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Scarlet’s tragedy
Politics by violence |
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Win or lose
Dormant debate
The imperial and the democratic
Fading olive green How poverty exists amidst plenty Kosovo’s independence illegitimate
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Scarlet’s tragedy
At a time when there is widespread concern about the safety of foreign tourists, particularly women, visiting India, it is a pity that a reluctant Goan police had to be forced into investigating the brutal rape and killing of a British teenager, Scarlet Keeling, on Goa’s beaches a few weeks ago. While the anguished parents of the girl have been insisting that there was foul play right from the beginning, it was the doctors who examined her body later and confirmed both the sexual assault and the murder, finally kicking off the tardy investigation. There is thus a question mark on the subsequent actions of the Goa police, and Scarlet’s mother does not believe in the nature of the arrest that has now been made by the cops. In any case, the police must pursue the case with rigour and diligence, without allowing the culprit to get away. Indeed, there is a strong case for Goa to hand over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), so as to ensure the credibility of the investigation from here on. The teenager’s mother, Fiona
MacKeown, and her lawyer have made just such a demand in a letter to Goa Chief Minister Digambar
Kamat, who ought to know the kind of police he has on his command. Cases of such assaults have been on the rise, particularly in those states which are popular destinations for Western tourists like
Rajasthan, Goa and Kerala. These states have successfully created the infrastructure needed, capitalising on inherent strengths and local attractions, and also managed to have a certain culture oriented towards tourists and tourism. But, clearly, a lot more needs to be done. Activists have pointed out that victimisation of the vulnerable among the tourists is an extension of the general state of law and order. It is in India’s interest to do all it can to ensure that tourists feel safe and happy to visit. |
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Politics
by violence The blatant attack by the Sangh activists on the CPM headquarters in Delhi on Sunday is a matter of shame and deep concern. While the CPM has alleged that it was a premeditated attack on A K Gopalan Bhavan in Gole Market, the RSS activists say that they were pelted with stones by CPM workers while they were “peacefully” protesting against the communists. The point here is that the RSS men had no right to gherao the CPM office the way they did. The genesis of the trouble lies in the brutal murder of five BJP activists by CPM hoodlums in Kunnur district of Kerala recently. The hacking spree which began on Wednesday last has continued unabated despite strong police bandobast. Actually, this is not a recent development. The killings became routine way back in the 1980s and have continued all along sporadically thanks to the support given by the Kerala government every time the communists have come to power. In counter-attacks CPM workers too have died. But this is the first time that the fallout of the killings has reached even the national capital. The simmering problem which should have been settled by senior party leaders across the table has been converted into a pitched battle. Such incidents have no place in a democracy – in no form of the government for that matter. The communists must realise the image problem such violent activists are causing to the party. The Nandigram incident too should be fresh in their mind. The way Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya had to apologise should have made them wiser. Since they have not mended their ways, it is the duty of the government to ensure that they do not become law unto themselves. At the same time, RSS workers too cannot be allowed to take the law into their own hands. And why the Delhi government did not take steps when the CPM office was being raided by the RSS volunteers cannot be understood. Prevention of violence is its duty. |
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Win or lose Never being one to take chances, the Punjab government appears determined that life must remain a lottery; and people should not believe that they can make a fortune by working hard, earning and saving. Therefore, the Punjab government is not only promoting the sale of lotteries but also making its own staff sell lottery tickets. Thus, a person going to any department of the government to get work done will have to buy a lottery ticket before he or she can get the staff to move. The employee himself may not know which is his primary function: to do the job for which he was appointed or sell lottery tickets. It is not just scandalous but shocking that the state should go all out to promote the lottery culture. Not too long ago, the lottery had become such a menace that right-thinking people wanted it to be banned. There were thousands of men who spent their whole monthly earnings on buying lotteries; and, when fortune failed to smile on them, quite a number of them committed suicide. All that seems to be forgotten in the drive to push the sale of lottery tickets by the Punjab government. Nothing could be more cynical especially in one of India’s most prosperous states where people are known for their industry and enterprise but are felled by the lure of quick money. It is the duty of the state to create conditions that unleash people’s creativity and industriousness, and enable them to lead healthy lives with meaningful pursuits in which they can find fulfilment. Far from that being done, here is the Punjab government making its own staff sell the hope of easy money. What will it do if an employee does his assigned job well but fails to sell lottery tickets? Or, when it is the other way round? Lottery sales could determine the employees’ fate under the present dispensation. |
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Within every man and woman a secret is hidden, and as a photographer it is my task to reveal it if I can.
— Yousuf Karsh |
Dormant debate The furore within Parliament over the Indo-US civilian nuclear cooperation agreement appears to have overshadowed what may be the beginning of a significant movement of policies of nuclear weapon-states towards a nuclear weapon-free world, an objective long championed by India.
In fact, when India blocked a consensus on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva in 1996, the lack of a linkage of that treaty to a commitment of the (then) nuclear weapon-states was a major reason. For almost a decade now, the Conference on Disarmament (CD) has not only not been able to agree to an annual programme of work, but this logjam has also been partly due, at least in the initial stages, to the disinclination of the P-5 to even discuss nuclear disarmament, leave alone start negotiating any kind of agreement on the subject. It should be remembered that the CD has been nominated by the UN General Assembly as the sole multilateral negotiating body for disarmament-related treaties, and that on its permanent agenda the first item, as determined by the First Special Session on Disarmament, is nuclear disarmament. Then last year four eminent persons from the US — Mr George Schultz, Dr Henry Kissinger, Mr William Perry and Mr Sam Nunn — in a letter published in The Wall Street Journal called on the US to take steps towards a nuclear weapon-free world. This was followed by the support of the initiative from Mikhail Gorbachev of Russia and Margaret Becket of the UK, and by several former US Secretaries of State and Defence and National Security Advisers. Early this year, the four-some issued another letter, spelling out some of the steps they felt needed to be taken to move towards this objective. While the Government of Norway has moved to push this initiative forward, in the CD, the UK Secretary of State for Defence focused on the issue of nuclear disarmament to create, he said, an environment conducive to multilateral nuclear disarmament. Mr Browne went on to state that the UK was currently working on “how one verifies the dismantlement of a warhead” and proposed hosting “a technical conference of P-5 nuclear laboratories on the verification of nuclear disarmament before the next NPT Review Conference in 2010.” The motivation for the enthusiasm for nuclear disarmament is perhaps available in the last phrase. At the same session India, too, made a concrete proposal to the CD. The new Indian Disarmament Ambassador, Hamid Ali Rao, recalled all the initiatives India had taken in the past, both distant and more recently, and the changing environment for discussions on nuclear disarmament. In this context he proposed seven “elements” which could form the basis for consultations among member-states of the CD, including an unequivocal commitment of all nuclear weapon-states to the goal of complete elimination of nuclear arms. Indirectly, there is an indication that the “commitment” given by the P-5 to the 1995 and 2000 Review Conferences of the NPT were not “unequivocal”; the formulation also includes other non-P-5 nuclear weapon-states. The other specific steps included de-alerting of nuclear weapons — a point taken up repeatedly by India in the UN General Assembly — reduction of the salience of nuclear weapons in security doctrines, a global no-first use agreement and separate agreements on non-use against non-nuclear weapon-states, non-use and a convention like the Chemical Weapons Convention, dealing with the “non-discriminatory and verifiable elimination of nuclear weapons with a specified timeframe”. However, much of this, with some significant changes in nuance, has been articulated by India before in different forums. Even the proposal for a Special Coordinator “to assist in carrying out consultations on specific measures or a set of measures that have a potential of commanding consensus” is not completely new. While trying to break the logjam in the work programme of the CD, an attempt had been made earlier to appoint Special Coordinators to try and evolve a consensus. However, that effort failed, as the P-5 did not want to discuss nuclear disarmament at all, and the G-21, the group of developing countries in the CD, was insistent that an ad hoc committee be set up to negotiate the elimination of nuclear weapons. Ad hoc committees are the mechanism used by the CD for actual “closed-door” negotiations, as opposed to plenary sessions where policy statements are made and which are open to the public. The most important difference this time is that India has made these proposals as a declared nuclear weapon-state. Secondly, that consensus is being sought on limited steps, which, if obtained, could lead to the formalisation of understanding in a legal text. Thirdly, the fact is that internationally, the issue of nuclear disarmament appears tentatively as being brought onto the stove, if not onto the front burner. The reasons for this apparent change may vary; as already mentioned, the 2010 Review Conference of the NPT must not, it is felt, go the way of the earlier one, when there was no agreement even on an agenda of work. This would adversely affect the standing of the NPT itself, already under considerable strain. The threat of nuclear terrorism is another reason that the push for disarmament is gathering some momentum. Recently, in Munich, IAEA Director General El-Baradei warned of nuclear material falling into the hands of extremists, and emphasised that this was a greatest threat to international security. In any case, he is reported to have said that it would be difficult to prevent new nations from acquiring nuclear weapons as long as the “existing members of the nuclear club…not only maintain large stockpiles, but keep them locked and loaded”. In fact, he said, “You don’t really even need to have a nuclear weapon. It’s enough to buy yourself an insurance policy by developing the capability, and then just sit on it.” The linkage between lack of progress towards a nuclear weapon-free world and proliferation has been acknowledged, albeit reluctantly. Whatever be the reasons for the revival of the debate, and since India appears to have reiterated its commitment to the objective of a nuclear weapon-free world though it is a declared nuclear weapon-state, it has become necessary for India to examine, discuss and decide whether such an objective is one it really needs to protect its security interests. Unfortunately, with 1998, the age of idealism and moral imperatives came to an end; a more realistic view would seem to prevail. Whether we are able to get a consensus at home, leave alone in the CD, is a moot point, given the deadlock over the Indo-US nuclear deal, an agreement clearly beneficial to India.n The writer is a former Ambassador of India to the United Nations in Geneva. |
The imperial and the democratic HE had the manner of a film star and the bearing of a General. But he was neither an actor nor a soldier. He was Mr A.L. Fletcher of the I.C.S., a blend of the imperial and the democratic. He was the proud owner of a scarlet Buick which he drove with the skill and confidence of an ace driver. One November morning, as he was on his way to Delhi, a little way outside Chandigarh, a rickety Vaux-Haule gave an asthmatic horn and went past his car. He was a little annoyed at the bad road manner of the driver for it was unnecessary to give a horn. Ignoring it with disdain, he pressed the accelerator slightly and left the Vaux-Haule behind. His noiseless car became air-borne as it were as it gathered speed in no time. Near Dera Bassi, he was about to cross a railway crossing when the gate closed. Those days the railways closed the gate a full 20 minutes before the train passed and did not open then till after 20 minutes of its leaving. As the gates opened, he resumed the journey. The Grand Trunk road was not as busy as it is today and the truck drivers had not yet begun practicing their middle-of-the-road policy. But there were other problems and those had to be accepted as part of the G.T. road situation. Over-bridges were an unknown feature on this road. There was no bypass at Karnal. Also on the 154-mile journey, one could reasonably expect a few other impediments to the traffic — a herd of buffaloes with their impervious nervous system, unconcerned about the irritation to the traffic or a flock of sheep and goats which the shepherd tried to control through various kinds of sound which he and his flock alone could understand. Like the buffaloes’ herd, these flocks also could not be hustled about and took their own time getting out of the way of the vehicular traffic. For want of bypasses, the traffic had to go through the crowded cities and the absence of traffic lights made matters worse. In fact, the best way to cultivate certain desirable national virtues such as tolerance, patience and indeed a spirit of resignation could only come from one’s traffic experience of these roads. There were no quality restaurants on the roadside and those in the town lacked the standard for the senior ranks of the civil and military services. A brief digression into the city to a Civil or PWD rest house was therefore necessary for a coffee break and so Mr Fletcher went through all these obstacles and was finally on Delhi’s Mall Road, a little tired and looking forward to a refreshing glass of beer and a meal at the Maidens when he arrived at the Timarpur crossing. As he was waiting for the green light to be on, he heard that very asthmatic horn which had irritated him at the start of his journey and the Vaux-Haule manoeuvred past him as the traffic got the green light at the crossing. Now it was not the imperial disdain but his democratic spirit that came to the fore. He granted the fact that the ramshackle Vaux-Haule was better suited to our condition than the Buick and was entitled to take advantage of
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Fading olive green THE inevitable has happened. In a country of over a billion people there are few takers for a military officer’s uniform. The training courses commencing in January 2008 amply prove the point. At the Indian Military Academy, against 250 vacancies, only 86 have reported. In the feeder National Defence Academy, only 178 reported against 300 vacancies. With the already existing officer shortage of nearly 27 per cent, and many more wanting to quit, in a country where the Army plays a leading role in maintaining unity and security, it portends trouble. Let us look at service conditions in our Army. Almost two-thirds of one’s service is spent in non-family field stations. Apart from separation, the living conditions are hard and difficult. Besides, the element of risk and danger is perpetual in most of our operational deployment scenarios. And of course the work schedule is round the clock for days on end. When one’s unit gets a peace tenure it might be in a remote station, which offers no jobs for spouses and where education facilities are primitive. The lucky ones, who get posted in metros, have to wait nearly 18 months before being allotted their entitled accommodation. However, some of these are hard realities inherent in the job and have always existed. These, therefore, could not be playing a decisive role in a young man’s choice of career. There are other factors that need attention. One is career progression. The promotions in the Army are both slow and scarce. For example, one’s chances of making through to the first select rank of Colonel are 40 per cent. Of those who clear this bar, only some 25 per cent become Brigadiers. The pyramid keeps getting narrower. The reality is that the Army needs a large base and has a very narrow top. To increase chances of promotion, there should be many officers at junior ranks and only few competing later for senior select ranks. This is possible if we substantially increase the intake of short service cadre officers, and have only a small core of regulars. Ideally, one should have a 75-80 per cent chance of becoming a Brigadier. The above still does not address the issue of unpopularity of the defence uniform. It may be rightly argued that the increased intake in short service would be equally unpopular. This can be largely overcome by providing employment incentives for those who sign up for a three to five year term. The government should ensure, if necessary through legislation, that they are either absorbed in para military or Central police forces, or given suitable employment in other departments. The declining popularity of the military service directly correlates with the level of development of a country. As economy improves, the corporate sector is invariably the first port of call for the aspiring youth. That is where the compulsory or induced military service comes in. There have been some suggestions recently recommending adoption of conscription. However, in India, conscription is neither desirable nor necessary, more so since reluctance to join is only as officers, and not as soldiers. Besides, even the countries that have tried conscription have already discarded it as they found it hurts the effectiveness of the military. A suitable alternative could be national service, which is in vogue in nearly all the developed countries. What is required is a period of national service being made a mandatory pre-requisite for getting admission in various professional courses, obtaining Central and State government jobs, concessions and licences and as eligibility for fighting assembly and parliamentary elections. This is in fact a milder form of conscription and there would be relatively less resistance to it in our democratic system. The existing deficiency in the officer cadre is sought to be contained through restricting pre-mature retirement. This is actually a form of ‘conscription in reverse’ and results in two negatives. Firstly, those still undecided about joining get deterred if they are convinced that once they get in they cannot get out. Secondly, keeping unwilling officers in uniform is counterproductive as they would spread disaffection by being the rattling wheels. The focus instead should be on retaining officers and on increasing their intake through incentives. Apart from limited promotional avenues what greatly sharpens the problem is the meagre salary. In today’s consumerist society this factor has a major bearing on career choice. It is unrealistic to expect any youngster – let alone quality youth – to join up as an officer on a paltry starting salary of Rs 8,250 a month. Today, even a school dropout with reasonable verbal skills joins a call centre at a much higher salary than that, and that too without undergoing the rigorous training. In a fast changing economic scenario the ten-yearly Pay Commissions are irrelevant. As a result of the current policy the government employees today are still drawing salaries fixed by the V Pay Commission in 1996. In view of their unique conditions the defence services should have a separate pay commission, which in fact was the case till the IV Pay Commission in 1973. Alternatively, there must at least be a serving defence member on the Commission. With the government having rejected both these demands, there is great apprehension among the defence fraternity. If the increase is only limited to 30-35 percent as is speculated, one foresees our military academies remaining thinly populated and serving defence officers wanting to leave in hordes. A low salaried job full of hardships and risks can still find enough takers, provided it carries with it high status and prestige. The writer is a former Deputy Chief of Army Staff. |
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How poverty exists amidst plenty THE Census Bureau of Poverty in the United States reported recently that 12.6 percent people in that country (or a total of 37 million Americans) live in poverty. Nearly 20 per cent of American children under the age of six years live in poverty. These statistics may appear shocking to many people, but several analysts who have studied poverty in the United States closely argue that the situation is actually worse. While providing the above statistics, the US Census Bureau has defined ‘below poverty line’ in the following way – an annual income of around $10,000 for an individual or $ 20,000 for a family of four. However the Economic Policy Institute recently reviewed dozens of studies of what constituters a ‘living wage’ in the conditions of the USA to come up with an average figure of $30,000 a year for a family of one adult and two children, which amounts to a wage of $14 an hour. Shockingly, the majority of American workers, about 60 per cent earn less than $ 14 an hour. A panel of poverty experts assembled by the Committee on National Statistics at the National Research Council concluded that poverty rates in the USA are currently being underestimated. The rise in housing costs of the poor in particular has made it highly likely that poverty estimates that rely heavily on food budgets underestimate poverty. In an essay ‘Hunger in the Land of Plenty’, Janet Poppendieck explains the drift towards homelessness and hunger – “a sharp rise in shelter costs was forcing many impoverished Americans into a dilemma often labelled ‘heat or eat’. For some, the escalating burden of shelter became too much to bear, and homelessness joined hunger as both symbol and symptom of the escalation of poverty.” The poor also face a denial of basic human rights. Author and reporter Barbara Ehrenreich herself worked at several low-wage places to observe closely the reality of working conditions here. She wrote, “When you enter the low-wage workplace – and many of the medium-wage workplaces as well – you check your civil liberties at the door, leave America and all it supposedly stands for behind, and learn to zip your lips for the duration of the shift.” According to a report on ‘The State of America’s Children’ by Children’s Defence Fund (CDF), “shamefully high child poverty rates persist, and children are the poorest group of Americans.” According to data compiled by CDF, 1 in 5 American children is poor now, and 1 in 3 will be poor at some point in childhood. The lesson in all this for those committed to reducing poverty is that the overall rise in income or wealth in any country is by itself no guarantee that those at the bottom will be able to meet their basic needs with dignity. Ultimately only a deeply caring society can ensure not just food and housing but also dignity for its entire people, including those at the bottom of the economy. |
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Kosovo’s independence illegitimate THE international system that has brought unprecedented prosperity to the world since 1945 is based on rules that apply without exception. This system is supposed to protect the basic, legitimate national interests of every country, whether rich or poor, strong or weak. Its binding principles include the sovereign equality of states, respect for the territorial integrity and the inviolability of internationally recognised borders. Yet on February 17, the Serbian province of Kosovo, which has been under United Nations administration since 1999, unilaterally declared independence. This illegal act has, unfortunately, been recognised by the Bush administration and some European countries, including Britain, France and Germany. Others in Europe – including Greece, Romania and Spain – have withheld recognition as have most other leading global and regional players, including Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Israel, Russia and South Africa. As things stand, the number of countries that will recognise an independent Kosovo will plateau at around 40, leaving it unrecognised by a vast majority of the close to 200 members of the United Nations. This includes, of course, the Republic of Serbia. A peaceful demonstration of close to half a million people in Belgrade last week condemned this act of illegal secession. Unfortunately, a few hundred hooligans attacked several embassies, including that of the
United States, and looted stores. The case against recognition is based not only on the Security Council’s 1999 resolution reaffirming Serbia’s sovereignty over Kosovo, but also founded on the view that the international system has, as a result of this hostile act by the Kosovo Albanians, become more unstable, more insecure and more unpredictable. Here’s why. Recognising the unilateral declaration of Kosovo’s independence from Serbia legitimises the doctrine of imposing solutions to ethnic conflicts. It legitimises the act of unilateral secession by a provincial or other non-state actor. It transforms the right to self-determination into an avowed right to independence. It legitimises the forced partition of internationally recognised sovereign states. It violates the commitment to the peaceful and consensual resolution of disputes in Europe. It supplies any ethnic or religious group that has a grievance against its capital with a playbook on how to achieve its ends. It even resurrects the discredited cold-war doctrine of limited sovereignty. A historical injustice is being imposed on a European country. Recognising Kosovo means saying, in effect, that Serbian democracy must be punished because a tyrant – one who committed heinous deeds against the Kosoyo Albanians in the 1990s – was left unpunished. Such misplaced revenge may make some feel better, but it will make the international system feel much worse. To act out of a false moral imperative to right a supposed historical wrong will contribute neither to international security nor to the region’s prospects of European Union membership. It is time to take a step back and examine the damage done. If we can find a creative way to step back from the abyss that is Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence, we could not only salvage the credibility of the international system, but also strengthen it through a re-commitment to its basic principles. Some will say that it’s too late to put the genie back in the bottle. I don’t believe that’s true because it’s never too late to forge a prosperous future for all stakeholders to share.
What is absolutely certain is that trust needs to be rebuilt and values must be reaffirmed. The way forward lies in coming together and securing an agreement between the two parties: a negotiated, compromise solution to Kosovo’s future status that addresses the legitimate right to broad self-governance for Kosovo’s Albanians, while preserving a democratic Serbia that is whole and free, integrated into Europe, and engaged with a world set aright through prudent statecraft.
The legitimacy of the international system hangs in the balance. The writer is the Foreign Minister of Serbia. |
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