attracting foreign investment, the Central Government is promoting Special Economic Zones (SEZ). Again, in the name of fast development of their provinces, some state governments are striving to attract more SEZ proposals. Nothing can be said yet about the volume of the exports that can be generated from these SEZs, and how much foreign capital we can attract. But it can be said without any doubt that this policy of promoting SEZs in a reckless manner will be ruining our country in many ways. Firstly, fertile agricultural land is being grabbed by vested interests and the land mafia with the help of Central and State Governments. Almost the whole of Haryana is up for sale. Gurgaon and Jhajhar districts are being given to Mukesh Ambani with a promise that if needed, Sonipat may also be given to him. A proposal exists for giving DLF another 20 thousand acres of agricultural land. Many other companies are in the queue. Similarly, the Uttar Pradesh government has also allotted fertile Dadri land to Anil Ambani for a power project. Around 200 acres of land is needed for the proposed gas based power plant along with the township attached to it. But 2500 acres of land has been allotted to the company promoted by Mr. Ambani. Even thousands of acres of Noida land is being proposed to be given to Anil Ambani to set up an SEZ. Punjab is not far behind. This will not only cause hardships to the farmers and other local people of this area in the medium and long terms, but also destroy our food security. The second green revolution is yet to take place and the government is determined to destroy the base of the first green revolution. The Commerce Minister Kamal Nath says that the agricultural land being allotted to SEZ promoters are a small percentage of the total cultivated land of our country. But the Doab plains of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh contribute 67 percent of total wheat procurement of the FCI and 56 percent of the total rice procurement. Secondly, as suggested by the Reserve Bank of India, this policy of SEZs will cause serious imbalances in our economy. We are already facing problems of imbalanced growth. Because of this, there is mass migration of people from backward regions to advanced regions. This has caused social tension in many states. The policy of SEZ is only furthering the regional imbalance. It will trigger off still larger migrations from one part to another resulting in serious regional tensions. Thirdly, as elaborated by the Chief Economist of IMF Rajan Raghuraman, this policy of SEZs will dry up the government coffers. There will be huge revenue losses to the exchequer because units established in SEZ will get multiple tax exemptions. The production in non-SEZ areas will move to SEZ areas to enjoy tax incentives. According to an estimate by the Finance Ministry Rs 90,000 crores revenue loss is expected from these tax exemptions. The investment expected is Rs 1,00,000 crores. The loss of revenue on such a huge scale will make it difficult for the government to fulfill its social obligations. Even its own functioning may be affected due to the cash crunch caused by the revenue loss resulting from tax exemptions to SEZ. Fourthly, though the units working in SEZs are supposed to produce for exports, they will divert a huge chunk of their produce to the Indian domestic market. We know the efficiency and honesty of our tax and general administration mechanisms. They will allow this to happen. Those units working outside SEZ areas will face closure due to their failure to compete with the cheap smuggled products of SEZs. The policy makers of India are giving the example of China for promoting SEZs. But India cannot be compared with China. China is a communist country. That is why to reap trade benefits it created free market areas. But India is already a market economy. That is why it does not need any SEZ mechanism. What we need is to turn India into a low cost economy, where the cost of production is low. Only then can we compete in the international market. But those who are pursuing this policy of SEZ have nothing to with the development of our country and promotion of our exports. They have turned into property agents of some corporate land mafias, who are out to mint money out of real estate. Take, for example, the DLF proposal for an SEZ in Haryana. Out of 20,000 acres demanded by it, 10,000 acres are proposed for residential purposes. The government should stay the SEZ Act of 2005. A nation-wide debate should take place on it. And we should formulate a better policy for export promotion and the growth of foreign investments, keeping in mind our food security, a policy of balanced growth, and the revenue needs of our exchequer. Ideally, there should be a national policy that no agricultural land should be handed over for non- agro industries. The agriculturists should be protected in the same way as the tribals. We have a policy where non-tribals cannot purchase tribal land. Similarly, there should be a policy that agricultural land can be purchased by and sold to agriculturists only. India has gained self-sufficiency in food requirements with the hard work of our planners, agricultural scientists and farmers. The fertile Gangetic plain has provided a base for them. We have to defend this base from the greedy, corporate land mafia. If the government is really serious about export promotion and SEZ, there are barren lands available in almost all parts of our country including Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. The writer is a former union food minister. |
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World Bank challenged on agenda UK Development Secretary Hilary Benn’s high-profile threat to withhold money from the World Bank has exposed a massive faultline within the power structure of the global financial institution. Sources at the bank, whose mission is to eradicate world poverty, said member countries, were seriously divided over its high-profile drive to eliminate corruption. They accused Paul Wolfowitz, the bank’s president, of driving a hard-line agenda on corruption backed by President George Bush, whom he served as Secretary, Department of Defense, during the Iran and Afghanistan wars. Officials said the remarks by Mr Benn would be taken up by other European countries at a meeting of the bank’s Development Committee on Monday being held to discuss the corruption strategy. The strategy paper had gone through four revisions after Europeans complained it was driven by a neo-conservative agenda. Mr Benn used a keynote speech to criticise the bank for concentrating on corruption at the expense of its wider fight against poverty and disease. He also threatened to withhold 50 million pounds of aid money from the Bank unless it showed proof that it had ended the practice of attaching tough economic conditions to its grants and loans. One source described Mr Wolfowitz as “preemptory, high-handed and arbitrary” and accused him of pursuing his agenda with “messianic zeal”, adding: “The Brits are coming with a belt to lay about the hindquarters of Wolfowitz.” He said several European countries including France and Germany were worried that the corruption process was “arbitrary” rather than “securely tied” to development. “It can’t be arbitrary because it comes down ‘I don’t like country X but I like country Y’ and I think we’ve seen that with Pakistan [a close ally in the Afghan war]. “What people are concerned about is the single minded approach and they are concerned about the lack of listening. There is big unease about the leadership and where it is going.” He contrasted Mr Wolfowitz’s concern over corruption with the situation in Iraq, which he described as the “most corrupt reconstruction effort in history”. Mr Wolfowitz sought to build bridges with the UK, saying he shared Mr Benn’s concerns. He highlighted the record of G8 countries on aid payments, where the UK excels. Asked to respond to Mr Benn’s comments, he said: “I don’t think there’s a row and I don’t think it is out of control. Mr Benn and I are in complete agreement that the World Bank in the past has been too full of prescriptions for countries about what they had to do and too inclined to force prescriptions on them.” He said he could see no difference between the UK’s and the Bank’s stance on corruption. “Tackling corruption is very important [and] the way you do it is not by punishing and withholding money. The way you do it is by engaging by helping countries strengthen their system for dealing with these problems by working with civil society organisations that will support transparency and accountability.” He used his speech to deliver a sideswipe at members of the G8 rich nations that had not delivered on pledges at the Gleneagles summit last year. “The donors are in danger of falling short on that promise and I would urge them to step up their
efforts.” By arrangement with The Independent |
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Chatterati Industrialist
and Member of Parliament Lalit Suri’s second daughter’s marriage was in true Punjabi style. Lalit went the whole hog in celebrating his daughter’s wedding at a farmhouse outside Delhi. The whole of Punjabi Delhi culture was in evidence. The roof of the pandal was decked in flowers and the trees were wrapped in a moli, which we Hindus usually use at the time of puja. The pundit ties it around a person’s wrist. Fortunately, the place was enormous with excellent air conditioning. But the crowds were even larger. Guests included Chief Ministers, union minister Praful Patel, Sanjay Khan and the triplet Hinduja brothers. The Advanis, Amar Singhs, Mittals, Munjals, Mahendras, they were all there. There was live band music – a bit too loud for one’s comfort. Red light and blue light cars with SPG commandos were there a plenty. The ladies were loaded with diamonds and adorned in saris worth lakhs. The lifestyle of the rich and famous was in full view. Well, if it was anything less, it really wouldn’t be a Lalit Suri story. If getting into the venue took half-an-hour, the wait for your car at the exit took an hour. So, waiting at the gate for the car to arrive was the place where everybody hugged, kissed and networked. Indo-China friendship It is a rare Delhi event that has on the guest list the entire Gandhi family. Sonia Gandhi, along with Rahul, Robert and Priyanaka Vadra, and kids Meira and Rehan, were a part of the celebration that marks this year as the Indo-Chinese friendship year. The Beijing acrobatic troupe held the audience spellbound. Against an image of the Great Wall of China as backdrop, 59 Chinese artists showcased the fine art of balancing and it was a sight worth watching as they performed intricate, gravity-defying movements. Boys in satin bandannas and girls in leotards danced to traditional gongs and rap tunes, amidst military beats. Once the crowded show got over, Sonia Gandhi felicitated the performers. She candidly posed for shutterbugs but chose the ‘no comments’ strategy. The lady showed her appreciation by simply clapping for the troupe. Also present at the evening was Chinese ambassador Sun Yuxi and director ICCR, Pawan K Varma. Though invitations were sent to all MPs for the evening, there was only one of them present. Obviously the Congress guys did not realise that the Gandhi royalty would be present there! Muscle-power Much like the Lok Sabha elections, contestants of the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) elections were engaged in a clandestine hiring spree of pehalwans and muscle-flexing body-builders for their campaigning. Pub bouncers and pehalwans of nearby akharas were seen in the campus. Their services were utilised either to just exhibit
their muscle power or for a scuffle with the opposition group. The pehalwans are paid anything between Rs 300-500 depending upon the “kind of work”. The more serious the duel, the greater is the amount paid.
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From the pages of A great personal tragedy
First and foremost, the death of Mr Sanjay Gandhi is a personal tragedy for the Prime Minister the full impact of which cannot be assessed immediately. Ever since the Allahabad High Court gave its adverse judgement against Mrs Indira Gandhi five years ago she placed in her younger son a degree of confidence and trust which only increased with the passing of time. That he stood by her with unbending defiance through the difficult days following the Congress (I)’s election misfortunes in 1977 was by itself a matter of great comfort to Mrs Gandhi. But his support became the rallying point for a large group of young men and women who never lost their faith in his leadership. In the process Mr Gandhi built up for himself a position the results of which became evident at the polls in January and May this year. His rise to the office of General Secretary of the Congress (I) was further proof of the Prime Minister’s trust in his capacity to lead and take decisions. With one cruel sweep his death has unsettled much that had already begun to take a lasting shape. The unpredictable hands of destiny have snatched away a man in the prime of his life, leaving a huge promise unfulfilled. |
O people! Serve you Lord, who created you those before you, So that you may be conscientious. — The Koran The true and faithful wife fear neither jungle nor exile. Her life may be hard but no dangers will bring woe and sorrows to her. Her sinless deeds and holy conduct spread a charmed circle to hold her safe. —
The Mahabharata Who has made the earth a couch for you, and the heavens a roof, and who sends water down from the skies, and who brings forth from it fruits for your sustenance. So do not suppose
anything to be like God, when you know.
— The Koran |
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