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N. Korea under sanctions Instant bails Tested weddings |
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Wilting lotus
Cageless creatures
Decentralised trade Can India feed its population? Delhi Durbar
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N. Korea under sanctions North Korea
is getting the wages of its own sins. Its nuclear transgressions have led to the UN Security Council imposing fairly severe sanctions through a US-sponsored resolution passed unanimously on Saturday. The original draft could have meant harsher sanctions, but it had to be revised because of objections raised by China and Russia. Describing the North Korean nuclear blast as a “threat to international peace and security”, the Council has sent a strong message to Pyongyang to mend its ways or face the wrath of the world community. Any supply to North Korea of heavy military equipment and material that can be used for manufacturing weapons of mass destruction or ballistic missiles has been banned. Member-nations are supposed to freeze the assets of people or entities having dealings with North Korea related to its controversial programmes. The Pacific Ocean nations like Japan, Australia and South Korea have welcomed the Security Council decision, describing it as unavoidable to force North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions. Japan is planning to do more than what the Council resolution demands. It will ban all kinds of trade with North Korea and declare its ports as out of bounds for the ships from its belligerent neighbour. This means more difficult times ahead for North Korea, which already has widespread poverty because of unimaginative policies of its ruler, Mr Kim Jong Il. Significantly, the Security Council resolution rules out any military action to deal with the follies of North Korea. This has been done to accommodate the views of Russia and China, which wanted a non-military course to be adopted. They are advocating the use of diplomacy to bring North Korea to the negotiating table. Thus, along with the sanctions regime, efforts are likely to be made to get the six-party talks resumed. The South Koreans too prefer this course to deal with the tricky situation. The UN Secretary-General-designate, Mr Ban Ki-Moon, has urged US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to examine the possibility of talks between the US and North Korea provided Pyongyang agrees to participate in a fresh dialogue involving the US, Russia, China, Japan and South Korea. It seems the military option has very few takers.
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Instant bails THE Supreme Court has rightly deplored the practice of granting instant bail by some judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court during their inspection of subordinate courts. The Bench consisting of Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justice A.R. Lakshmanan have ruled that this was against the due process of law and the constitutional provisions. More important, it said that this amounts to direct interference by the High Court in the functions of the subordinate courts. No doubt, Article 227 confers on the High Court the power of superintendence over all the courts and tribunals throughout the state. This power is both of administrative and judicial nature. However, the practice of granting instant bail during inspections is wholly unacceptable because it amounts to circumventing the legal provisions and disturbing the chain of judicial command. The apex court came down heavily on a High Court judge for directing the Fatehpur Sahib Sessions Judge to release on bail an accused involved in a corruption case. The judge issued the directive during a visit to the Nabha jail in June 2003. The apex court has now made it clear that the inspecting judges of the High Court cannot even issue directives to the sessions courts or the Registry with regard to the issuance of bail to any accused person. If an accused needs to be granted bail “for valid reasons”, the Registry will have to seek appropriate instructions from no less than the High Court Chief Justice. There is a set procedure for the grant of bail by the courts. If the judges grant instant bail to the accused during their inspection of jails, the system is bound to be subverted. The hierarchical structure of the judiciary too will suffer a setback if the judges go out of the way in granting bail to the accused either directly or through the sessions judges. A significant feature of the ruling is that the Supreme Court has underlined the importance of respecting the powers and domain of the subordinate judiciary which, it said, are as important as the independence of the higher judiciary in the discharge of judicial functions.
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Tested weddings IN majority of cases, finding a suitable match for a boy or girl means going through the rigmarole of matching horoscopes. And as far as community leaders are concerned, they are usually busy forcing youth not to marry out of caste. The dismal scenario seems to be changing, though. Some village panchayats have now taken it upon themselves to make HIV test mandatory for solemnising marriages of village youth. The panchayat of Karimpur in Nawanshahr is the latest to pass this order, perhaps taking a cue from the Dhotian panchayat of Taran Taran which undertook this responsibility a few months ago. Not only that, the panchayats have also decided to set up laboratories for conducting HIV tests at subsidised rates. Both these villages are battling with the AIDS scourge. The concern of the community is right. Why should would-be brides run the risk of contracting the disease from their husbands, or vice-versa? Equally important, why should the future of their progeny be besmirched? The test will, hopefully, also dissuade many prospective couples from going in for unprotected sex. As benumbing news reports remind us almost daily, the problem of AIDS is proliferating exponentially, especially along highways, thanks to truckers. Once a person gets afflicted, he carries the dreaded disease to many more innocent persons. Because of the stigma involved, the AIDS problem has remained confined to the closet. But now that it has spread to millions of people, it is necessary to be open and frank about it. Women widowed by the disease in Himachal Pradesh have taken the bold step of spreading awareness about it. That, and the laudable step of Punjab panchayats, need to be emulated on a wide scale. In fact, the occurrence of several other diseases like thalassemia in children can be prevented if blood tests are conducted before marriage to ensure that both partners are not afflicted with the disease. Doctors have been pleading for this step for long. The lead taken by panchayats will prove to be a big breakthrough.
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Shallow brooks murmur most, deep silent slide away. — Philip Sidney
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Wilting lotus
IF Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee reminded the BJP during its recent conclave about the wisdom and experience of its senior leaders, the reason was apparently the restiveness in the party on the leadership question. Ever since the RSS ensured L.K.Advani’s ouster from the party president’s post, and in view of Mr Rajnath Singh’s failure to measure up to expectations as the new chief, the BJP has been facing a situation where the old order had begun to lose ground before a new order could get its place. Although Mr Vajpayee is still batting for GenPast even if no one of GenNext is yet to emerge as a serious contender, he cannot be unaware of two imponderables. One is that the next general election is still two and a half years away — a long time for the elderly — and the second is that the chances of the BJP’s success in that contest do not seem too bright at the moment. So, the possibility of the former prime minister and deputy prime minister taking up their earlier posts in 2009 is dim. Even then, considering that Indian politicians do not retire — vide the CPM Politburo’s rejection of the 92-year-old Jyoti Basu’s request to let him retire — it is not surprising that Mr Vajpayee has let it be known in his imitable style that he is still around. For the present, Mr Rajnath Singh is seemingly keeping the younger set — Mr Venkaiah Naidu, Mr Narendra Modi, Mr Arun Jaitley and Mrs Sushma Swaraj — at bay while Mr Vajpayee and Mr Advani retain their informal positions as No 1 and No 2 in the party. The person who considers himself to be No. 3 Mr Murli Manohar Joshi — seems to be no one’s favourite, not even the RSS, despite his hardline postures. Of the others, the two Sinhas with similar names — Jaswant and Yashwant — have shot themselves in the foot — the first through his contradictory statements on the suspected mole in the PM’s office and the second by hobnobbing with Mr Natwar Singh of the Iraqi oil-for-food scam. The third Sinha, Shatrughan, is quietly fading away. But the BJP’s problem doesn’t relate so much to the ambitions of the elderly and the lack of preparedness of the young as to the behind-the-scene role of the RSS in controlling the party. What is more, had the RSS played this part with a greater appreciation of the Indian realities, its interference might have been regarded as worthwhile. But the fact that the paterfamilias has learnt nothing and forgotten nothing over the eight decades of its existence makes it an albatross round the BJP’s neck — even if the latter carries the burden more or less willingly with only occasional vague murmurs of disquiet. Two factors persuaded the RSS to emerge from the background to exercise greater control over the BJP. One was the latter’s defeat in 2004 and the other was Mr Advani’s praise of Jinnah. Both events convinced the RSS that it was time to bring the BJP in line. The head of the Sangh parivar was apparently convinced that it was the party’s straying from the hardline Hindutva positions which was responsible for its electoral setback and also for Mr Advani’s flirtation with “pseudo-secularism”. While Mr Vajpayee had never been the RSS’s favourite — despite his claim that the organisation constituted his “soul” - it was Mr Advani’s fall from grace which must have shocked the organisation to which all members of the parivar routinely pay gurudakshina. The capitulation of the man, who rode the Ram rath and was widely regarded as the quintessential hawk, to secular ideals obviously warned the RSS of the insidious influence of the pluralist ethos of a democracy on ruling politicians. Arguably, Mr Advani’s defenestration by the RSS robbed the BJP of the only chance — albeit a slim one — of gradually adjusting itself to the inescapable multicultural tenets of Indian society and thereby transforming itself into a right-wing party of the mainstream from its present Ku Klux Klan orientation. But the Grand Dragons of the RSS can hardly allow it. Besides, even if the RSS has been partially successful in marginalising Mr Vajpayee and Mr Advani, it is probably still unsure of their replacement since Mr Rajnath Singh can hardly be a long-term answer to the problem of leading the party. Mr Modi is a possible choice. After all, he presided over the “awakening” of the Hindus during the Gujarat pogrom. But is he still the same man, considering that he is speaking more about development nowadays than about the threats from “aliens” inside the country ? Has he also been bitten by the “pseudo-secular” bug like Mr Advani? Is this the reason why he has fallen out with his childhood friend, the fire-breathing Pravin Togadia? Mr Modi is not the only politician who has realised the difficulty of pursuing a hard line while in power. Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s decision to lay the foundation stone of a Haj centre, which has aroused the ire of the VHP, is another example of how a pluralist society compels the people in power to cater to all the communities instead of favouring only one, as the RSS would like. As the VHP’s reaction to this particular incident, and also its occasional tirades against Mr Advani and the BJP on the temple issue show, the saffron parivar is already a house divided. The late Vijayaraje Scindia’s boast, therefore, in the aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition, that the incident did not cause a split in the party, is no longer true. The BJP may have remained more or less united — the departures of Ms Uma Bharti, Mr Madanlal Khurana, Mr Babulal Marandi, et al, being matters of personal dissatisfaction — but the Hindutva brigade is obviously experiencing severe internal strain. So, while on the one hand, we see the spectacle of a somewhat mellow Modi and Vasundhara Raje, on the other Mr Rajnath Singh threatens to bomb the terrorist camps in Pakistan and Bangladesh and amend the Constitution to make the singing of Vande Mataram a fundamental duty. The tussle between the hardliners and the moderates has been a feature of the BJP for a long time. But the difference now is that the RSS has intervened with much greater vigour than before presumably because the VHP’s disenchantment with the BJP has warned it against letting the BJP follow its own meandering course involving compromises with secularism. As is known, the party’s failure to build the Ayodhya temple is crucial in this respect. It is the VHP’s main grouse, and undoubtedly also of the RSS although it doesn’t say so openly. To the moderates in the BJP, the pitfalls of raising such an emotional issue must be obvious by now, especially since the party must have realised that the chances of the temple being built are remote. It wouldn’t be able to do so even if it came to power because of opposition from allies like the Janata Dal (United), which had vetoed the Arjun Munda government’s anti-conversion proposal. But despite the lesson of the unbuilt temple, the BJP has taken up another emotional issue, this time over the status of Vande Mataram. What the RSS obviously does not realise is that the more it pushes the BJP to the right, the less is its chance of returning to power at the
Centre.
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Cageless creatures
Visiting
the zoo after over a decade, I happened to witness the unpleasant antics of certain “animals”. No, I’m not talking about the lions, tigers or monkeys that grace the place, but scores of unruly students from schools and colleges. True, they were very excited to be there, but the awful din they made was most irritating. The only facet of nature they seemed to be interested in was “the birds and the bees”. Surprisingly, the teachers accompanying them didn’t feel embarrassed by their obscene gestures and remarks. They told them perfunctorily not to feed the animals, not bothering to check whether their instructions were being followed (often, they weren’t). In contrast, the zoo inmates were very well-behaved and serene. The monkeys were busy “delousing” their partners, the tigers were lazing in the pond, and the hippos were cuddling each other without a care in the world. Even the students’ raucousness failed to disturb them. Perhaps, they had got used to it, or were tolerating it with much greater patience than I had. The cacophony was compounded by the whirring of motorbikes — driven by “fun-loving” youths — and the blaring of car stereos. These noises virtually drowned out the thundering roars of lions and the sweet chirping of birds. The entire scene reminded me of William Golding’s dark fable Lord of the Flies, in which a bunch of English school boys, marooned on an island, lost their innocence and turned into violent beasts. What I saw in the zoo was pretty innocuous, but we all know too well how thin is the line that separates civilised behaviour from barbarity. The slightest provocation can make so-called humane people think, say or do inhuman things. We go to the zoo to watch creatures tamed by us — but how good are we at taming ourselves? Self-preservation comes naturally to animals, not to us. We have a knack for self-annihilation — crashing hijacked planes into high-rise buildings, carpet-bombing one city after another, or building ever-advanced weapons of mass destruction. Even lemmings, the mouse-like rodents infamous for drowning themselves in large numbers, are more sensible than us. They take the extreme step only when they “sense” that their habitat won’t be able to support their fast-increasing population. It’s a noble sacrifice for the good of the community. Planet of the Apes, Pierre Boulle’s vision of a post-apocalyptic world in which apes are the masters and humans their slaves, might never come true, but it’s terrifying enough to unnerve you every time you look into a monkey’s eyes. And watching those rowdy youths, some of whom might become politicians, doctors or policemen tomorrow, I wondered whether the future was in safe
hands.
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Decentralised trade IN the reopening of the Nathu la trade route between Sikkim and the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) in July 2006, China’s local integration strategy has again come to the fore. China has been consciously trying to make economic “dents” at the local level in all its neighbour countries in South East, Central and East Asia. It has extensively used economic instruments like border trade, cross border infrastructure projects and investment ventures as its main instruments to realise this goal. It is broadly estimated that border trade through its 120 inland towns and ports constitute nearly half of China’s total foreign trade of over $ 1 trillion. This has been largely supported and regulated by specific and comprehensive policy documents. On the India-China borders the examples include the Lipulekh pass trade route that connects Dharchula-Pithoragrah, the route between Uttaranchal and Taklakot in Purang county of TAR in China, and the Shipkila pass that connects Namgya-Kinnaur, Himachal Pradesh, and Jiuba in Zada County in TAR. The last two trade routes are in difficult and rugged terrain and are highly seasonal. Trade volumes have been hardly Rs 36 lakhs in 2002-03 in Shipkila. Though a significant section of the policy echelon in India considers the reopening of Nathu la in Sikkim as a mere symbolic border trade venture, China, at least in the long run, looks at it as a vital, physical economic entry into the 1.3 billion people market of South Asia. In terms of feasibility this is arguably the shortest route (roughly 590 kms between Lhasa, Tibet and Gangtok, Sikkim) to reach the ever-bourgeoning middle class in the Indian mainland, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal. The completion of the 1142 km railway line from Golmud city in Qinghai province to Lhasa in Tibet, and the refurbishing of the overland access through the Sichuan-Tibet Highway, could transform the entire physical accessibility to and from mainland China for not only Tibet, but the neighbouring provinces and the neighboring countries. The domestic impulse in China is that the resulting gains and prosperity could trigger a major development action in the otherwise backward and frigid Western China. The western region covers two-thirds of the nation’s territory with the population making up nearly 23 percent of the national total. This may ultimately provide succour in positively dealing with traditional and emerging pockets of discontentment in the region, including Tibet. China has a history of using other countries as a base for exporting their goods. In the case of South East Asia, it has used Singapore as a base to tap the markets of Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and even far off Australia. Hong Kong too is used as a base to export its goods to European and American markets. The Chinese pattern of executing these strategies is much in contrast to that of India. For instance, there have been several visits by the trade, development and investment officials and private sector from Yunan Province to West Bengal and North Eastern States. Their single point agenda is to establish trade and investment linkages with the vast untapped market of eastern India. These delegates give an impression that they have been given a ‘free hand’ by their federal government to negotiate the larger process of the “Kunming Initiative”. Yunan already contributes over one-fourth of the total border trade of China and is deeply involvement another provincial level initiative at the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS). These delegations have been actively promoting the reopening of the Stilwell Road built by the US forces during the Second World War that connects Assam with Kunming via Myanmar. This is certainly a successful sequel of the decentralising strategy China has followed since 1979. Then, the Party Central Committee had allowed the Guangdong and Fujian provinces to adopt “special policies and flexible measures” particularly with regard to investment and trade in the Special Economic Zones (SEZs). The provinces are no longer confined to their administrative role and have increasingly adopted economic functions. The Centre has voluntarily reduced its own role. Preferential policies have made the provinces major economic actors in the coastal regions. They have their own economic policies. Even the inland provinces are moving in the same directions. In 1995, the state transferred one of its key powers, grain (food-security) policy, to the provinces. This new role of provinces is expected to change China politically and economically. There are several arguments extended to explain the Centre’s liberal policy vis-ŕ-vis the provinces in China. The very nature and structure of decision making and political system at the Centre’s level ensures a high degree of political compliance and vertical accountability thereby reassuring the Centre that these provinces will not go astray in their decisions and actions. Perhaps the most plausible argument for extending such autonomy emanates from the ‘the province at the provincial level’ paradigm that exists in today’s China. This paradigm has been primarily an outcome of the reforms-led growth, and the country’s development needs. On the other hand, India traditionally maintains foreign trade and investment as an exclusive domain of the Union Government wherein the relevant constituent states are only ‘consulted’. An initiative like Kunming fits well into India’s ‘Look East’ policy and its participation in the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Techno-Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC). But this primary notion of ‘local engagements’ and using trans-local actors inherent in the geo-economics like that of Kunming initiative, are something new that the Indian Government is trying to cope with. The writer is Chairman, South Asia Centre, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and leader of the Team of Experts, Nathu la Trade Report 2005
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Can India feed its population? Although
India’s population is increasing at a fast rate, the production rate of foodgrains was higher than the population growth rate till the eighties. From 1990 onwards there is a reversal in this trend. World Food Day was celebrated on Monday. World Watch Institute, a major think tank, has predicted that India will need to import grains heavily by the year 2030. It is a big challenge before the country. Under the leadership of Dr Manmohan Singh the present Government has realised that the growth rate in agriculture must reach four per cent, which is not only essential to feed the population but also for accelerating national development. The first Green Revolution raised the productivity of the three main staple food crops — rice, wheat, and corn. The second green revolution will only be possible by raising the productivity of other important food crops considered as inferior grains, such as sorghum, millet and cassava, which are foods produced and consumed mainly by the country’s poor. About 70 per cent of the cultivable land has no irrigation facility and about 40 per cent food is produced from this area. The above mentioned crops are mainly grown under rainfed conditions. In order to increase the production of these crops our scientists have to develop high yielding varieties in addition to improving irrigation facilities. According to Dr M.S. Swaminathan food production can be increased by preventing the diversion of prime farm land to non-farm uses, closing the prevailing gap between potential and actual yields and enlarging the components of the food basket through diversification of diets and more extensive inclusion of millet, pulses, vegetables and fruits. Rapid fragmentation of land holdings is another serious problem. In 1976-77 the average size of the holdings was estimated at two hectares, which now stands at 0.2 hectares and may come down to 0.11 hectares in the next decade. We have to make special efforts to develop small and marginal farmers and at the same time divert a sizeable number of them to other occupations. In order to win the food race a coordinated approach at national and local level is required. It will require cooperation among policies and programmes in agriculture, resource management, health care including family planning and economic development. With an efficient educational programme accompanied by services and supplies we can stabilise our population. Similarly, a planned programme of agricultural development will be able to double our production by 2047. Small and marginal farmers can only survive if they go in for organised or contract farming. A group of farmers can organise themselves to procure inputs to obtain technical advice, and for processing and marketing of the produce. They can organise themselves under village cooperative societies. Contract farming must ensure that approved inputs at subsidised rates are given to the farmers. They must be adequately compensated in case of crop failures. They should also be given remunerative prices for the produce by reducing the share of the middle man which presently is even more that the share received by the producer. We also have to encourage organic farming in order to improve quality of the produce and reducing the cost of production. It will also help in protecting the environment.
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Delhi Durbar Union
Home Minister Shivraj Patil inaugurated South Asia’s largest telecom show, Mobile Asia, much to the surprise of many. Even the minister felt quite out of place amidst the latest gizmos. He drew a parallel between the telecom revolution and the entry of private players in wrist watches, which resulted in bemused looks and raised eyebrows, especially among the foreign delegates present in large numbers. Patil’s speech was making little sense to those indulging in SMS, MMS, bluetooth and dual bands. The minister said the industry should make efforts in such a way that every Indian should have two mobile phones! As he went round stalls flashing the latest mobiles, with their innovative features being explained by eye-catching models in skimpy dresses, the telecom players started the lobbying process. One telecom company official explained the logic behind Patil’s presence. With FDI having been enhanced from 49 to 74 per cent in this sector and a section of leaders in the government opposing it on security concerns, the show was intended to apprise Patil of the situation and win him over. The results will be known in January when the extended deadline comes up for review.
Still waiting for External Affairs
Minister Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is yet to induct a cabinet rank External Affairs minister, and the heat is being felt by various other ministries as several bilateral trade projects with several countries are being delayed. The Petroleum and Power ministers find themselves in a bind with the mandarins in the EAM allegedly using their position to stall decisions on important matters. The other day the Petroleum ministry had to face the ire of the MEA officials when no agreement was signed during the two-day visit of the Kazakhstan Petroleum minister. The Kazakh minister insisted on India giving an assurance of supporting his country’s entry to the World Trade Organisation, in return for providing concessions and rights to the ONGC Videsh Ltd to explore oil reserves in that country. In the absence of an External Affairs minister, Petroleum minister Murli Deora was in no position to make any commitment. Earlier, the babus in the MEA had scuttled the move to import gas from Myanmar via Bangladesh, which wants India to offer transit routes for trade with Bhutan and Nepal. Similarly, a decision on some multipurpose hydel projects in Nepal and Bhutan has been delayed because the Power Ministry could not move forward without the active support of the External Affairs ministry. Both the Petroleum and Power ministries are keenly waiting the appointment of a cabinet rank EAM for speeding up decisions on these projects.
Fishy fight against dengue While the national capital is in the grip of dengue and chikungunya, even remedial measures being taken to prevent the deadly disease are influenced by VVIPs. Many dengue affected areas in the capital are waiting for primary steps like fumigation, while municipal authorities are working overtime to please political bigwigs. If sources in the municipal corporation are to be believed, a particular kind of fish that eliminates mosquito larvae in a water body have been released in stagnant pools and other water bodies in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s residence and Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit’s house. Extensive fumigation is also to be undertaken at the Congress Headquarters in the heart of Delhi. If you are not a VVIP, you have to wait for your turn.
Confident Mayawati After the death of Bahujan Samaj Party founder Kanshiram, Mayawati firmly believes that she will not only be the next chief minister of Uttar Pradesh but also play an increasingly bigger role in national politics. Till her mentor was alive, she was a trifle constrained as her moves were bound to be scrutinised within the framework of Kanshiram’s philosophy. But now she is on her own. Kanshiram’s family cannot create problems for her, which they used to do by going to the court on various issues. Knowing fully well that her political battle is with Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi party, Mayawati is already wooing Brahmins and Muslims which in her calculations would enough to beat her arch rival at the hustings. Contributed by R Suryamurthy, Manoj Kumar, S
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He is called the Merciful (al-Rahim)-gives a good deeds of His creatures and does not waste any one’s effort. —The Koran If we call him the Father of all, then why do we not realise our brotherhood? —The Upanishadas
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