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Apology, at last Suspended CM |
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Border row
Reforming the poll process
Peace overtures
Time to re-tailor technical education China’s expanded military concerns regional goals Chatterati
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Apology, at last
AT last there is an end in sight to the stalemate in Punjab. Chief of Dera Sacha Sauda Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has sought forgiveness from Guru Gobind Singh for whatever disrespect he had caused to the 10th Guru of the Sikhs when he wore a controversial dress. The allegation against him is that he did it purposely to imitate the Guru who set up the Khalsa Panth on the Baisakhi day in 1699. His unconditional apology to the Guru should, therefore, be seen in the right perspective and accepted by all the people concerned. It is significant that in doing so, the Dera chief abided by the ultimatum given by Akal Takht to apologise by May 27. People in Punjab and elsewhere were worried as to what would happen if the Dera chief failed to apologise for the sacrilege he allegedly caused when a picture of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh wearing a dress that resembled the last Guru’s was advertised in the local media. Obviously, the efforts made by the all-religion committee headed by Swami Agnivesh paid dividends. The ball is now in the court of Akal Takht. It should accept the apology and end the dispute, if necessary by holding an urgent meeting of the high priests concerned. That is the prayer of the whole state, nay the country. All religions teach their followers to forget and forgive and love one another. The apology should also be seen in this spirit. Of course, there would surely be some hardliners who would try to pick holes in the apology and claim that it is not acceptable. They do not have the interest of the common people in mind because they see the standoff as an opportunity to cash in on. They should be kept on the leash. On its part, the Punjab Government, which has treated the issue more as a religious dispute than as a political one, should use the opportunity to bring about a quick resolution of the problem. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has the requisite stature to persuade the high priests to make immediate use of the window of opportunity the apology has opened. Fourteen days of stalemate has caused enormous damage to the state’s image. It would have adversely impacted prospective investments in Punjab. A protracted standoff with the attendant risks to law and order is unthinkable. It is our appeal to all the parties concerned to settle the dispute immediately by accepting Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s unconditional apology. |
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Suspended CM WHAT happened in the CPM is unheard of. The Politburo has suspended two of its members, Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan and state unit chief Pinarayi Vijayan from the highest decision-making body. The two leaders earned the unusual punishment for criticising each other in public. It is the demolition drive in Munnar, one of the major tourist locations in the state, that has provoked the two leaders to enter into a verbal duel. Mr Vijayan accused the Chief Minister of pandering to what he calls a “media syndicate” earning the retort from the latter that he himself was seeking the support of the same “media syndicate” to get even with him. The Chief Minister also accused his rival of leaking secret information to the media without, of course, naming him. As it now transpires, the demolition drive did not have the backing of the party. The Chief Minister made a calculated risk in launching the drive, which has made him popular with some sections of the people. This has not been to the liking of the party chief. Whatever be the reason for their ego clash, they have only lowered the prestige of the posts they hold. Mr Achuthanandan has explained in all humility that the party was like a parent and it had every right to punish delinquent partymen. For a cadre-based, regimented party like the CPM such punishments may be a normal activity but it is a poor reflection on the state of affairs in the organisation and the government in Kerala. What is at stake is their credibility. The Politburo can pat itself on the back for punishing two erring leaders but there is no guarantee that it is the end of the matter. The whole world knows there is no love lost between the two. During the last elections, Mr Vijayan nearly succeeded in denying Mr Achuthanandan a seat but the banner of protest the latter’s followers raised forced the same Politburo to change the decision. Similarly, an effort was made to deny him the post of Chief Minister, which, too, Mr Achuthanandan defeated using his popular support. Over the last one year, the equation in the party also seems to have changed in favour of the Chief Minister. Some important party conferences are due to be held shortly where the two are sure to slug it out. If the Politburo had brought about a rapprochement between the two, rather than administering a dose of suspension, it would have served some useful purpose. |
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Border row THE Chinese continue to provide proof that the India-China border problem remains where it has been since the 1962 war. Once again China has embarrassed India by denying visa to a bureaucrat from Arunachal Pradesh, leading to the cancellation of a training visit to Beijing by a delegation of 107 IAS officers. A few years ago it had refused to issue visa to Arunachal Chief Minister Gegong Apang. This is unfortunate, to say the least. However, this appears to be part of China’s tactics to make India agree to its viewpoint on the Akasai Chin question. China occupied Aksai Chin in the 1962 conflict and then built an all-weather highway in that area connecting Xinjiang with Tibet. Despite all this, the two countries have been expressing their resolve time and again to settle their boundary problem in an amicable manner. They talked of pursuing an out-of-box idea when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao in Cebu (Philippines) on the sidelines of the India-ASEAN summit in January this year. Their meeting was followed by a round of discussions in New Delhi between India’s Special Representative M. K. Narayanan and Chinese representative Dai Bin-guo. India-China relations have, no doubt, improved considerably over the years but any significant progress on the boundary question has not been possible because Beijing refuses to accept New Delhi’s argument that any solution should not entail shifting of population. It is good that the two Asian giants have not been allowing the boundary dispute to come in the way of their trade relations. There are a number of Indian industrial units which have set up shop in China and the same is true about Chinese businesses. Their mutual trade touched the $25 billion mark last year, whereas it was merely $7.6 billion in 2003. China has become India’s second largest trading partner. India has to do a lot to change the balance of trade which is in favour of China today. The growing economic relations can be expected to help the search for a mutually acceptable solution to the border dispute. |
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Until you understand a writer’s ignorance, presume yourself ignorant of his understanding.
— Samuel Taylor Coleridge |
Reforming the poll process
The
Indian elections are a wonder, as the conduct of the recently concluded Uttar Pradesh elections has proved it. The Election Commission merits plaudits on the process and outcome: the rolls were cleaned, the polling stations secured and access provided to genuine voters. The voters too need to be congratulated for rising above caste and voting for law and order and good governance. Sceptics will disagree, but this could mark a turning point in Indian elections, moving away from caste and communal arithmetic and muscle power to issues that matter. The BSP improved its position among all communities and among minorities There are lessons to be learnt. Should the poll have taken six weeks and been completed in as many as seven stages? A large number of criminals contested and many were elected across the political spectrum. This does not signify that the electorate favours criminals but that people turn to strong-arm street justice when the criminal justice system breaks down. There is need for legislation that accepts a charge-sheet (and not just an FIR) as a disqualification for candidature if filed more than six weeks from the date of commencement of the poll. This will preclude vexatious poll-related FIRs. For this to work, independent policing is required through processes laid out in the Supreme Court’s directions in the wake of the Sorabjee Committee’s report on police reforms. An independent police force supported by Territorial Army units, may be supplemented by retired ex-servicemen, could be mobilised for short-term election duty. Right-sizing VIP security could also release men for more important duty. As a national daily has pointed out, Delhi alone has 9000 security personnel guarding 391 so-called VIPs, most of whom do not merit security cover and desire this as status symbol or for personal use. The CEC has suggested some other useful reforms. The most important of these is that the winning candidate must have the support of 50 per cent plus one from out of the total votes polled. Currently, with less than 50 per cent of the electorate actually voting in many constituencies, no one truly gets a “majority”. With a large number of candidates contesting every seat, the delivered vote is necessarily fragmented and it is not uncommon to see winning candidates romp home with even less than a third or a quarter of the votes polled. There is obviously a hiatus between such numbers and the proud boast about representing the “sovereign will of the people”. The CEC has suggested a run-off in all cases where the “majority 50 per cent plus one vote” principle is not met, the ensuing contest being between the first two candidates. Such a run-off should be held within a week or two of the count so that there is no undue gap in time, which would create its own problems. The election will then be in two stages, a primary and a run-off poll. Such a system could be combined with the creation of larger legislatures to accommodate growing populations and special interests, the additional numbers being filled on the basis of a list system linked with the primary voting numbers. This will allow for a women’s quota and admit a class of candidates that has been unable to enter politics as it lacks money, muscle or vote-bank credentials. The process of issuing voter identity cards must be expedited nationally and the task can be completed in five-seven years as an add-on to the next Census, with a revision round to fill in the blanks. The linking of panchayat polls organisationally to the national electoral process, though not necessarily in terms of timing, makes good sense. But there is good reason for reservation about the proposition that all elections to Parliament and state assemblies should be held simultaneously on a single date so as to avoid the disruption caused by elections every few months. Staggered polls have a democratic value in testing public opinion on current issues from time to time. On the other hand, forcing cohabitation in government just to fill time until the next “due date” for general elections could bring in cynical just-keep-afloat combinations. State funding of elections is back on the agenda. This will work only if expenditure by parties and “friends” is pooled, else a ceiling on candidates alone will result in added expenditure by parties and “friends”. There is also no reason to bar corporate funding provided these are declared in the balance-sheet and some guidelines are laid down whereby a certain part of the funding must go to opposition parties or candidates or on the basis of vote-shares so that there is a more level-playing field. Finally, these reforms will best work given party political reform as well. Parties must be registered, they must maintain a register of members, hold annual elections and publish their audited accounts so as to ensure transparency and avoid slush money and black money. Parties will waffle, but the public must push for
reform.
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Peace overtures
I
am sorry I scoffed at the idea that radio could be a potent force for change. Here was this popular programme — Thought for the day — on All India Radio and the speaker made a passionate and persuasive case for improving the perennially strained relations between landlords and their tenants. I took stock of the situation. “Strained” was hardly the appropriate word to describe the extant state of relations between myself and my landlord. “Full-scale thermo-nuclear war” would be the “mot juste” description. In the immediate past, I had called him to his (ugly) face, “Blood-sucking Shylock”, “Grostesque gawd-help-us” and “Hitler” and he had paid me back in the same coin and attained similar heights of literary allusion by calling me, in full public view, “shifty-eyed hellhound”, “socialist rabble rouser and trouble maker” and “Rent Controller’s stooge”. I decided that my relations with my landlord could do with a generous dollop of “entente cordiale”. The next morning, I spied the old buster — I beg your pardon, I mean, the saintly landlord — in his front garden and spraying whale oil on rose slugs. “Good morning”, sir, I said with a hearty, albeit forced cheer and fastening on an ingratiating smile, “I want to mend fences with you!” The landlord looked up and scowled viciously as if I were a rose slug that had escaped his murderous attention. “Speaking of mending fences, when are you going to repair my garden fence that your pesky children have damaged? I’ve got a good mind to proceed legally and take out a writ of mandamus under Section 294 of the Criminal Procedure Code”. I was taken aback by this unexpected turn of events, but I continued to extend the olive branch. “What I mean, sir,” I said “I want to turn over a new leaf with you!” “Speaking of leaves”, said the landlord, “how many times have I told your noisome wife not to sneak leaves from my garden for her ikebana? I’ll call in the bailiffs from the magistrate’s court and have you both evicted!” I was close to tears, but I gamely persisted with my peace overtures. “What I mean, sir”, I said, “let’s kiss and make up!” The landlord looked at me shell-shocked as though I had offended his finest moral sensibilities and any more dialogue along similar lines, he would have me reported to the censor board and arrested under the anti-obscenity act. I took one last desperate plunge. “What I mean, sir, I said, “I want a new accommodation with you!” “I’d want Rs 10,000 as monthly rental and Rs 5 lakh as ‘pugree’ for any new accommodation”, said the landlord with crushing finality. So ended in fiasco my maiden essay into “entente
cordiale”. |
Time to re-tailor technical education The
quality of our technical education is coming under increasing fire as we move up on the ladder of globalisation and economic growth. Euphoria of our 300,000 technical graduates, post-graduates and doctorates being churned out year after year has evaporated. What is coming to the fore instead is the question of their employability. A decade of exposure to global forces has surfaced the cancer festering underneath. Would we like to remain content with providing low-end BPO and ITES services to the developed world because of our low wages? Will we be happy to play the second fiddle for ever? Won’t we like to regain our stature as generators and suppliers of knowledge and technology to the rest of the world, as we did till the 16th century? The greatest road-block in that journey is the inability of our technical education to ingrain conversion of intellectual capital into knowledge. That capability is critical in today’s ruthless technology-ruled borderless world. Without that ability, sustained economic growth and global aspirations will remain a dream. A decade of living in the superficial luxury of a consumption-led society open to global forces is enough to force us to slow down. Can a billion-strong society afford to neglect to raise productivity and efficiency across the total spectrum? And, that can only happen when we learn to apply technology to our own problems. It hurts me when, year after year, I see things like (1) deterioration in the quality of new coaches rolled out by the ICF or the RCF (2) dangerous pot-holes created by leaking joints in storm-water drains at round-abouts in a town like Chandigarh, the most modern city of the country and (3) the unending tally of crashing MiG fighter planes. The hurt turns into anguish when I see neighbouring China. It had the guts to tell the World Bank to get off its back and build the Three Gorges Dam on its own. It built it cheaper and beat all timelines. The recent inauguration of the 1140-km Golmud-Lhasa railway track, the highest in the world, was another of its crowning feats. It entailed hundreds of innovations: foundations in permafrost; rail-track across Richter 8.5 earthquake fault-lines; pressurised trains; UV-protected windows; piped oxygen in every coach. Chinese engineers not only did it all, but beat the five-year time-goal by some months. No excuses. Technology was re-tailored all the time to suit China’s need of mass employment. No sacrifice of quality. Rather than quibbling over petty issues, shouldn’t we learn from them? The pity is that while we continue our downhill slide, the rest of the world is galloping ahead at a mind-boggling speed. It is high time we face the reality honestly and find solutions which work. There could be no better opportunity to set this ball in motion than the pioneering journal of the National Institute for Technical Teacher’s Training & Research, Chandigarh An explosive growth of our job market after opening up has unleashed an endless barrage of new opportunities for every shade of expertise and knowledge. Capability is more important; formal qualifications have become secondary. Emoluments are attractive; opportunities for advancement infinite. The key question is the ability to take more challenging responsibilities and deliver. The question is: do our technical graduates qualify for the challenge? Technical education is the first option of our brightest children. Therefore, the onus is on our system of technical education to groom them to become king-pins in the technological thrust of our industry to compete with the best of the world. Education must also keep in step with the advancement and turbulence of technology across the globe. If our NRI engineers deliver outstanding performance in every corner of the world, why can’t we do the same in India? The critical link is our technical education system. It must not only be abreast with, but also keep pace with today’s blistering pace of technological evolution. The gap is unfortunately large – industry is way ahead in technology. And the gap is widening by the hour. The only way to keep pace is proactive partnership with industry. If a frigid ice-wall has been built between academics and industry over the decades, it is time that the wall is destroyed. Today, the door for industry to go abroad and pick up the best is wide open. Imports are easy. Duties are negligible. In a world of stagnant markets, the unshackled billion-strong Indian market growing at a fancy clip is a powerful lure for the best of the world to enter India. Direct entry, joint ventures, technology transfer or independent support for design and manufacture are there for the asking. Foreign money is freely available. But there is also a very dark side of the coin. Solutions available from developed countries are tailored to their thinly-populated, high-wage societies: high volumes; low interest rates; automation. Solutions are all capital intensive. But they are attractive since they are fully cooked and risk-free. Our own societal needs in radical contrast are diametrically opposite: (1) finding jobs for our teeming millions is our top-most priority (2) capital is expensive and (3) volumes are low and growth slow. Unit costs are, therefore, high. Thus while the scenario is to the benefit of Industry, sufferance is that of the public: continuing unemployment; high product costs; inflation. In such a scenario, it would be foolish to expect industry to extend its hand towards technical education and take on the headache for changes in the system. |
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China’s expanded military concerns regional goals China’s
ongoing military buildup remains focused on preventing Taiwan’s independence but is expanding to include other regional military goals, including securing the flow of oil from overseas, according to an annual Pentagon study issued Friday. The 42-page report, required by the US Congress, found that Beijing’s investment in offensive military capabilities along the Taiwan Strait has continued unabated. It has deployed more than 100 additional short-range missiles in the region over the last year, to bring its total aimed at Taiwan to about 900. China also has 400,000 of its 1.4 million soldiers based in the three military regions opposite Taiwan, the study said. But Beijing’s investment in military modernization – which might have reached as much as $125 billion last year, according to Defense Intelligence Agency, or triple the official $45 billion declared by Beijing – has produced military systems that enable China to project force well beyond its shores. Of particular concern, the report said, was the increasing ability of the People’s Liberation Army’ to strike at an adversary’s forces in the Pacific Ocean, a clear reference to U.S. bases in Asia and American naval forces that constantly patrol the region and that would rush to Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion. “The PLA appears engaged in a sustained effort to develop the capability to interdict, at long ranges, aircraft carrier and expeditionary strike groups that might deploy into the western Pacific,” the report stated. In addition, the report said China is attempting to move its long-range nuclear forces out of vulnerable silos, basing them on more elusive submarines and ground-based mobile launchers. One new intercontinental nuclear missile, the DF-31, which can be moved overland to avoid enemy attacks, was put into initial operation last year, the report said. The report reiterated the Pentagon’s concern over Beijing’s successful anti-satellite missile test in January, saying it appeared to be part of a broad strategy aimed at disabling enemy satellites. The report said China is going further, developing sophisticated satellite jammers as well as “directed energy” weapons, like lasers, that could disable U.S. satellites. The Pentagon reiterated its concern that China’s continued buildup is occurring even as it refuses to explain why it is investing so heavily in new weapons systems, a “lack of transparency” that is forcing the U.S. military to improve its own air and naval forces as a “hedge” against unknown Chinese designs. One Defense official who worked on the report said that Beijing has become more open about its intentions. Former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld accused China in 2005 of being increasingly provocative by hiding the reasons behind its buildup. Last year, Beijing published a national security white paper generally describing its defense policies and the purpose of its military modernization, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity when discussing U.S. assessments. Rumsfeld leveled his charge at an annual gathering of Asian defense ministers in Singapore, a conference Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates will attend for the first time next week. Gates is expected to exhibit less brinksmanship. On Thursday, Gates said he approved of the new China report because it was suitably low-key. “I’m happy to report that I don't think it does any arm-waving,” Gates said. “I don't think it does any exaggeration of the threat.” The higher estimates of Chinese spending would make its annual defense spending the world’s second highest, but still only a fraction of the U.S. program. Including $170 billion in war spending, the U.S. defense budget this year will top $606 billion. The new report takes particular notice of China’s increased need for oil from both the Middle East and Africa, and notes that the demands of growing energy consumption is beginning to shape the country’s military and strategic thinking. The report found that Beijing is unable to protect the sources of its oil supplies and the sea routes through which they travel, particularly the Strait of Malacca, which separate Malaysia and Indonesia. The report said that an estimated 80 percent of China's crude oil imports come through the straits, and concerns over the vulnerability of those waterways have prompted Beijing to increase its naval capabilities. The Defense official said that China's apparent desire to acquire an aircraft carrier might be motivated by its concerns over maintaining the flow of oil. By arrangement with
LA Times-Washington Post |
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Chatterati Brilliant
BJP leader Arun Jaitley and Dolly celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary by throwing a lavish yet elegant dinner for friends at a hotel in the Capital the other day. Hardly any BJP politician, except Advani and Ravi Shanker Prashad, was present. Finance Minister Chidambaram was there as was Kapil Sibal. They are a part of Arun’s lawyers’ circle. A wide spectrum of industrialists and media barons like Sunil Mittal, Gautam Thapar, C.K. Birla, Rajat Sharma, Aroon Purie and the list could go on and on. A lot of people from Jammu came as Dolly is the daughter of the late Congress leader Girdhari Lal Dogra. This is one lady who has her feet solidly on the ground and sure is the pillar of strength for her husband. Arun is a self-made man. Of course, he has been a minister in the BJP regime. As the BJP spokesperson he had left his opponents speechless. Arun’s strength as an organiser is for all to see as any state he has taken charge of, he has delivered impressively. So having all right ingredients, he is the man to look out for in the BJP. Not many politicians can boast of spending so much time with the family and yet doing everything else to perfection. Maybe that explains his arrogance too. And why not? Arun is also the President of the Delhi Cricket Association. He is a die-hard cricket fan. A true Punjabi at heart, Arun loves his Amritsari kulchas while Dolly loves her kaladis from Jammu. Old school and college friends of the couple mingled with the high and mighty at this wedding anniversary. Thankfully, it was not a full-blown BJP affair and everyone was relaxed and enjoyed the evening.
Victims of cronies Whether it is Amarinder Singh or Mulayam Singh, their fate is sealed by their predecessors now for the next five years. Surprise visits by state vigilance will be done on friends, relatives and officers who have been their favourites. It’s happening in Bihar to Lalu’s men. It’s a part and parcel of politics now. Whether it is a Gupta in Ludhiana or the SEZ problem of the Ambanis in Noida. When politicians come to power they have a couple of cronies who lead their leader’s life with sheer “chamchagiri”, but are clever enough not to get caught in the net themselves. They use and misuse the Chief Minister. The Chief Minister, on the other hand, has got such a high head by then he thinks he is God and, to be fair, who doesn’t love sycophancy? During the five years of the raj the people around him gain more than probably the Chief Minister. I do wonder sometimes what happens to these intelligent men who become leaders of their states single-handed, but give in to men who give them bad reputations, bad advice and lead them with their manipulations! It’s amazing that the real people who care and the media keep warning these men in power about the negative elements around them, but they just don’t get the message. Well, even witch-hunting has to be stopped or all energy will go into this. So when will the new government perform? In the end, it’s the public who suffers again. |
If we pray, our hearts become clean, and we are filled with the love of God—a love that gives without counting the cost; love that is tender and compassionate; love that forgives. |
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