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Kalam to Pratibha Crime and punishment |
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Regulating moneylenders
Forget about NAM
Clive’s tree
Depleted IAF Made – badly – in China Inadequate response to Army suicides and fratricide
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Kalam to Pratibha The
passing of baton — as it were — from one President to the next can be a bitter-sweet event, with nostalgia about the past and optimism about the future. Comparisons are odious, especially when it comes to such an august office. Here is hoping that Mrs Pratibha Patil will continue the good work done by Mr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and others before him. Perhaps the best force to guide Mrs Pratibha Patil will be the positive examples set by a long line of her illustrious predecessors. If she is the first woman President, Mr Kalam was the first “people’s President” who took the stuffing of formality out of the precincts of Rashtrapati Bhavan. The scientist with a humane disposition may not have been the most distinguished President but he was certainly the most loved one. It is a pity that his ignorance about the political machinations made him sign the Bihar Assembly Dissolution Bill in a jiffy, but he more than made amends by returning the Office of Profit Bill to Parliament for reconsideration. That shows that he was not inclined to be a rubberstamp, but could do his best within the Constitution. Unlike him, Mrs Patil has made the grade mainly because of her political affiliations and beliefs. She was a UPA-Left candidate all right but after her election, she will hopefully be way above politics. Continued moral uprightness while in the highest office will confirm that her candidature came about for reasons other than her being just a woman whose symbolic selection was a signal to the women of the country. We will wish her good luck if she emerges as a moral force that a President ought to be. In itself the election of a woman President of the Republic in the 60th year of Independence is a matter of satisfaction. It would have been more so, if she had reached Raisina Hill without the baggage of controversies. The President has to be above reproach and suspicion and ordinarily there should never arise a situation when he or she has to be defended by others. While the nation wishes her well, it also expects that in the discharge of her responsibility, she will be non-partisan and will not compromise the high office she will occupy for five years. |
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Crime and punishment Tuesday’s
Supreme Court ruling directing all the states to instruct their police to file first information report (FIR) when a complaint is lodged can help cure an endemic problem in the criminal justice system. Essentially, the reluctance of the police to register cases flows from, in addition to a desire to keep the workload within manageable limits, an anxiety to keep the crime figures low. And it is here that there is a tacit collusion between the police and the highest in the executive. A Bench consisting of Justice B.N. Agrawal and Justice P.P. Naolekar has ruled that if the police officer concerned refuses to file an FIR on receipt of a complaint, he should be suspended forthwith. Technically, the Supreme Court ruling is a reiteration of the settled law that the police will have to file an FIR in respect of cognisable offences such as murder, rape, physical attack resulting in grievous injury, theft, robbery and burglary. Moreover, the complaint need not necessarily be filed at the jurisdictional police station concerned. A police officer cannot refuse to file an FIR merely on the ground that the reported crime had not taken place in his charge. He must register the FIR and thereafter transfer it to the appropriate police station. Taking strong exception to the conduct of the Chennai police regarding a petition against trespass, the apex court has ruled that the police cannot say that they would first verify and investigate the complaint before filing an FIR. Interestingly, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has ruled that a complainant can also write to the Magistrate, requesting him to forward the complaint to the police. If the Magistrate is satisfied that it is a cognisable offence and a fit case for detailed investigation, he is duty bound to direct the police to file an FIR. Though courts can pull up police officers refusing to file FIRs, only a few instances are brought to their notice. Thus, the people need to be educated on this. An all-India project for online registration of FIRs formulated by the Bureau of Police Research and Development will help complainants. Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan have already cleared this project. |
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Regulating moneylenders An
RBI group has suggested that the states should register all moneylenders and fix the maximum interest rates to be charged by them. Farmers’ exploitation at the hands of moneylenders across the land is all well known. But in case of an emergency, it is the moneylender who comes to a farmer’s rescue. Since banks are usually inaccessible and have their cumbersome formalities, illiterate villagers turn to private lenders. It is surprising that such private channels of finance have remained unregulated for so long. There have been reports of farmers committing suicide owing to harassment by moneylenders who are known to charge exorbitant interest rates. The previous Congress government in Punjab had tried to introduce a Bill in the assembly at the fag end of its term to provide relief to indebted farmers, but the vested interests scotched it. The Badal government has not yet gone beyond discussing the issue. The differences are essentially over the upper limit for interest rates. The RBI panel wants the states to notify the maximum interest rates from time to time to ensure that these are aligned with the market. There is also the option to link the rates to a benchmark taking into account the costs of capital, ease of access, doorstep delivery etc and providing for a reasonable profit margin. Despite the proliferation of banks, moneylenders have continued to flourish. According to an all-India debt and investment survey, private lending in villages increased from 17.5 per cent in 1991 to 29.6 per cent in 2002, while institutional advances declined 64 to 57 per cent in the same period. Moneylenders will benefit as the RBI panel has suggested priority sector lending to them. There will be a penalty for those unregistered. There is no reason why the states should not implement the RBI recommendations. It is in the interests of both farmers as well as moneylenders. Only greed can come in the way. |
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Make hatred hated! — Anatole France |
Forget about NAM
Historian
Ramachandra Guha has described Jawaharlal Nehru’s policy of nonalignment as an attempt to place India “beyond and above the rivalries of Great Powers”. While critics would describe nonalignment as utopian and counterproductive, cynics and realists would argue that despite professions of high moral principles, what Nehru was trying to do was to adopt a posture that led to India being wooed by both super powers — the US and the former Soviet Union. The hard reality is that in 1947 India was economically and militarily weak and needed assistance from both super powers. American and British hostility, particularly on Jammu and Kashmir, led to India depending on a Soviet veto in the Security Council. In return, India was forced to endorse the Soviet invasions of Hungary and Czechoslovakia. But Indian diplomacy was skilfully conducted to ensure continuing Western economic assistance, particularly food aid, at the time when our food production could not meet the growing demand and our foreign exchange reserves were inadequate. India today is very different from the India of the Cold War days. We are now recognised as an emerging economic power, no longer dependent on the charity of others for our economic progress. In these circumstances, does it make any sense to cling on to old shibboleths and slogans like “nonaligned solidarity” in a vastly transformed world order? Addressing the US-India Business Summit in Washington on June 27, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice voiced high praise for India’s democratic institutions and the “rise” of India as an emerging economic power. She observed: “I am happy that India and the US are accomplishing a great deal together these days, but I would say that we are only scratching the surface of what we can do. We, in America, look on the rise of India as an opportunity, a chance to work with a friendly democracy.” She added: “India and the US can work together bilaterally, but multilaterally as well, together with other free countries like Japan, as well, together with other free countries like Australia and (South) Korea and our allies in Europe, working with large multiethnic and multi-religious democracies like Brazil, Indonesia and South Africa.” India is already cooperating within Asia and beyond through regional groupings like SAARC and BIMSTEC, its multilateral ties with ASEAN and as a participant in the East Asia Summit. It has moved to complement its trilateral dialogue with Russia and China with a new association embracing Australia, Japan and the US. It is a full-fledged dialogue partner of the European Union and a special invitee to the G-8 Summits, joining a select group of emerging economic powers to interact with the most powerful economies of the world. Moreover, groupings like the India-South Africa-Brazil partnership are becoming increasingly important in dealing with global economic issues and fostering cooperation among like-minded countries spanning three continents. Ms Rice triggered a controversy in her July 27 speech by asserting that “nonalignment” had lost its meaning after the end of the Cold War and the disintegration of the Soviet Union. She had evidently been irked by the shrill anti-American rhetoric that emerged at the recent nonaligned summit in Havana. This summit is now remembered in India only for the curious assertion (described by a respected columnist to me as the “Havana Hallucinations”) of Dr Manmohan Singh that Pakistan, like India, is also a “victim of terrorism”. If Ms Rice failed to draw a distinction between being “nonaligned” and being a member of the “Nonaligned Movement” (NAM), External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, whose diplomatic skills have been an asset to the conduct of our foreign policy, curiously responded by speaking about NAM rather than “nonalignment”. He recalled that NAM had played an important role in the process of decolonisation (that ended four decades ago) and the ending of apartheid in South Africa (that happened 16 years ago). Mr Mukherjee said little about NAM’s contemporary relevance, beyond a reference to its importance in promoting “South-South cooperation”. NAM has little relevance in today’s world. Only 52 Heads of Government out of the 118 NAM members bothered to participate in the Havana Summit. The bulk of the members of NAM are economic basket cases, dependent on Western countries for their survival. They invariably bend to Western pressures in multilateral forums like the WTO. Over 50 members of NAM figure high in the index of failed states in the world. The only noteworthy features of the Havana Summit were a return to ritualistic condemnations of Israel and noises of support for Iran’s nuclear programme. Interestingly, the nonaligned members of the UN Security Council who supported Iran’s nuclear programme in Havana had no qualms about supporting resolutions in the Security Council that imposed sanctions on Iran for continuing with nuclear enrichment — confirming that rhetoric about “nonaligned solidarity” is farcical. Similarly, a number of Arab countries who voice strong condemnation of Israel at NAM meetings have no qualms about clandestine ties with Israel on sensitive security issues. Peace in West Asia is promoted by the “Quartet” comprising the US, the EU, Russia and the UN, with the peace process based on hard realities and not bombastic NAM rhetoric. While the membership of NAM does little to promote our national interests in the contemporary world, those who have conducted foreign policy in the post-Cold War years deserve credit for the skill with which they have guided an economically resurgent India into partnerships with ASEAN and East Asia, while pressing ahead with plans for economic integration with our Asian neighbourhood through groupings like SAARC and BIMSTEC. But, India still faces major challenges on issues like terrorism and its quest for energy security in a volatile neighbourhood to its west at a time when global demand for energy resources is rapidly expanding. A resurgent China appears bent on “containing” India with its nuclear and missile transfers to Pakistan and its quest for naval facilities across the sea-lanes of the Indian Ocean. While it would be inadvisable to deal with these challenges by any military alliance with distant powers, India has to fashion relationships with powers across the entire Asia-Pacific region, which promote a stable balance of power in this area. Nonalignment in the post-Cold War era is still relevant and really means the freedom to choose a wide range of partners to cooperate with on different issues, to protect our national interests. Thus, while being nonaligned gives us the flexibility to choose our partners and partnerships, the nonaligned movement is not a forum of any consequence, relevance or importance, in today’s
world.
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Clive’s tree
During
the “buildup” for 1971 War , the forces were moved closer to the border with the then East Pakistan mostly during night and thereafter were required to be very well camouflaged and concealed without undue activity/exposure to avoid detection by enemy’s aerial reconnaissance or by his intelligence network (spies). In military parlance it is called “To Lie Doggo”. Accordingly, our regiment was well hidden in a big bamboo forest in West Bengal, not far away from the village of Plassey, where a famous battle was won in 1757 by Robert Clive, the founder of the British empire in India. Our officers’ mess was under a huge banyan tree at the edge of that bamboo forest. Since we were just “Lying Doggo” there was nothing to do. We whiled away our time playing bridge or whatever recreational activity our fertile imagination could generate. The Brigade Commander also used to come for a game of bridge. Empty mind is supposed to be devil’s workshop and we got this workshop activated. Littered in the innumerable trunks of the banyan tree were some ancient-looking small bricks. Lo and behold we, the younger lot, Captain and below, manufactured a myth just to amuse ourselves. We would talk loudly, within the hearing range of our Commanding Officer (CO) and refer to our banyan tree as “Clive’s Tree”. The CO asked us as to what that banyan tree had to do with “Clive”. We (mis)informed him that the villagers passing by our bamboo forest going to a distant village (so that he would not demand to produce the villagers if we had mentioned that they were from a closeby village) for “puja” ( it was around Dasehra in ‘71) had told us that “Burra Angrez” (Robert Clive), had his HQ there before the battle of Plassey and that after the battle he had that tree planted to commemorate his victory and that a monument was also constructed there to that effect which was destroyed during the freedom struggle. The ancient-looking bricks were purported to be remnants of that monument . The CO heard it and asked more about it which we explained with added (fake) authenticity. He was a sharp man, like all COs are, and wanted some proof and we had anticipated it. Amongst us was a botanist before he joined the army, who was part of our small little mischief but was deliberately kept away while we were selling the idea to the CO. The CO called for him and asked him to check the age of the tree. The “botanist” requested to be given some time to study in detail the bark, aerial roots, rings, etc. Next day with pretended knowledge he very sagely announced (as planned) that the tree was between 200 and 225 years old. That fitted well with 1757. The CO seemed to get convinced and it officially became the “Clive’s Tree”. A couple of days later when the Brigade Commander came for a game of bridge the CO, just to enliven the conversation, informed him about the tree. Staff officers informed us later that the Brigade Commander informed the Divisional Commander about it with added emphasis that it was a good omen to start the campaign from an auspicious site. The story about that tree , which could be seen from miles, eventually reached the Corps Commander, Lt Gen T.N. Raina , who later became the Army Chief. So long we were “Lying Doggo” under that tree; it enjoyed the reputation of being “Clive’s Tree” in the entire Corps. That’s how myths are
“manufactured”. |
Depleted IAF The
Ministry of Defence Annual Report 2006-2007 highlights the growth of the IAF in all its dimensions. It dwells at length on various facets of its growth, making a particular mention of its expanding strategic capability. But at the end of it, one finds it a mere reflection of the government’s intentions rather than actual achievements. The report goes on to conclude that the “IAF is on the path to becoming a formidable force.” The 15th Report of the Standing Committee on Defence (2006-2007) presented to the Lok Sabha on April 27, 2007, has the true story. The strength of combat squadrons has fallen so low that despite concerted efforts, it would not improve even towards the end of 10th, 11th and 12th Plan periods, beyond 29, 34 and 36 squadrons respectively. This is provided the requisite measures are taken now swiftly and unhesitatingly. Post-1962, a decision was taken to build the IAF to a strength of 45 combat squadrons. Forty-five years later this target has not been achieved. On the contrary, the peak strength ever achieved was 39.5 combat squadrons. This has happened despite the fact that the JRD Tata committee had recommended a strength of 65 squadrons. The C. Subramaniam committee later reduced this to 55 squadrons in view of the resource constraint. Sadly, no government was willing to issue a sanction even in principle. In 1982, the Indira Gandhi government sanctioned raising the strength to 35 combat squadrons. Four and half more squadrons, purportedly for the purpose of training, were added to make a total of 39.5 combat squadrons. As of now, the IAF strength has depleted to 33 or so squadrons which may nose dive further to 29 during the 11th plan period (2007-2012). This will be close to that of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF). The IAF would thus lose its edge over the PAF. This was the reason that compelled the previous Chief of Staff to shoot out a warning letter to the Defence Minister. He was only trying to tell the government that national security compulsions demand expeditious acquisition of aircraft from abroad. That’s how the acquiring of 126 Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MRCA) assumed an added significance. Despite having raised the issue as early as 2001, it still continues to hang fire. All that the government had done till recently was to accord the Acceptance of Necessity (AON) for these 126 aircraft. After nearly six years, the government has at last cleared the floating of global tenders on June 29. The Request for Proposal (RFP) is expected to be issued in another couple of months or so. This aircraft would eventually replace the MiG fleet and give the requisite fillip to the depleting strength of the IAF’s fighter squadrons. But this is going to take time. The selection procedure, which is likely to be complex and torturous, could easily take around three to four years before the contract can be signed. The IAF has to ensure that the vendor is able to provide lifetime support and performance-based warranties for the next 40 years of the aircraft’s lifecycle in the IAF. The government has also upped the offset clause from 30 to 50 per cent of the contract value, which the winning bidder will have to invest in the Indian defence manufacturing sector, in order to give an impetus to the Indian defence industry. The delivery will then take at least another two years before the first aircraft arrives in India. Under the terms, the first 18 aircraft will come in flyaway condition, while the remaining 108 will be manufactured under transfer of technology by HAL. By this time the IAF will go down to the all time low of 29 combat squadrons. Normally, phasing out is an ongoing process because of the fast obsolescence of military hardware. Unless induction of new weapon systems keeps pace with it, the fighting potential is bound to be effected adversely. During the ensuing plan periods, a large number of different types of aircraft are likely to be phased out. Unless the LCA, SU-30 MKIs and the newly contracted 126 MRCAs are inducted in requisite numbers during the next decade, the IAF may find itself in a rather sorry state. Had the DRDO, set up with an annual budget of Rs 6,000 crores for the exclusive purpose of defence research and development, delivered as expected, such a sorry state of India’s defence forces, and their dependence on foreign vendors, could have been avoided. The 126 MRCAs will cost the Indian exchequer a whopping Rs 43,000 crore, which could have been saved, had the DRDO delivered on the LCA. Indigenous military capability is an essential pre-requisite to becoming a powerful nation. The DRDO has more than 5,000 scientists and 25,000 technicians and support personnel. Most of the DRDO projects – nearly 440 projects, costing Rs 17,000 crore – are way behind schedule with ever increasing cost overruns. Even the projects which have been accomplished after a long haul and huge expenditure fall short of expectations of the armed forces. The MBT Arjun for example has not met the GSQRs even after two decades of development. The army is thus forced to acquire 300 T-90 battle tanks from Russia. The Kaveri engine for the LCA sanctioned in the eighties is still no where in sight. DRDO’s failure to rise to the occasion has made India the world’s largest arms importer, thus allowing foreign suppliers to tighten screws at will. A militarily dependent nation, its economic prowess notwithstanding, cannot assert itself diplomatically and safeguard its strategic interests. |
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Made – badly – in China One
Chinese-made product after another has been taken off shelves in the US in the last four months. Lethal pet food. Toxic toothpaste. Contaminated seafood. The list is likely to grow longer still. But forcing Beijing to adopt stringent safety regulations, as Washington is trying to do, will make little difference. The reason so many Chinese products sold in American malls are faulty is not a lack of regulation (who would accuse a communist regime of not being bureaucratic enough?) but corruption. I learned as much on a trip to southern China last year when I was detained by whom I initially thought were the local police. Four men bundled me into an unmarked van as I was walking in a busy town center near Xiamen. None of them were wearing uniforms. People on a nearby street did not protest or even inquire why I was being carted off. Most looked the other way, as one might expect in a police state where plainclothes cops have unquestioned powers. What surprised me was that my captors took me to an office complex owned by a private company rather than to a police station. For eight hours, I was held in a secretary’s office by security guards. A middle manager wanted to know why I had been asking townspeople questions about a recent scandal involving the company. He admitted that he had no jurisdiction. He told me that his company was the biggest employer and taxpayer in the region, giving him a free hand to dispense justice. Calling the government would be no help. “They leave it to us to take care of things,” he said. The scandal I was investigating was typical for modern China. The company was a subsidiary of Simag Industrial Corp. in Fujian province that had manufactured and sold faulty lightbulbs. When found out, the company bribed a court official. In exchange for $1,200, the official dismissed a suit by homeowners whose lightbulbs had exploded. None of this should have been possible. China has rules covering product safety and liability as well as court procedures. These rules may not be perfect, but there is no shortage of them. The real problem is that rules are often bent and broken with impunity. Thanks to growing wealth, many businesses are laws unto themselves. They dictate to municipal authorities, rather than the other way around. Over the last 20 years, rule-bending has become an integral, if contradictory, part of China’s economy. China has chosen a style of reform that lets laws wither in a twilight zone. Though still on the books, the statutes are rarely applied. Hoping to avoid acrimonious debates about ideology, the government routinely turns a blind eye, sometimes in exchange for cash, sometimes simply to boost economic growth and foreign trade. Take the case of Lai Changxing. The illiterate peasant from Fujian province amassed a fortune worth several billion dollars by running an illegal trading business that bypassed China’s regulatory thickets. He was a smuggler. With the full knowledge of the minister for borders and the head of military intelligence and several hundred other government officials, he turned himself into China’s biggest private trader of oil, cars and cigarettes during the 1990s. He was a criminal, but he was useful. He boosted China’s trade figures and hence was allowed to operate. Off the record, some officials will attempt to justify such a policy. Mao Tse-tung engineered social change overnight, they say. The result was famine and strife. By contrast, current leaders are pursuing a slower pace of change. Flushing out the poisons of the past will take time, they say, especially in a country the size of China. This is a convenient stance. Scarcely impeded by rules, officials get to preside over a freewheeling boom and the creation of millions of new jobs. And whenever their position comes under threat, they are able to pull back and blame individual business owners. The government did just that in the case of Lai, the smuggler. When he became too powerful and politically independent, having established a virtual fiefdom in the southern city of Xiamen, he was indicted. The current scandal about product safety is a mirror image. Beijing has long ignored reports from domestic consumer groups about shoddy products. Only now that it has been embarrassed by the export of the problem is it taking note. A crackdown is under way, aimed at individuals directly responsible, in this case factory managers and regulators. Last week, Zheng Xiaoyu, a former food and drug safety watchdog, was executed after being found guilty of corruption and dereliction of duty. Yet the system of governance that has allowed people like Zheng and Lai to break the rules until they become a nuisance will stay in place. It has worked well for Beijing. Until now. The writer is former Beijing bureau chief for the Times of London. By arrangement with
LA Times-Washington Post |
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Inadequate response to Army suicides and fratricide The
Defence Ministry has issued a manual to prevent incidents of suicides and fratricide among the troops deployed in insurgency-affected areas of the country. The manual emphasises humane treatment to troops. The officer cadre has been advised to “close the gap” between officers and men. It also says that jawans have to be given due respect. One wonders as to why and since when the jawan has stopped earning the respect of his superiors. And why have officers been found wanting in the basic pre-requisites of man management, which is one of the hallmarks of officers’ training? Many veterans will agree that there are many factors which are causing dwindling morale among the soldiers. The ministry’s study seems to have failed to go deeply into each and every reason and instead adopted a bit of a fire-fighting exercise. The Army is like an extended family from top to bottom. In a full-scale war a deep sense of belonging runs through the entire fighting force. Deployed over long periods of time in its own territory, it is but natural that the Army loses its sheen. The soldier is trained to kill before he gets killed. In low-intensity conflict areas the insurgents wrest the initiative and the soldier is left with very little choice. Suicides and fratricides have also been attributed to alcohol. Alcohol as such, when issued in right doses under supervision, is the best way to check waywardness among the jawans. But this does not apply to each and every soldier as many in the fighting force prefer spiritual fortification to use of alcohol before going into battle. The most important aspect of man management is to monitor the grievances of all ranks and apply continuous “ventilation” on a day to day basis. An assured communication link between rank and file works wonders. The joint family system has been crumbling fast in our society and army men perforce face family problems at home. The civil administration in states is more occupied with varied political scenarios and grievances of serving soldiers are not addressed with speed. All representations from the Army end in waste paper baskets as the District Sainik Boards do not assert themselves with the authorities concerned. Any social or political discomfort to the family of the soldier injures his pride and honour and he is bound to be desperate when seized with such mental worry. I also wonder if the inquiry has addressed itself to the caste structures within the force and identified the cases accordingly. Nobody wants to point out the damage being caused by the rollercoaster of caste contradictions, which may be taking a toll of our trained secular force. All in all the remedies suggested in the handbook seem to be superficial and do not touch the core issues. |
True love springs from the knowledge of universality with all forms of life. |
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