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Vote for clean candidates Air Force of the future |
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Birlas fly high Take a very bold, calculated risk India Inc is on a shopping spree, picking up major companies from around the world. Ten days ago it bought the Anglo-Dutch company Corus for $12 billion in the biggest-ever deal by an Indian company. Then Suzlon Energy acquired a German company, Repower Systems, for $1.3 billion.
Arrogance of power
The racial divide
Iran strikes conciliatory tone on nuclear programme US can be “stupid” but also “a force for good” Delhi Durbar
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Vote for clean candidates After weeks of deafening and at times jarring noises, an eerie silence has descended on Punjab on the polling day. That is not merely because of the anxiety caused by the extreme suspense, but also due to the fact that this has been arguably the most bitter campaign to date. Even responsible leaders thought nothing of using the language which can make a stable-hand go red in the face. Not just individual politicians, established political parties too adopted exceptionally intemperate rhetoric, whether in their crass advertisements inserted in newspapers, or posters and political rallies. All this has left a bad taste in the mouths of sensible citizens, which may last way beyond the Election Commission-ordained end to the bitter election campaign. The campaigning was not sullied by dirty words alone. Huge sums of money - most of it unaccounted perhaps - were also poured into the electioneering, the model code of conduct notwithstanding. The Election Commission has sought to discipline some of the offenders, but the violations were too numerous to be tackled fully. And anyone who thinks that liquor and intoxicants were not widely used to woo voters lives in a make-believe world, not in Punjab. Parties were expected to show the door to the tainted candidates. They did, but the entry door, instead of the exit. One just wants to believe for the sake of democracy that the voters of Punjab will be able to make a sensible choice despite this miasma created by the self-serving leaders and parties. Their job is not going to be easy. It will be too much to expect them to pick up the best and the honest. A dirty, mud-slinging campaign does not throw up candidates with integrity and character. Perhaps the voters may have to exercise their mind to think about who to vote for, but it is worth voting for a “clean” candidate who is in the field not for power or money but for guarding public interest. If they don’t, well, the Punjab Assembly may have to brace itself for witnessing what the people have experienced to their horror these past few weeks. |
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Air Force of the future India is out shopping for military aviation hardware in a big way, and it was little surprise that the recently concluded air-show at Bangalore was the biggest ever. While the Americans expectedly dominated the show with a huge presence both on and off the tarmac, the Russians and Europeans were very much in the scramble. The Indian Air Force’s projected order of 126 multi-role combat aircraft (MRCA) has had all manufacturers waiting with bated breath for the official Request for Proposal (RFP), and it was with some disappointment that they made their way back without it. Studies show that India plans to spend at least $ 35 billion over the next 20 years buying a variety of fighters, helicopters and transport planes. India has decided to buy an additional 40 Sukhoi-30 MKIs, to add to the 50 in the stables, and the 140 that will role out of the assembly line at HAL, Nasik. But there continues to be a question mark of the 126 MCRA order - all that the Defence Minister would say on the RFP is “soon”. The ministry would do well to get the process underway, as there might well be serious challenges ahead in the “domestic production” component of the order. The Defence Procurement Policy insists on a 30 per cent off set clause, stipulating that at least 30 per cent of the worth of the order should be contracted out in India. What is more, reports indicate that the bulk of the 126 aircraft order will be assembled here. An idea of what the IAF of the future will be like is emerging. While we will field 230 Sukhoi-30 MKIs, India is also keen on a partnership with Sukhoi for its new “fifth generation” fighter plane. So, the Sukhois will form the backbone of the strike force, while the 126 order might well focus on fielding a lighter class of aircraft. But even as we buy big, we would do well to remember that we cannot afford to continuously lag behind in developing indigenous capability. It is not how much we can buy, but what we can make on our own, that makes for a superpower. We should use these purchases to catalyse domestic technology. |
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Birlas fly high India Inc is on a shopping spree, picking up major companies from around the world. Ten days ago it bought the Anglo-Dutch company Corus for $12 billion in the biggest-ever deal by an Indian company. Then Suzlon Energy acquired a German company, Repower Systems, for $1.3 billion. Now comes the report of the Aditya Birla group picking up a US aluminium company called Novelis for $6 billion. If by acquiring Corus, Tata Steel has become the fifth largest steel producer in the world, the Atlanta-based Novelis will catapult the Birla-owned Hindalco to be the world’s fifth largest aluminium maker. The world’s top steel producer is also a company headed by a Britain-based Indian, Lakshmi Mittal. Kumar Mangalam Birla is just 39, but he proposes to spend Rs 26,400 crore to buy a company that is number one maker of flat-rolled aluminium products in Europe, South America and Asia and number two in North America. Novelis, which will land Hindalco among the Fortune 500 companies, has its operations in 11 countries and customers like Coca-Cola, Ford and General Motors. The Birla group has paid 16.5 per cent more than the last closing price of its share. Currently, the company is making losses due to some contractual obligations and has a debt liability of $2.4 billion. It is expected to start making profits from 2010. The stock markets, driven by short-term considerations, are not impressed by the deal. The shopping spree by Indian business houses is not reckless or emotion-based. Months of negotiations had gone into these deals and the deal-makers are not fly-by-night operators, who at one time had flourished in the Indian corporate world. They are among the most respected industrialists who are taking massive risks, which once seemed unthinkable for Indian business houses. But that is what liberalisation and globalisation have done: unleash the hidden potential of India. |
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In politics a man must learn to rise above principles. — American proverb
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Arrogance of power
IT is not quite the Iron Curtain speech of Winston Churchill in March 1946 at Fulton in Missouri, but President Vladimir Putin’s address to the annual security forum in Munich last Saturday stunned American and other western listeners. Some wondered if it was the beginning of a new Cold War. Senator John McCain, a US presidential hopeful, was ready with his retort and the White House expressed surprise and disappointment over the speech. What President Putin did say were some home truths — that the US disregarded the rule of law in international diplomacy to have its way in the world, that it had been seeking to re-divide Europe, that NATO had placed troops on the borders of Russia and was seeking deployment of missiles, that America’s propensity to use force led to much bloodshed without achieving its objectives, that helping countries on Russia’s periphery was a method of imposing its own preferences on others. The candidness of President Putin’s remarks was certainly striking, but there was nothing earthshaking or revolutionary in what he said. But the timing of the remarks was of considerable interest and his choice of a security forum that has become something of an annual event for making innovative policy statements. In the past six years of the George W. Bush presidency, the ideology of neoconservatism has run its course. The terrorist attacks on US soil on September 11, 2001, led to the proclamation of the strategic doctrine of 2002, in effect giving America the licence to attack a country of its choice on a pre-emptive and preventive basis. And it was proclaimed that the US aim was to prevent one nation or group of nations attaining the power to match America’s might any time in future. The attack on Afghanistan was more consensual than the invasion of Iraq with “a coalition of the willing”, followed by years of occupation in a daily worsening situation. European heavyweights were divided from the United States on Iraq, and as the carnage in Iraq continued — Iraqis killing each other and targeting American troops — the argument in America swung to ways of extricating its troops out of the country. President Putin probably felt that at a time America was enmeshed in Iraq and its armed forces were feeling the strain of an extended war, it was time to set the record straight. Thanks to the prosperity brought about by high energy prices and the political consolidation the President has achieved, he felt confident enough to call a spade a spade. At the same time, it was a proclamation announcing the re-emergence of Russia on the world stage. America had celebrated the end of the Cold War as its victory over the Soviet Union and its brand of communism. A diminished Russia was confused and tried to find a new mooring in American capitalism, doled out in generous doses by US advisers. The experiment failed even as robber barons collected their billions as the then somewhat modest figure of Mr Vladimir Putin was picked by the ailing and erratic Boris Yeltsin to succeed him. And then began the Russian march to stability and prosperity. Does President Putin’s speech represent a benchmark in the post-Cold War era? If the manner in which the United States employed Nine Eleven to shape and pronounce its policy towards the world was a marker in the evolution of international affairs, Munich 2007 is a signal of the end of America’s free run in the world. Although Senator McCain protested that we were already living in a multipolar world, the US administration’s instincts and policies give enough evidence of its unilateralist behaviour. From the Russian point of view, the post-Cold War years have spawned an unsatisfactory world. Former parts of the Soviet Union or its allies have been incorporated into the European Union and NATO. And a Cold War organisation, NATO, has not merely been expanded but is being shaped into an extended non-United Nations military force to serve western interests under America’s leadership. The rival concept of a European Union military arm for rapid deployment in emergencies seems to be dying a slow death. In realpolitik terms, power shows and the United States has unmatched military power combined with economic muscle and an exportable culture. But as the American dilemma in Iraq has demonstrated, one nation alone cannot rule the world, to the disregard of other nations’ and peoples’ wishes. The expansion of the European Union by taking in former communist states might have strengthened America’s policies on the continent, but they cannot counter the dissatisfaction of peoples and nations with the tenor of US behaviour and actions. President Putin is now suggesting that America cannot always have its own way in the world, that international laws apply to both the weak and the strong, that multilateral agencies such as the United Nations should authorise the use of force, that Russia should also have an effective voice in the conduct of international affairs. He has, in effect, put America on notice that its days as the great hegemon are numbered. President Putin’s intervention in Munich does not amount to a return to Cold War antagonism; rather, it is an attempt at a recalibration of the international order. It was American recognition of the merits of multilateral approaches at the end of World War II that led to the formation of the United Nations and other organisations. The mechanism of the veto gave the US, Russia and other Great Powers of those days, with China sneaking in, the assurance that their vital interests would be protected. In addition, America always reserved for itself privileges to act unilaterally it did not wish to grant others. The crisis in American policies under the Bush administration came to a head because of the brutal nature of the strategic doctrine it proclaimed in 2002 ostensibly as a reaction to the terrorist attacks of the previous year. In reality, it was a proclamation of triumphalism with the recognition that it had amassed greater power than any nation in history and it could rewrite the world’s destiny in accordance with the whims and interests of the United States. The concept of enlightened self-interest was thrown out of the window and American academics proclaimed themselves as denizens of the Second Roman Empire. The strains of hubris have now been dissolved in the bloody streets of
Iraq.
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The racial divide
When
a student of mine argued the other day that ‘’You cannot dismiss racism as big or small; acts of racism need not be manifested only in large scale riots, they can also be felt on a day to day basis,’’ I was reminded of a personal experience. Many years ago, I was traveling in a National Express coach in England from Northampton to Cambridge, when the driver suddenly applied the brakes on seeing me take a sandwich out of my bag. Virtually everybody on the bus was eating some sort of lunch. But coming up to me, he flung a rather rude remark: ‘’Please do not litter the bus.’’ I could have apologised with embarrassment and put away my sandwich and accepted his arrogance. But being the only Indian on that coach, I realised why I was being targeted. I retaliated by telling the driver that he was extremely discourteous and that I being a Visiting Professor at Oxford knew how to observe the civic sense, and that we in India travelled in far better air-conditioned buses compared with their terribly suffocating coaches. My harangue resulted in a prompt apology from him, and like a mouse, he retreated to his seat, never to cast a glance at me for the rest of the journey. He was stripped of his pomposity, ashamed of his manners. Retaliation, I feel, could be one way of reacting against racist conduct. I came out of the shadow of resistance, out of a world of rage into a world of uncomfortable realities, the realities that appear at such irreducible moments of realisation of the world of friction we live in. I fully understood this, having had an enthusiastic interest for over 30 years in Black literature and aesthetics, in race relations, in South Africa’s political life, the contribution of the African National Congress and by constantly remaining in close contact with Mandela’s career. Experiencing racism only at the hands of toilet-keepers or coach drivers, I had become immersed in the world of exiles and heroes, blacks and liberal whites, Edward Said and Chomsky, Alice Walker and bell hooks. I began to envision in their struggle for freedom and justice a dream for the future. I realised that in a product-oriented world where market values rule and racism is on the rise I had reached a delicate juncture through those quiet moments in the remaining part of the journey to Cambridge when self-discovery and diagnostic reflection brought me to realising the past horrors of racism in human history replete with violence and violation accompanied by dilemmas and compromises. The emotional damage of the painful past cast its long shadow on the
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Iran strikes conciliatory tone on nuclear programme TEHRAN, Iran – Tens of thousands of flag-waving Iranians converged on Azadi Square on Sunday to voice support for Iran’s bid for nuclear energy, as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed to press forward with the country’s uranium-enrichment program.
“When we suspend our activities, they will never let us resume them,” the president told a crowd of cheering, chanting supporters who alternately sang patriotic anthems and burned Uncle Sam-hatted effigies of President Bush. In his hourlong speech on the 28th anniversary of the Islamic revolution, when crowds each year assemble to commemorate the overthrow of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, it was expected that Ahmadinejad would announce progress on Iran’s uranium-enrichment program. But while Iran is said to be in the beginning stages of installing industrial-scale uranium-enrichment centrifuges at an underground site at Natanz, Ahmadinejad disclosed no advancements Sunday. Western nonproliferation specialists say the start-up has been hindered by technical problems, including difficulties operating the above-ground test centrifuges. Iran has hinted that it may try to set up much more advanced centrifuges than those being installed at Natanz, but there was no announcement of that. Ahmadinejad hinted that reports of new technological gains of an unspecified nature would come before April 9. Iranian officials have asserted a right to develop a civilian nuclear-power program, but the United States and other leading Western nations believe Iran is working on constructing a nuclear weapon. For all the flag waving, fist clenching and chants of “Death to America,” the crowd seemed somewhat subdued, as did the president. Hundreds wandered off in the middle of Ahmadinejad’s speech, and the subtext to the president’s address was that Iran intends to cooperate and is prepared for talks if the United States does not unilaterally set the terms. “Why are your nuclear sites operating 24 hours a day, and we have to stop ours? We are ready to negotiate, but in a fair atmosphere,” the president said. “Why do we have to suspend (enrichment) before negotiations?” He said Iran was committed to continuing full cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, including access by IAEA inspectors to Iran’s nuclear sites. In Munich, Germany, chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani struck a similarly conciliatory tone, asserting that Iran is prepared to settle all outstanding issues with the IAEA over the next three weeks. “Today we announce to you that the political will of Iran is aimed at the negotiated settlement of the case, and we don’t want to aggravate the situation in our region,” Larijani told a gathering of the world’s top security officials. He added that Iran is seeking harmonious relations with its neighbors in the Middle East. “That Iran is willing to threaten Israel is wrong,” Larijani said. “We pose no threat, and if we are conducting nuclear research and development, we are no threat to Israel. We have no intention of aggression against any country.” Streets on several sides of Azadi Square throughout Sunday morning were turned into rivers of people making their way toward the anniversary rally, most of them bused in by the government from government offices, factories and schools. But some came on their own, a few stopping to buy inflated Spider-Man and Barbie balloons along the way. “Please tell Mr. Bush: stay in your place, because you cannot do anything against this nation. If he tries to harm us, he will regret it,” said Fatimeh Youssefi, who came with her granddaughter. “We will defend our country to the day we are dead as martyrs.” “It’s our duty to come here for our country and our revolution, and to say that nuclear energy is our right,” said Mehdi Besharati, a 49-year-old government employee. “Why is it that the other countries can have nuclear energy but we can’t?” Ahmadinejad used the occasion to warn the United States about its continued presence in Iraq, although he did not address U.S. claims that Shiite-run Iran is aiding Shiite militias in its neighboring state. “The security of Iraq is our security. If there is no safety in Iraq, it means there is no safety in the entire neighborhood,” he said. By arrangement with LA Times-Washington Post
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US can be “stupid” but also “a force for good” MUNICH, Germany - Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Sunday sought to dismiss accusations by Russia’s president that a militaristic U.S. foreign policy was destabilizing global security, brushing aside the remarks as the “blunt speaking” of a fellow former spy. Speaking at an international security conference here less than 24 hours after the harangue by Vladimir V. Putin, Gates, who spent most of his career as a Soviet analyst at the CIA, made light of the charges, saying they reminded him of his former profession. “As an old Cold Warrior, one of yesterday’s speeches almost filled me with nostalgia for a less complex time,” Gates joked. “Almost.” Putin’s criticisms were among the harshest of his presidency, accusing the United States of ignoring international law to impose its will in all aspects of international affairs, spreading fear in smaller counties that has forced them into seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Gates did not address the charges directly but noted that he and Putin shared backgrounds as intelligence officers, where directness is highly valued. He added that his stint as head of Texas A&M University had taught him how to “be nice”. “I guess old spies have a habit of blunt speaking – however, I have been to re-education camp,” he said, drawing widespread laughs from an audience made up of senior U.S. and European officials. He also said he had accepted an invitation from Putin to visit Russia, adding: “One Cold War was quite enough.” The only substantive criticisms of Russia in his speech, which was largely devoted to pressuring European allies to live up to their commitments to NATO and the alliance’s mission in Afghanistan, was a passing reference to concerns over Russian arms sales and the use of energy resources for political coercion. Sergei Ivanov, the Russian defense minister who spoke shortly after Gates, largely chose to ignore the dispute, devoting his prepared remarks to the issue of countering international terrorism. Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, speaking on the same panel as Gates on Sunday, said Putin’s remarks Saturday illustrated why it was important to further enlarge NATO. The annual Munich Conference on Security Policy has become an increasingly influential gathering, used by both Americans and Europeans to take the temperature of the trans-Atlantic relationship. Since 2003, the meeting frequently has been packed with caustic accusations over the Iraq war and was dominated by Gates’ predecessor, Donald H. Rumsfeld, who used the platform to criticize Western European policies. Gates, attending his first Munich conference, made a brief but significant break from Rumsfeld in his prepared remarks, noting that in the past, “some have even spoken in terms of ‘old’ Europe versus ‘new”’ – a clear reference to Rumsfeld’s differentiation between Western European critics of the Iraq war and newer democracies of Eastern Europe who largely supported the 2003 invasion. “These characterizations belong to the past,” Gates said. In a question period after his speech, Gates acknowledged “we also have made some mistakes” that have harmed the U.S. reputation abroad. “There is no question in my mind that Guantanamo and some of the abuses that have taken place in Iraq have negatively impacted the reputation of the United States,” Gates said. He added that while he ideally would like to close the military prison in Cuba, long a sore point with European critics, there were “real terrorists” being held there. He added that such detainees would be tried in “legitimate” tribunals. “For the last century, one of the great assets the United States has had is that most people around the world felt that while we might from time to time do something stupid, we were a force of good around the world,” Gates said. “I believe a lot of people still believe that, and I think that what we have to focus on as we look to the future is strengthening that reputation.”
By arrangement with
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Delhi Durbar The victory of the Shiv Sena-BJP combine in the Mumbai civic elections has resulted in a blame game with Gurudas Kamat and Prabha Rao accusing Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, Narayan Rane and the Nationalist Congress Party for the poor performance of the party. On the other hand, the opposite camp asserts that the split in the secular vote ensured Shiv Sena’s victory. Rane, who was till recently in the Shiv Sena and knows the weakness and strengths of his erstwhile party, had called up Sharad Pawar thrice urging him to cement an alliance to defeat the Shiv Sena and the BJP.
Coke and water Look who is talking about water conservation – the soft drink major Coca Cola. The 2007 Coke calendar is all about water conservation and the propagation of ways to save it. The slogan for the month of February says : “wastage of water leads to its scarcity, so why not save every drop in the first place.” The month of March says “mankind reduces a huge river to a pathetic nullah...when will we learn to give back to nature what we take from it.” However, the calendar was distributed as late as February. The calendar was supposed to be have been released by Water Resources minister Saifuddin Soz since 2007 has been designated the water year. On January 22, the public relations company handling its account gathered photographers and mediapersons at the minister’s office in Sharam Shakti Bhawan. But apparently the minister backed out wanting to avoid any controversy.
Media scrambles At the press conference after the union cabinet’s decision approving the new Master Plan for the national capital, union Urban Development minister Jaipal Reddy faced a volley of questions prolonging the media interface. Consequently, union Finance minister P Chidambaram had to wait patiently outside the PIB conference hall for quite a while. The amiable Reddy was let go by the scribes only after he promised to talk at length again on the sensitive issue. Even as Chidambaram began his briefing about the decisions taken at the meeting of the Cabinet and the CCEA, there was a mad scramble to get hold of the press note on the populist decision of the government impacting the lives of millions of people and traders across the capital. This scramble went on for a good ten minutes and tempers ran high.
Classified venue The Indian Air Force had advertised widely both in the print as well as the electronic media for the international seminar on “Aerospace Power in Tomorrow’s World,” held on February 4-5. Considering the importance of the mega event, the IAF also put up hoardings at several important spots all over the capital. But nowhere did these hoardings mention where the meeting would actually take place, prompting a wag to dub it as classified information. Contributed by Satish Misra and Vibha Sharma
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Everybody must work. Otherwise the universal order would collapse. Even Shri Krishna, the self-realised one, worked to set an example to others so that they should not be confused by allusions to detachment and hence stop working.
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