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Of the
babus, for the babus Containing polio Tarnished gold |
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Parliament is not for disrupting
Hasten slowly
Groping for convergence Manmohan, not Pervez, given honour of addressing ‘Diet’ Delhi Durbar
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Of the babus, for the babus WHAT does Punjab need the most? More IAS officers of the Chief Secretary grade, of course! The financially challenged state has given the coveted scale to five officers of the 1974 batch. That means that there are now some 14 of them with the Chief Secretary rank and the state now has as many as seven police officers of the rank of Director-General of Police. When Mr K.R. Lakhanpal had become Chief Secretary, all those senior to him had also been given the rank. All this gives a new meaning to the word “top heavy”. As anyone who knows a bit of physics, a pyramid which is too heavy at the top can topple over. But don’t be alarmed. Such aberrations are sought to be set right by ingenious ways. For all one knows, more persons may be appointed down the line or kicked upstairs accordingly. That is how it has been going on for far too long. The ever-higher climb on the totem pole is managed in two ways. One, if one person is promoted over the head of others, all senior to him also are given the higher scale. That seems a strange logic, considering that if a junior is promoted, that is an indirect admission that those above him were lacking in some way. They need less, not more, salary. Secondly, there is the inter-services rivalry. Last month, the Punjab Government promoted four ADGPs to the rank of DGP. That “destroyed” the delicate IAS-IPS balance, which has now been sought to be restored by extending a similar courtesy to IAS officers. In such a tug of war, both sides win; only the tax-paying public is the loser. As if that is not enough, there is also a talk that the salaries of IAS officers should be commensurate with those prevailing in the private sector. Certainly, but are they willing to accept accountability and the hire-and-fire policy that obtains in the business houses? The utter mess that the babus have caused in some departments and corporations would have got some of them the sack long time ago had they been sailing in the same boat as their counterparts in the private sector. Nor could they have dreamt of getting the higher scale on a junior superseding them. |
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Containing polio DESPITE a commendable nationwide campaign and hard efforts on the ground to eliminate the polio virus, the crippling disease is very much around and is rather spreading, particularly in Haryana. At least 15 polio cases have been reported in Haryana this year against zero last year. That ranks the state third in the country after Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in the number of reported polio cases. Himachal Pradesh has lost its case for being a polio-free state after the discovery of one case in Kulu district. Though better placed than Haryana, Punjab has reported six cases of polio this year. Having recorded 522 fresh cases of polio, India itself is in the not so pleasant company of Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan, the three countries which are still polio-stricken. If despite a massive media blitzkrieg led by Amitabh Bachchan, the “do-boond” campaign has floundered, reasons are not entirely unknown and beyond reach. These range from lack of enough vaccine stocks to rumours of the vaccine making children impotent, believed particularly by certain Muslim families in UP. Vaccination efforts too are not foolproof and genuine. Shockingly, even in a place as close as Chandigarh a monitoring team found in many houses, marked as “covered” for polio, children were not administered the oral drops. World Bank monitors have found vaccine vials floating on water at many places in Haryana. Such instances put a question mark on the official claims of achieving 100 percent success during the immunisation drive. It is an arduous task, no doubt. Hardships faced by the health staff are understandable as there are still parents who do not come out on their own, but have to be “dug out” for getting their children vaccinated. In view of the increased cases, experts suggest, the number of pulse polio rounds should be increased to provide all left-out children protection from the virus. |
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Tarnished
gold THE ebullience, energy and abundant talent that Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi have brought to their game of tennis have only been matched by the bitter feuds and conflicts that have marked their partnership over the years. It is typical of them that they should hand India a handsome gold at the Asian Games in Doha, only to follow it with a blistering backhand to the effect that India can forget about them defending their gold medal in the next Olympics in Beijing. Any happiness that fans may have had at their decision to play together at Doha after their long estrangement has now vanished in thin air. While sport and emotionalism often seem to go together, India’s most successful tennis partnership could have done without these ugly spats. Bhupathi’s reported complaints about his treatment at the hands of Coach Nandan Bal and Leander do sound childish, but so do the alleged comments made about him. Leander and Mahesh may indeed have their problems, but fans certainly have the right to expect that they can put them aside for the nation, and the good of Indian tennis. No one can force a genuine reconciliation. It is up to them to decide that there is something more at stake in their partnership than settling personal scores. The spat has taken the sheen off the double success India has had, with Leander also winning the mixed doubles with Sania Mirza. Sania herself, after a creditable run to the final, had to settle for silver. Nevertheless, the team can afford some celebrations, and also look ahead to taking the Indian game forward. There is talent waiting in the wings, and the Indian tennis management should ensure that these get their day in the sun. One star pair may be going down, but let us see if we can create another. |
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Proper words in proper places, make the true definition of style. — Jonathan Swift
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Parliament is not for disrupting
ONCE again with gusto the BJP — with only a few Shiv Sena MPs tagged on to it — has been back to its dismal old game of disrupting Parliament, and simultaneously boycotting the Speaker. This time around the convenient excuse for obstruction was Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s statement on the need to “ensure that minorities, particularly the Muslim minority, are empowered to share equitably in the fruits of development. They must have the first claim on resources”. To any impartial observer, it was clear that while he had put undoubted emphasis on the Muslim minority, it was the “upliftment” of all minorities that he was talking about, specifically cataloguing the “SCs/STs, OBCs, minorities (presumably Muslims, Sikhs, etc.), and women and children”. Yet, BJP leaders have interpreted his statement as “appeasement of Muslims” and an attempt to play the “politics of vote banks”. They are, in fact, making out that the Prime Minister — “driven” by the Sachar report and the approaching assembly elections in the key state of U.P. — has made the welfare of Muslims the “first charge” on the Consolidated Fund of India. However misleading, the BJP has every right to hold and propagate its views. But, in heaven’s name, should not the main Opposition party have called Dr Manmohan Singh to account on this score through a hard-hitting debate in Parliament, instead of taking the absurd stand that until he “apologises” for this “improper” and “divisive” statement, the saffron party would not allow Parliament to function? Mercifully, that situation has changed. Parliament is functioning, and the boycott of the Speaker has also ended. But the question is: for how long? The question arises because over long years raucous noise, provocative slogans and mutual abuse, climaxed by the lemming-like rush to the well of the House, rather than orderly functioning, have become the standard parliamentary practice. Since the short winter session began, the two Houses have been disrupted at least half a dozen times. Few could have forgotten that the BJP, having lost power to the Congress-led Alliance, disrupted an entire session in 2004. Consequently, this country had the dubious distinction of passing the republic’s Budget without a minute’s discussion! Gone are the days when the debates and decorum in Indian Parliament used to win international admiration. The “majesty of Parliament” that Jawaharlal Nehru once spoke of ended, alas, with his era. If the world’s largest democracy has failed to mature in even six decades there are several reasons for it, not least the fact that winning elections, by hook or by crook, has become the be-all and end-all of the democratic process in India. That democracy also entails reasoned debate, tolerance of dissent, and eventual acceptance of the decision backed by the majority hasn’t registered on the political class. A great many of Indian legislators have risen to their present positions through virulent agitation. For them Parliament is but an extension of their normal arena — the street. Top leaders of all political parties, without exception, have failed to inculcate the parliamentary spirit among their followers. For them it is enough to observe the form of democracy and let the substance take care of itself. Nothing underscores this point more vividly than what happens in Parliament every time the government tries to introduce the Women’s Reservation Bill. Ironically, every single party professes to support the Bill, as it grudgingly accepts that women are also an oppressed and exploited minority. But no sooner does a minister stand up to introduce the legislation that proposes to reserve a third of seats in Parliament and State Assemblies for women than the customary rush to the well of the House and barracking begins. During the current session a minister had confidently announced that the Women’s Bill would certainly be introduced. But he had to retract immediately as several partners in the ruling United Progressive Alliance sent word that they would not support that the Bill’s introduction in its “present form”. When, in 1997, the then Prime Minister, Mr I.K. Gujral, had committed his government to this Bill, the president of his own party, Mr Sharad Yadav, had repudiated him on the spot. Told to be respectful to the Prime Minister, Mr Yadav had replied, “Prime Minister hain, Bhagwan tau nahin (he is Prime Minister, not God)”. In handling the issue over which the current crisis has arisen, the performance of the Congress, the core of the ruling coalition, has been far from dexterous. It made absolutely no effort to forestall the controversy that was bound to arise over the Prime Minister’s pronouncement on so sensitive a subject. When the uproar did begin the Prime Minister’s Office issued a strongly worded statement blaming the media for “deliberate and mischievous misinterpretation” of his remarks. Evidently, no one from the party organisation knew about this development. Otherwise, responsible party leaders, including a Union minister, would not have described the clarification as “unnecessary”. Two factors — about which something ought to have been done during the last two and a half years but evidently hasn’t been — are at work here. The first is the composition of the PMO. Unlike in the past when the Prime Minister’s Secretariat was headed by men like P.N. Haksar, P.N. Dhar, V. Shankar, P.C. Alexander, N.N. Vohra and Brajesh Mishra, the present PMO is full of men and women of ability but has no one with an understanding of the country’s intensely complex politics. This glaring deficiency is aggravated by the second factor, the obvious lack of synergy between the apolitical PMO and the Congress party establishment. Every tragedy has some comic relief. The leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Mr L.K. Advani, has provided it during the ongoing doleful drama. In a long TV interview, he declared that in the next parliamentary poll in 2009, he would be the prime ministerial candidate of the BJP-led Opposition. He was also quoted as having said that the most respected BJP leader and former Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, would not endorse his candidature but this, too, is now dubbed “distortion by the media”. Yet, Mr Advani based his claim to the top job on the parliamentary tradition, according to which, the leader of the Opposition “is the Prime Minister in waiting”. One must respectfully ask him whether there is only parliamentary tradition and convention that his party would follow and trample all others under
foot.
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Hasten slowly
CHANGE is the only constant in nature. Managing change remains a big challenge for individuals and organisations alike in all spheres of life. So someone suggested that change with continuity would be the best bet. That means one should embrace change but slowly and steadily. Slow and steady wins the race, goes an old saying. Pause and ponder, and you will find that evolution of life was spread over aeons. Countless predecessors of homo sapiens bear ample testimony to the mother Nature’s creativity culminating in (wo) man who is working overtime to unravel all Her mysteries. Animals and plants grow slowly. Weathers change slowly. We are told that one who breathes slowly lives longer. Slow blow of wind is always welcome. Yogic exercises should be done at a slow pace; slower the better. Eat slowly to chew well so that salivation initiates the digestion process and intestines are spared the extra effort. Daanton ka kam aanton se mat karvaao, said the sages. The biological clock ticks slowly. Speak slowly so that you don’t have to think after, rather than before. A child learns slowly. A patient recovers slowly. Relations develop slowly. India’s slow-paced economic reforms have been largely successful. This elephant escaped the crisis that the fast-paced Asian tigers got sucked into a few years ago. We haven’t reversed a single reform measure in the last 15 years. It is a different matter that we need more reforms, not less. There is no use hurrying. Haste makes waste. You pass by more than you overtake. He who pours water hastily into a bottle spills more than goes in. Hasty climbers have sudden falls. Composer Igor Stravinsky’s publisher urged him to hurry the completion of a new composition. “Hurry !” he cried angrily. “I never hurry. I have no time to hurry.” Pieces of art, craft and classics were never created in a hurry. Institutions are built brick by brick by men and women of calibre and competence over the years. Rome was not built in a day. When an umpire signals a batsman out setting off a controversy, a slow-motion replay of the clip clears the confusion. Those who live life in the fast lane know the consequences that await them. It is like fast driving which thrills but kills the bystanders if not the driver. When I warned my boozer friend that liquor worked as a slow poison, he replied, “So who is in a hurry ?” Perhaps, death is nature’s way of telling you to slow down. Growing popularity of yoga and increasing interest in spiritualism are pointers in that direction. To sum up : Slowly, silently, now the moon …….. Walks the night in her silver shoon. If still you wish to hasten, hasten
slowly. |
Groping for convergence TEXTBOOKS are often the first introduction to the world. A lesson in a school-level Malayalam textbook, extracted from a book by K.P. Kesava Menon, founder-editor of the Malayalam daily Mathrubhoomi, was my first introduction to Japan. In the lesson, Menon describes his horrifying experience when he was arrested by the Japanese at Singapore, confined to solitary imprisonment and released after the Second World War. Needless to say, it did not show the Japanese in a good light. Every time the Chinese make protesting sounds about some of the school textbooks in Japan, which reportedly gloss over the cruelty the Chinese experienced when large parts of their country came under Japanese occupation, I remember Menon’s powerful writing. While Germany has apologised to one and all for the Holocaust, Japan has been reticent when it comes to apologising to the Chinese, who consider visits like the one to the ultra-nationalist Yasukuni shrine by then Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone as adding insult to injury. To come back to Menon, he was a staunch Congressman who fell out with Netaji Bose when his Indian National Army sought to align itself with the Japanese in his belief that it was the surest and easiest way to attain Independence. Call it controversial, Japan thus played a role, good enough to be a footnote, in the history of India’s independence struggle. While suspicion is the predominant feeling the Japanese and the Chinese have towards each other, there is remarkable bonhomie between India and Japan. But such feelings are not reflected in the economic relations among the three countries. Take the case of Japan and China. Their trade turnover is of the order of 65 billion US dollars. At the rate at which the economic relations between the two countries grow, Sino-Japanese trade will overtake Japanese-US trade in under 10 years. During Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s flight to Tokyo on Wednesday National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan mildly referred to the fact that Japan underestimated India’s potential to emerge as an economic giant of Asia. He, perhaps, had in mind the uncooperative attitude Japan adopted towards India’s decision to harness nuclear power for its defence and energy needs as underscored by Pokharan II. Such an approach is manifest in other areas too. Take the case of Maruti, which is considered a major Indo-Japanese success story. But how did Suzuki behave? It was expected to transfer its technology to the Indian subsidiary in a phased manner. But even after two decades, it continued to import the fuel injection pump from the parent company on the assumption that an Indian firm could not be trusted to manufacture it. Today many car manufacturers outsource production of their parts to Indian companies, which have been able to maintain the quality standards set by the car firms concerned. Such a condescending attitude did not bode well for Indo-Japanese business cooperation. The result is there for all to see. While Japanese goods are still considered of better quality vis-à-vis Korean products, the Indian market is flush with Korean products ranging from luxury cars to washing machines to plasma television to computer hardware. In short, the Japanese missed the bus. Small wonder that India-Japanese trade relations are nothing to write home about. The only noteworthy feature of their economic relations is that the volume of trade has been growing from 3701 million dollars in 2002-03 to 6011 million dollars in 2005-06. But then it is not even one-tenth of the Sino-Japanese trade. Allowance also has to be made for the fact that while India has had diplomatic and trade relations with Japan since it began rebuilding itself after the Second World War, China and Japan established relations only in the early seventies. Except for a brief while when Japan imposed sanctions against India in the wake of Pokharan II, their relationship has been free from any irritants except for the attitudinal problem. Japanese presence in India is confined to Suzuki, Honda, Delhi Metro and a few other companies like Sony, Toshiba and Fujitsu. This is despite India’s Look East policy. For all the claims that Japan got its Buddhism from India (No, it reached there via China) and the traditional nature of their relations, there is little convergence of views on a host of issues of concern to the region. It may be a mere coincidence that the original plan of the Prime Minister to arrive here on Wednesday from Cebu in the Philippines after meeting some of the heads of states who attended the 12th ASEAN Summit meeting did not fructify. India did not have much control over the developments that led to the postponing of Dr Manmohan Singh’s visit to the Philippines. Nonetheless, the fact remains that India has missed the ASEAN bus. South East Asia has emerged as a landmass of immense economic opportunities. China has been doing everything possible to take advantage of the situation, both politically and economically. To cite just one instance, while China has accomplished what many thought at one time as impossible, the building of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, which stretches 1956 kms from Xining to Lhasa, we are aeons away from building even a small stretch of railway, which will connect Udhampur with Srinagar and Baramulla. While China is going ahead with plans to link by rail Kunming in China with Chittagong in Bangladesh via Mandalay in Myanmar, Chinese and Sikkimese traders have only complaints to make about the way India manages the recently opened Nathu La trade post. While ASEAN has achieved a sense of cohesion, the SAARC experiment is beset by constant bickering and member nations complain of the Kashmir baggage they have to will-nilly carry. The possibility of the Northeast of India becoming a fulcrum of trade in the region is not even thought of, let alone exploited. China has already started reaping the advantages of putting geopolitical rivalries on the backburner to strengthen economic relations in the neighbourhood. We remain bystanders as economic integration of the region passes us by. If China, Japan and India join hands, they will become the pre-eminent economic power in the world, which is easier said than accomplished. There are of course, some signs of progress on this count. The new Japanese Prime Minister is known to be a great votary of friendship with India. The range of subjects that are sought to be tackled by the two prime ministers during Dr Manmohan Singh’s current visit to Japan is a welcome trend. Prime Minister Abe is nostalgic about India which he visited a few months before he became the country’s leader. In other words, there is reason to believe that India-Japan relations will soon undergo a change for the better. |
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Manmohan, not Pervez, given honour of addressing ‘Diet’
PRIME Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh is currently on a four-day visit of Japan, and therefore, it would be interesting to make a comparison of this visit with a similar visit undertaken by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf more than four years ago. Manmohan Singh today was given the rare honour of addressing a joint session of the
Japanese Diet (Parliament), an opportunity not provided to or fitted into President Musharraf's agenda during his visit to Tokyo from March 12 to 15, 2002. The focus of Thursday’s address by the Indian Prime Minister was on the need for enhancing and expanding the bilateral economic partnership between the two countries, and of realising the larger objective of creating an “Asian Economic Community, and arc of advantage and prosperity across Asia”. In Musharraf’s case, the focus was on establishing a security dialogue between Islamabad and Tokyo, besides promoting a dialogue on disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation. Pakistan's economic cooperation with a dynamically-advancing and developed Japan took a backseat as it were, and it would not be incorrect to say that it appeared to be mentioned in passing. While Manmohan Singh used his speech to emphasise the fact that both India and Japan were practicing democracies - one being the largest in the world, and the other being the most developed in the world, President Pervez Musharraf was categorically told by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi that Tokyo was ready to cooperate in efforts towards “democratising” Pakistan, and ready to dispatch an electoral observer mission, an announcement that was welcomed by Musharraf. Musharraf’s visit was primarily undertaken to celebrate 50 years of diplomatic ties with Japan, whereas Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit is more business-like, focussed on kickstarting the Festival of India in Tokyo and other cultural events to mark the India-Japan Friendship Year and the India-Japan Tourism Exchange Year in 2007. While it is expected that both Manmohan Singh and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe will exchange notes on the US-India civil nuclear cooperation deal, given that Tokyo is a key member of the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), and that its vote in favour will be crucial to New Delhi’s chances of accessing that cooperation from Washington, Koizumi’s interaction with Musharraf in this regard, stressed on the need for disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation, and to convince Pakistan to be a signatory to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). The threat of terrorism has found mention in both the trips. While Manmohan Singh described the menace as a common and complex threat affecting the harmony and fabric of open societies like India and Japan, Musharraf and Koizumi both acknowledged that there was need to develop fresh resolve and to choosing the “right path” to fight the menace despite immense difficulties. Musharraf used his four-day visit in 2002 to explain to the Japanese leadership the three key challenges facing Pakistan (1) Afghanistan to the West (2) India to the East and (3) The need for activating a reforms process in Pakistan to eradicate extremism and achieve economic revival. Koizumi proposed the implementation of high-level consultations in economic areas, including economic cooperation with Pakistan, but appeared to include a rider that Islamabad needs to democratise successfully before such aid was Musharraf secured an aid package of 300 million dollars in 2002. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, according to media reports, would be possibly looking for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Tokyo. As far as Overseas Development Assistance from Japan is concerned, Manmohan Singh today graciously acknowledged that India was Tokyo’s largest recipient of such assistance, where as Musharraf had to request Koizumi to restore ODA levels to the pre-1998 levels to ensure both trade expansion and industrial revitalisation. India -Pakistan ties were also discussed during Musharraf's visit in 2002, but may not assume centre-stage during the interaction between Manmohan Singh and Abe, as both India and Pakistan are engaged in mending their ties through a composite dialogue process activated in 2004, a step Japan and the rest of the international community has welcomed wholeheartedly.
— ANI |
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Delhi Durbar THE customary ceremonial farewell scheduled on the even of the Prime Minister's official visit to Japan was cancelled as it clashed with his flight time. Sources say that such ceremonial farewells have been cancelled at least a dozen times by the Prime Minister when he has to take an early morning flight. Dr Manmohan Singh does not want his Cabinet collaegues and others to be put to any inconvenience. In fact, the PM has done away with the system of ceremonial farewell at the airport to economise on the time of his ministers and secretaries, and instead has such departure ceremonies at his official residence at 7, Race Course road. According to protocol, the ministers, senior secretaries and all the three service Chiefs line up at the departure ceremony. Solace and inspiration Films and cinema have been a source of inspiration for many political parties and their leaders. Human resources material has been drawn from Bollywood, Tollywood and the cinema from the South. Many actors and actresses have come to Parliament with some taking the Lok Sabha route and the others coming to the Upper House. Leader of the Opposition L K Advani fondly remembers a film which he saw with former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee after a serious debacle of his party in the Muncipal elections. Both of them went to Delite cinema, bought the tickets and entered the dark precincts of the hall as the film had just begun. Very soon they realised that the title of the film was Phir Subah Hogi (Good times will come again). From that they drew solace. Rajya Sabha MP Hema Malini is showing one of her latest films "Baabul" to her MP colleagues hoping that they will all draw inspiration.
Karunakaran’s nightmare The ruling Left Democratic Front in Kerala expelled the Nationalist Congress party from its fold, which has left the old war horse and former Chief Minister K Karunakaran once again in a bind. Karunakaran's Democratic Indira Congress had merged with the NCP. The move has virtually thrown Karunakaran into the backwaters. The LDF maintained it could carry on the affairs of the government without the two NCP legislators as they had a more than comfortable strength in the assembly. On its part the LDF stressed that the decision to expel the NCP from the LDF was unanimous as the CPI and the RSP had all along objected to Karunakaran's and his followers inclusion in the Left camp. Within no time of the NCP's expulsion from the LDF, the Congress said it would welcome the NCP into its fold minus Karunakaran and his son Muralidharan. Contributed by Tripti Nath, Vibha Sharma and R Suryamurthy |
Some attain His union, others depart in separation, all that He wishes does happen. Who else can do a thing? — The Vedas The victorious king cannot give way to despair on counting the remaining strength of his people. He must stand up and work towards rebuilding the kingdom so that people can flourish and prosper. — The Mahabharata Let none deceive another; Or despite any being in any state. Let none through anger or ill-will Wish harm upon another. —The Buddha |
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