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Pleasing
all, Lalu style Mulayam
wins, in a way |
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Bollywood
fails to excel
Wireless,
clueless
Talk to
moderates for peace in Kashmir Putin’s
vision of a multipolar world Delhi
Durbar
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Pleasing all, Lalu style Some
may like to describe Railway Minister Lalu Prasad’s fourth budget presented to Parliament as populist. It is actually a combination of populism and pragmatism. It is largely because of the Railway turnaround that has enabled the minister to be liberal in giveaways. In a self-congratulatory speech Mr Lalu Prasad announced 2 to 8 per cent cut in the passenger fares across the board and left the freight rates untouched. Women above 45 and senior citizens will have a priority in lower berth allotment. Commendably, there will be special coaches for the physically challenged with cushioned seats and toilets. Milkmen, vegetable vendors and small traders will also have special carriages. Coming in the backdrop of the recent blasts in the Samjhauta Express, the budget was expected to lay emphasis on passenger safety. The threat to security emanates not only just from terrorists, but also from ordinary criminals who board trains, harass passengers, occupy seats unauthorisedly and try to molest women. Many railway mishaps can also be easily blamed on staff negligence and indifference. What the Railways plans to do is not enough. It will set up 300 new model stations. Some stations will have CCTV sets and TTEs will be provided with palmtops. The whole work culture and staff mindset need a big change. The concessions have not been confined to the passengers. The industry is expected to be pleased with the freight rate cuts on petrol, diesel, iron ore and limestone. The promise of increased investment in container traffic, the start of three-storyed container trains and the continuing thrust on private-public partnership should also bring cheer to the industry. No wonder, the industry’s initial reaction has been positive. One should not grudge the praise heaped on Mr Lalu Prasad as a turnaround guru. It is indeed amazing that without raising the passenger fares and keeping the freight charges reasonable, the Railways under him is set to earn a profit before dividend of Rs 20,000 crore during the current fiscal. It is the same Railways that had defaulted on dividend payment and had a fund balance of only Rs 359 crore in 2001 against the current figure of Rs 16,000 crore. The average passenger fare per kilometre in India is less than half of that in China and many experts had recommended fare hikes to perk up the railway finances. Eight more Gharib Raths are on the way apart from 32 new trains, freight cars and some double-decker trains. Every year new trains are announced with fanfare, but the existing infrastructure is woefully inadequate to carry the additional burden. This leads to unusual delays in the running of trains as harried passengers suffer silently. The proposed construction of the Rs 30,000 crore dedicated freight corridor will ease the congestion to some extent, but by the time it comes up, growing traffic might again become unmanageable. The Railways should look far ahead instead of just responding to existing problems. Despite commendable progress on expansion, the Railways has often been hijacked by the vested interests. Railway ministers invariably tend to locate projects on political considerations rather than on the need and viability basis. In Bihar the Railways is seen as a source of employment. This tendency should end. Secondly, the Railways’ ongoing projects, notoriously delayed, leading to massive cost overruns, should be monitored closely at the top level and those responsible for unwarranted delays must be held accountable. It is not enough to celebrate one year as a “year of cleanliness”. Cleanliness along with punctuality will have to be the main priority of the Railways if it is to stop passengers from shifting to low-cost airlines where services are comparatively better. Why can’t the quality of food be improved? The Railways should confine itself to its core business and procure other necessities through outsourcing if it cannot make its own staff work efficiently due to the unions. Many passengers do not mind paying a little extra provided the journey is comfortable and secure and they reach their destination in time. In services the Railways still has miles to go.
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Mulayam wins, in a way UP
Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav has done it again. He has proved, as he did on January 25, on the floor of the assembly that his government enjoys majority support. How many members supported the motion tabled for the purpose is not significant because it was a voice vote. The Congress and other opposition parties which wanted President’s rule to be imposed in the state after the disqualification of 13 BSP MLAs by the Supreme Court must accept the result of the test of strength on the floor of the House, the right place for such an exercise as ruled by the apex court in the famous Bommai case. Their plea that after the apex court ruling, which also indirectly affected 24 other BSP defectors, the Samajwadi Party (SP) ministry has lost its majority and, therefore, has no right to remain in power has been proved wrong. The Congress, which wanted to ensure that the assembly elections were not held with Mulayam Singh as head of the government, has lost the first round. The party was almost certain to have egg on its face with the 63 BSP MLAs submitting their resignations to their party chief Mayawati, though as part of a thoughtless move to get President’s rule imposed. The BSP, however, indirectly helped the cause of the ruling SP. The BSP members along with those of the Congress and Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal stayed away from the one-day session. The BJP members staged a walkedout. Now Mulayam Singh had no problem in proving majority support with his party’s 173 members and others, including Independents. He went in for the voice vote as a tactic to avoid the charge of horse-trading. This, in any case, does not mean that the result of what has come to be known as the semi-final will have an impact on the forthcoming polls in the state. The Congress rank and file, however, must be feeling upset after all that has happened in the wake of the Election Commission’s decision to hold elections affecting the course of politics in UP. The confidence they had gained after last year’s civic elections is bound to get shattered. And the Congress has only its own leadership to blame for the demoralising experience.
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Pennies don’t fall from heaven. They have to be earned on earth. — Margaret Thatcher
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Bollywood fails to excel Amidst
the self-congratulation indulged in by Bollywood about great Indian films, the latest disappointment — "Rang de Basanti" drawing a blank at the annual London Bafta awards in the Best Foreign Film category — there are the first signs of questioning. The legendary actor Naseeruddin Shah has told the BBC, "We don't make films of an international standard. We make copies of Hollywood".
Bollywood is still the world's biggest feature film factory and has varied little from the boy-meets-girl number or that Indian favourite, the household of discord presided over by the mother-in-law that is such a staple diet of Indian soaps. And there are the obligatory song and dance numbers — you can almost hear film producers saying, Films run on songs.
There are many hoary theories of why this is so. There are enough tragedies in life, especially for the less privileged, and films are one of the few forms of accessible entertainment. People want their money's worth, measured by the standard three hours. The last thing they want are "weepy" films.
If mass entertainment and approval are the goals of the Indian film industry, their makers and fans should not aspire to be counted as among the world's best. How often we have seen Indian entries, even when nominated for an Oscar, draw blank. They simply don't measure up to the incredible films produced by countries such as Iran and Poland, to name two, who make memorable films on the human condition, often with unknown actors and small budgets.
And even Mexico, a country as addicted as India to soaps — novellas in the Latin American version — can land an Oscar nomination with "Babel". After Satyajit Ray and brave souls of his ilk, India has had to rely on its natives residing on foreign land to win honours or critical acclaim — take "Monsoon Wedding" or, more recently, "Water". And let us remember that even "Perzania", the story revolving round the Gujarat riots, is the work of an Indian director who divides his time between India and the United States.
Indeed, it would appear that the trumpeting of success that has seeped into so many aspects of urban life is inimical to creativity in films. For an Aparna Sen or Adoor Gopalakrishnan ploughing their lonely furrows, there are hordes of others doing the in-thing. The country is
reveling in the consumer age and the virtual reality of the film world is colliding more and more each day with the real world of problems in the mainstream Press and electronic media. Indeed, some broadsheets are confused about their own identity, whether they are broadsheets or tabloids.
The problem for film directors, as the rest of society, is that we are in a phase of transition and are confused about how to get to the top of the mountain. If Indian song and dance numbers gross dollars in the wider world, thanks to the Indian diaspora and others from the developing world facing similar problems, it is cause for celebration. It is as if we were living in our own bubble, happy with the big bucks we get even while aspiring for the world's stamp of approval.
Some themes are, of course, universal. Take the popularity of "Kaun benega crorepati" — the Who wants to be a Millionaire theme that has successfully crossed continents and cultures. Or the cultural variations of soaps — each of the series being sugary, melodramatic and emotional to the point of tugging at heart-strings of women in particular, many of them house-bound. But Mexico and many other countries can do soaps and quality films. Or take Iran, which can produce lyrical films in a restrictive society revolving round a pair of shoes.
Mature consumer societies, for want of a better term, have learnt to live with gleaming shopping malls and wizard gadgets while savouring the finer points of the film as a human document. But even some Americans are lamenting the decline of Hollywood, suggesting that world audiences are beginning to tire of the "shock and awe" formula, as the resurgence of box office successes of indigenous products in Europe in particular mount. Indian attachment to the Bollywood formula is deeper, inhibiting innovations by film producers.
Perhaps Bollywood can learn something from Indians who have made their home abroad, often to practise their craft on Indian themes in India with a new sensibility. How else can one explain the success of a Mira Nair or a Deepa Mehta with native themes that are as old as time? They are like so many Indian artists who have drunk at the well of world art, Paris, to come home or live in Europe with a new resonance in their themes. It is as if they had to go to Paris to rediscover their roots.
There is nothing elitist in striving for excellence. There is nothing elitist about the poor boy and girl dreaming of acquiring a new pair of shoes. There was nothing elitist about Charlie Chaplin. Filmmaking is a relatively new form of art but has already acquired an impressive gallery of greats. With rare exceptions, India has lagged behind as it kept on churning one film after another. People must go home happy, with sugary cloying endings — the overdrawn villain is vanquished by the whiter than white hero of modest means duly rewarded by the affections of a rich and beautiful woman. No Indian film has ever won an Oscar.
Film lyricist Javed Akhtar has an interesting take on Indian films' evolution. In a recent interview, he pointed to the changed themes and locales. If the hero, invariably poor, was shown in a rural Indian setting in the standard old film, he has now acquired an exotic European and Far Eastern setting to please the new audience, the relatively rich non-resident Indian savouring the desi film in his foreign pad. He who pays the piper calls the tune.
Is there then no future for the so-called quality Indian film? Indian soaps will continue to prosper as do other versions abroad, and Bollywood will continue to churn out the song and dance numbers, dipping into Hollywood and making remakes of remakes. "Kaun banega crorepati" in its various avatars will continue to run. But there will be room for innovative and audacious directors and producers who strive to treat the film as a human document, to tell a story — simple or complex — with empathy and intelligence or make a riotous film after the manner of "Monsoon Wedding" to express joie de
vivre.
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Wireless, clueless Last
week I had an encounter with a very persistent salesman. This chap dealt in cell phones and tried to palm off a rather expensive piece to me. I was impressed by the features but when he said that the device was also equipped with an ultra modern wireless technology called Wi-Fi, I quickly showed him the door. Having read the first paragraph, you must be convinced that here is a desi, middle class type, who is clueless about latest techies. Granted. I am all that, but when it comes to the term WIRELESS, I really panic. And not without conviction. You would ask me why! Well I must convey this straight. I am a cop. And I have dealt with wireless all my 12 years in khaki. We call it WT, Radio or simply Wireless. It is a wonderful device used to transmit messages. The police department uses it all the time. It is very useful and reliable. Well, most of the times. The Director General of Police wanted to know the status of a particular criminal case involving an MLA. He wanted to see the case file himself. And he wanted it quick. A WT message was promptly conveyed to the concerned police station. From the DG’s end it read, “SHO Police Station Sadar to produce the Missl of MLA Sadar, tomorrow by 0900 hrs at the kothi”. Missl is Urdu for case file. This is standard cop language in North India. Seems harmless. Right? The transmission reproduced at the radio room of Sadar Thana read,
“SHO Police Station Sadar to produce the Missij (Mrs.) of MLA Sadar before the worthy DGP tomorrow by 0900 hrs at the kothi.” The SHO was in a fix. He had his career on one end and the MLA at the other end. After much deliberation the career took precedence. He went straight to the MLA, showed him the WT message and said,” Janaab, I curse the day I joined this department. Some of our officers have strange demands. I have no choice but to comply with the orders. But since I have great regard for you I will grant a concession. I will allow Madam to travel in a private car in the company of a member of your family”. The MLA had a criminal case pending against him and he had the local SHO sitting before him. Tough choice between the khaki and the deep sea, isn’t it? He agreed. Early next morning the SHO started for the state capital accompanied by the lady. He was wise enough to carry the missl also. Just in case. You never know these bala tar afsaraan. They might ask for anything, anytime. At 0900 hrs sharp while the DGP was sipping his tea in his lawns the arrival of SHO Sadar was announced. He was expected and was quickly ushered in. The DGP demanded to see the case file. He was surprised to see a coy lady accompanying the SHO. The SHO on his part was wise enough to asses the faux pas just in time before further damage could be caused. He said,” Janaab, here is the missl. MLA Saheb’s Madam wanted to see you and request Janaab to treat the case sympathetically. MLA sahib will also call on Janaab very soon to explain his part”. The DGP had a good look at the missl and offered tea and kind words to the Missij. He assured her that the department would work strictly as per law. He then saw her off till the gate. Two sentences over the wireless are capable of causing a disaster. In this case it all ended gracefully only because of a prudent cop who displayed excellent presence of mind. But I will never trust a technology called
WIRELESS.
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Talk to moderates for peace in Kashmir The
present avatar of the Indo-Pak peace talks is almost three years old, and it has completed three rounds of the composite dialogue process. There has hardly been any progress on contentious issues, including the one concerning Jammu and Kashmir. However, the continuation of the peace process, despite certain impediments and roadblocks, is an achievement in itself. The process witnessed a number of CBMs, most important being the ceasefire along the Line of Control since November 2003, which has brought great relief for the population residing on both sides of the LOC. Trans-LOC travel beginning with the bus services between Srinagar and Muzzafarabad on April 7, 2005, and the Poonch-Rawlakot service on June 20, 2006, is seen as a great stride forward. But until Feb 2007, only 3119 people have been able to travel, or have walked across the LoC, at the five designated points. Even as the ceasefire along the LoC continues to be in place, it was never extended to the mainland of Jammu and Kashmir. There has been no let-up in violence resulting in continued death and destruction involving common masses, although the intensity of the violence is less today as indicated by the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, S.K. Sinha – “Three people got killed daily in 2006 in comparison to nine in 1993.” The cold statistics, most of the time, are unable to co-relate with the real human miseries. The Government of India has had a very high-level contact with the separatist leadership in the years gone by. New Delhi organised two-roundtable conferences on Kashmir, one at New Delhi in February, and another at Srinagar in May 2006. Separatist camps stayed out of both roundtables and the whole exercise turned out to be a gathering of like-minded people. In the Delhi roundtable, the Prime Minister directed the Home Ministry to conduct a high-level exercise to recommend release of Kashmiri detainees, following which 51 detainees out of around 3000 detained in different jails were released. At the Srinagar roundtable, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh announced the composition of five working groups. Since then, some working groups have forwarded their recommendations to the government but the most-important working group on the centre-state relationship was constituted with a delay of almost six months and has held only two meetings so for. Therefore, it is not out of place to conclude that New Delhi-Srinagar part of the dialogue process evokes little confidence among the common masses in Kashmir. Of late, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s four-point formula has become a point of reference for the political discourse in Kashmir. Among the mainstream groups, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has become the greatest votary of Musharraf’s peace proposal. Since the emergence of PDP on the Kashmir’s political scene, it has tried to position itself between Hurriyat’s separatist aspiration and the National Conference’s ‘internal autonomy’ agenda. In the new emerging scenario, moderate separatist groups are also trying to assert their position in Kashmir. Recently, Sajad Gani Lone released his policy document ‘Achievable Nationhood’, which speaks of “shared sovereignty” between Pakistan’s part of Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir, India, and Pakistan. The document is a departure from the hard-core secessionist ideology of ‘right of self-determination’ on the basis of UN resolutions. It is, obviously, an effort to break the logjam due to the entrenched positions of the three parties – India, Pakistan and Kashmir. Hurriyat Conference led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, is trying to don a pro-dialogue mantle, a position vociferously resisted by the hardliners. On the eve of their recent visit to Pakistan, Geelani-led Hurriyat faction, joined by the militant organizations, enforced a complete shutdown in the valley on January 17. Although both the factions of the Hurriyat have been functioning as separate entities for quiet some time, apart from the verbal tirade against each other until now, they had avoided direct action against each other. This strike is also seen as rebuke to Pakistan, as Hurriyat’s visit there was ostensibly to consult the Pakistani leadership and to promote Musharraf’s four-point peace proposal. The hard-line separatist camp is an amalgam of extreme political ideologies, local militant groups and exogenous militant organisations with a Pan-Islamic outlook. In the present-day geopolitical environment, wherein the hard-line militant groupings are moving away from the purview of the modern state apparatus, a confused situation and absence of a meaningful dialogue process with the moderates will allow extremist forces a strong foothold, which will further shrink the moderate space. Withdrawal of forces to the pre-militancy time levels is a desirable endeavor. It is true that one cannot hold negotiations “while gun is on the table”. But complete cessation of hostilities cannot be a pre-condition for holding dialogue; rather, it should be a product of a calibrated dialogue process. The beginning has to be made by working for a ceasefire between the militants and the security forces, modalities for which must be mutually agreed by the armed forces and local militant groups. Offers of unilateral ceasefire have not worked in the past. The initiatives however reasonable, and perceivably beneficial to the good of the general public, does not work in vacuum. They need to be properly anchored on the ground. The steps suggested by the moderate separatist leadership further opens the way for important measures like repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, and release of political prisoners. The writer, based in Srinagar, is a visiting fellow at CRRID, Chandigarh
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Putin’s vision of a multipolar world Defense Secretary Robert Gates got it right when he responded by asserting that “one Cold War was quite enough.” Indeed it was, so let’s not declare – or look for a pretext to declare – a new one. At a time when Russia is ready and eager to play a positive role in world affairs and integrate into the global economy, it does far more harm than good to treat Russia as a hostile nation whenever Moscow and Washington disagree. What Putin actually said in Munich was not new. He said nothing that we have not discussed directly with the Bush administration and that is not whispered in political circles in Europe and elsewhere. He made these statements at a conference because he wanted to get the world’s attention to begin a dialogue about what kind of world we want for our children and ourselves. Putin believes, as do many others, that the world cannot be dictated to by a single country. History shows that this has been attempted repeatedly but has never worked. Recent unilateral actions have not resolved problems but actually exacerbated them and created new hotbeds of tension. If you read the president’s entire speech, you will see that Putin was neither attacking the United States nor proposing Russia as a counterbalance to U.S. unilateralism. Instead, he called for a world with many centers of influence where different interests work together, multilaterally, to shape a common denominator on global issues. The recent six-nation agreement on North Korea’s nuclear program proves that this pragmatic approach can work. In fact, Putin offered more instances of mutual agreement between the United States and Russia than examples of discord. As he noted, the two countries are strong partners on counterterrorism and nuclear nonproliferation. They have a common stake in ensuring global energy security as agreed to at the Group of Eight summit last July in St. Petersburg. American diplomats tell us that the United States needs Russia and other key countries to help resolve numerous regional conflicts. Against this background, America’s unilateral actions look puzzling. It’s also ironic that Putin’s speech was deemed threatening. Russian citizens ask themselves: Who threatens whom? With the Warsaw Pact dissolved for more than 15 years, why does NATO still spread toward Russian borders? What should Russia believe when the United States seeks to place anti-missile systems in Eastern Europe? And instead of joining efforts to counter global threats, should America and Russia really be engaged in searching for deficiencies in each other’s domestic life? As Russians struggled with the chaos and weakness that dogged us in the first post-Soviet years, some might have gained the impression that our voice would never be heard on the world stage. A stronger, more vibrant Russia has emerged from the rubble of the 1990s. It only makes sense that we would hold our own views and expect them to be taken seriously, whether they concern vital security matters or terms of economic interaction. We are strongly committed to democracy, and we will not compromise the right of the Russian people to decide things for themselves and be heard on international issues. In any relationship, disagreements arise. But observers make a grave error when they mistake the honest and open airing of concerns as some sort of casus belli. President Bush rightly emphasized the other day that, while differences exist between the two countries, “there’s also a relationship in which we can find common ground to solve problems.” Russia is ready to work with the United States on an equal and mutually respectful basis. Another Cold War? Certainly not. A democratic world in which a strong Russia coexists with a strong United States, as well as a strong Europe, China, India, Brazil and others? That is Vladimir Putin’s vision--and it is well worth considering. The writer is foreign minister of the Russian Federation. By arrangement with
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Delhi Durbar One
welcome fallout of the ongoing Indo-Pak peace process is that the two countries are increasingly paying attention to the plight of each others’ prisoners. There is a greater realisation in New Delhi as well as Islamabad that more must be done to ensure that they are given humane treatment. Pakistan’s Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Tariq Azim, who visited India earlier this month, said a majority of the Pakistani prisoners released by India were tortured and had lost their mental balance. He narrated an incident as to how a released prisoner, now undergoing treatment in a hospital in Rawalpindi, jumps up from the bed in fright the moment the door opens and goes to a corner of the room. New Delhi rubbishes the charges with contempt. But a judicial commission of the two countries’ retired High Court judges is going to be formed very soon, which will be empowered to visit jails in both India and Pakistan. The commission will look into various aspects of abuse of prisoners. Shekhawat’s World Cup wish Vice-President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, whose subtle humour lightens the
atmosphere in the Upper House, apparently uses the same charm on foreign delegations that call on him. During his meeting recently with a parliamentary delegation from Trinidad and Tobago, which is among the venues for the Cricket World Cup beginning next month, the Vice-President touched on the game, which is popular in both the countries. Rather than merely conveying his best wishes for the cricket cup to the visiting delegation, he expressed the hope that the final match will be played between India and the West Indies. Weapon of knowledge With the term of President A P J Abdul Kalam coming to an end in July, there are ample indications that the father of the country’s missile programme wants to return to his first love – teaching. Well, a bird tells us that the Missile man, who doggedly pursued the cause of Providing Urban Facilities in Rural Areas (PURA) during his tenure in Rashtrapati Bhawan, is believed to have conveyed his desire to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh when the latter called on him to discuss the constitutional imbroglio in Uttar Pradesh. The Congress-led UPA appears to have now dropped the idea of imposing President’s rule in Uttar Pradesh, thanks to the Left’s stout opposition to invoking Article 356 of the Constitution. With the Indo-US civilian nuclear cooperation deal progressing steadily, the scientist in Kalam seems to be itching to continue his fusion and fission experiments. Perhaps a book on his tenure in the erstwhile Viceregal Lodge on the Raisina hill could be more explosive than the Pokhran tests. Contributed by Rajeev Sharma, Prashant Sood and R Suryamurthy
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