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Checkmated King Torch of discord |
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Too little, too late RBI’s feeble attempt to control inflation THE unexpected spurt in inflation from 5 to 7.14 per cent within a few weeks, the political outcry over the price rise and Finance Minister P. Chidambaram’s statement in the Lok Sabha that the RBI would take appropriate action have led the apex bank to hike the cash reserve ratio (CRR) by 0.5 per cent. The CRR hike means banks will have to keep more money with the RBI on which they will not earn any interest.
The quota verdict
Leaf dance
Bureaucratic terror Cricket’s journey beyond the boundaries Prejudice runs deep
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Checkmated King CONSIDERING how clear the writing on the wall is, Nepal King Gyanendra’s apparent intention to hold on to the monarchy for as long as possible — another four weeks at the most — is absurd. He is squandering an opportunity, however small, to revive his fallen stature by making a graceful exit. It is becoming clear that at the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly, the members, led by the triumphant Maoists, will formally end the 240-year-old monarchy. Already, the King has essentially been stripped not only of his powers but also of all his property. Maoist second-in-command Baburam Bhattarai has now issued an ultimatum to him to vacate the royal palace within four weeks. Any bullheadedness on the part of the King would only add to the ignominy of such an exit. After having called upon the Nepalese people to “exercise their democratic rights” by voting freely in the election, and grandly welcoming the successful conclusion of the historic polls, the King should have immediately stepped down. Instead, he is giving an opportunity to the Maoists to repeatedly run him down. Of course, the Maoists have made it clear that the King’s future is only to live as a “common citizen.” While that may make Gyanendra chafe at the changing times, he needs to learn from his neighbour, Bhutan King Jigme Wangchuck. The Bhutanese King actually led his reluctant people’s transition to a democracy, and his stature is undiminished. Unlike in Bhutan, however, the monarch has virtually no currency in Nepal. The very fact that over 60 per cent of voters exercised the franchise to elect a Constituent Assembly which would determine the future of the Himalayan Kingdom is a testimony of their determination to effect a democratic change. Not even the apologists of the King will contend that he enjoys even a semblance of popular support. Unfortunately, the King does not seem to have reconciled himself to the loss of power. There is no alternative for him but to step down. The sooner he goes, the better it will be for him and the nation.
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Torch of discord ON Thursday, the topmost — if not the only — item on the agenda of the Indian government seemed to be to keep the Tibetan protesters away from the Olympic torch. It was willing to go to any length to do so, and in the end did succeed by going to ridiculous lengths. The torch run venue was converted into a police cantonment and the public had to undergo considerable hardship during this show of brute muscle power. Those people whose houses had their doors or windows towards the venue were locked in. Even the functioning of the Rajya Sabha was affected. The relay went off peacefully. The Chinese were thus given no reason to complain. But that fetish begs for an answer: was all this necessary? India is a democratic country. It allows peaceful forms of protest. Why should it turn into a police state to be on the right side of the Chinese? Even more galling was the way the Union Minister of External Affairs avowedly kept himself glued to the arrangements, as if he had nothing better to do. In the process, the very purpose of the relay was defeated. There was no public support or participation. The whole farcical show became an exercise in futility. Thank heavens the Indian and Chinese security men were wearing track suits; otherwise it would have looked more like a police parade. Indeed, it is the government’s responsibility to maintain law and order, especially after the attempts in France and other countries to douse the flame. But this could have been managed in a less intrusive manner. Even if the Tibetans had protested near the outer ring, that should not have caused so much consternation. But, inexplicably, the security agencies went out of their way to wipe out all traces of protest. India need not have cowered so badly before the Chinese dragon.
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Too little, too late THE unexpected spurt in inflation from 5 to 7.14 per cent within a few weeks, the political outcry over the price rise and Finance Minister P. Chidambaram’s statement in the Lok Sabha that the RBI would take appropriate action have led the apex bank to hike the cash reserve ratio (CRR) by 0.5 per cent. The CRR hike means banks will have to keep more money with the RBI on which they will not earn any interest. This will hit the banks’ income. They may either absorb the loss or pass it on to their customers by raising the lending rates or cutting the deposit rates. For the time being, they have chosen to wait for the RBI’s April 29 monetary policy review. Higher interest rates would hit auto and home loan takers and corporate growth, while lower deposit rates would debilitate pensioners. The RBI believes there is an excess liquidity. The CRR hike will withdraw Rs 18,500 crore from the system. Between pushing growth and controlling the price rise, the RBI has chosen the latter. As a result, the GDP growth declined from 9 per cent in 2006-07 to 8.7 per cent in 2007 and may fall further to below 8 per cent in the current fiscal. Despite a tight control over money supply in the past two years, why has inflation shot up? That is because the supply of food items has fallen short of the demand. The global demand-supply mismatch has escalated the prices of food, fuel and metals. High growth and low inflation in recent years had blinded the government to the crisis in agriculture. Now to cover up the neglect, it is resorting to fire-fighting measures, which can have, at best, a short-term effect. High food-driven inflation is the government’s problem about which the RBI can do little.
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Speech is conveniently located midway between thought and action, where it often substitutes for both. — John Andrew Holmes
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The quota verdict
THE Constitution Bench judgement upholding reservation in higher educational institutions is along expected lines, in the light of judgement in the Indira Sawhney case (1992). Though 27 per cent quota for OBCs was loosely challenged, but this plea was an empty one because the latest Government of India National Sample Survey data (2004 - 05) shows 41 per cent and 43 per cent population constitutes OBCs amongst Muslims and Hindus, respectively. Of course, everybody knew that the real issue was “ would court accept the government’s, partisan approach (no doubt influenced by higher echelons of OBC political leadership) that the principle of creamy layer amongst OBC should be dispensed with”. The court has given it short shrift by holding “Thus, any executive or legislative action refusing to exclude the creamy layer from the benefits of reservation will be violative of Articles 14 and 16(1) and also of Article 16(4)”. It is unfortunate that because of partisan politics some are still unwilling to accept this equitable decision and thus put in jeopardy the implementation of this overdue measure for poor segments of OBC. As it is, the partisan approach of higher segments of OBC has already done considerable damage to SC/ST students. This is shown by the way all parties indulged in conspiracy of silence with regard to the benefit that was to accrue to SCs/STs under this very government circular from last year. It may be noted that though the Supreme Court had given interim stay regarding OBC admission, there was no stay regarding SC/ST quota, which could have been filled up but no one spoke about it and it has unnecessarily gone waste for last year. This indifference to SC/ST quota exposes the hypocrisy of many politicians that when they are talking of uplifting the poor, it is the caste angle which has primacy. It should be noted that the extra seats created for 2007-08 were 12216 of which 9468 were for the OBCs 1832 for SCs and 916 for the STs. Thus it was possible for the government, to fill up the quota for SC/ST (a total of 2748 seats). Management of institutions had no objection because they had already made arrangement for filling up 12216 seats. But surprisingly no effort was made to fill up SC/ST quota last year. This anomaly was felt very strongly by Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) which by its letter of May 4, 2007 brought this fact to the notice of the Prime Minister, Mr Arjun Singh, and others, including Ms. Mayawati, the Chief Minster of U.P., expressing its anxiety and surprise that so far the government had not taken any steps to fill up the seats reserved for SCs and STs when there was no restraint against them. Unfortunately for reasons not clear no steps were taken. Again, from the current press reports it appears that some political groups are trying to find ways to include the creamy layer in the quota (a useless exercise in view of judgement). Again no attention is being paid in this process for the enrolment of SC/ST which is permissible. Why has the government not asked the institutions to go ahead with their admissions? The angularities regarding OBCs can be worked out but why should SCs/STs be denied admissions in higher institutions again for the second year? Why must partisan politics always override equity and fairness to the most neglected? Is it because political leadership is under pressure from the creamy layer of OBCs not to let SC/ST take benefits if the same are not at the same time available to OBCs? Is this social justice? Is it not pandering to caste politics and vote gathering mechan-ism? But why is SC leadership not exposing this game? Even Mayawati is playing cool on this. I feel that nervousness on the question whether if OBC is graduate, but economically below the guidelines of 2004 (updated to the present inflation index) he will not be eligible for admission in OBC quota is misplaced. Creamy layer touchstone is not only at the educational level but also at economic level. Thus it would be unacceptable and unjust if a conscientious hard working OBC poor was to pass graduation by studying even under street lights (instances have actually happened) he should be deprived of the benefit of reservation even when his family income is below the limit. As the court has said about the exclusion of creamy layer, “one of the main criteria for determining the socially and educationally backward class is poverty”, and that “Creamy layer has no place in the reservation system”. I feel prima facie family income level of Rs 2.5 lakh per year fixed in 2004 (updated by inflation index) can be the uppermost limit for being retained in non-creamy layer. To call it inadequate would be a mockery considering that statistics show that of OBC Muslims (82 per cent) and Hindus (80 per cent) are below a per capita consumption of Rs. 20 per day — as it is even national average of poor whose per capita consumption per day is Rs. 20 constitute about 77 per cent of total population. The court has also given direction that “there must be periodic review as to the desirability of continuing with the reservation, and suggesting possibly five or ten years”. With respect it seems to me that this direction is hasty, considering that the directive of Article 45 of the Constitution (now made a Fundamental Right) that the State shall provide free and compulsory education until the age of 14 years remains woefully a distant dream, coupled with the fact that according to the 2001 census, national literacy (which in reality only means writing your name) is 65 per cent. Bhandari J.S. suggestion that legislators should be outside the ambit of reservation is sound both in principle and equity. Legislators who proclaim their first loyalty to the common man must show their genuineness by making this voluntary gesture - as it is they are certainly far above the limit of social/economic backwardness. Another fear expressed is that if creamy layer is excluded the quota for OBC will remain unfilled. I would therefore suggest that if after filling up from non-creamy OBC, any seats are left out, they should be filled up from economically weak and backward non-creamy segment of non-OBCs. If still quota remains unfilled, those vacancies could be filled up by creamy layer of OBCs, but not otherwise. The court has rightly not given any direction regarding minority institutions. But does not equity demand that these institution on their own provide proportionate quota for non-creamy OBC amongst its own minority on the same terms as for non-minority
institutions.
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Leaf dance
It’s that time of the year when winter has all but faded and spring is in the air. It’s when deciduous trees and shrubs shed their foliage to stand tall in all their bare-bodied glory of strong branches and sturdy trunks. Tiny buds soon arrive heralding the onset of spring and the long hot summer ahead. Piles of leaves mound the roadsides: brown, beige, red, golden, caramel, rust, toffee, chocolate, the colours of rest and hibernation. The wind comes along lifting them up. Golden brown leaves, wrinkled yet crackling with energy. The leaves dance along the roads. Briefly, each gust of wind carrying the little piles up in a charming dance. My heart dances too, at one with the leaves, and very briefly I am transported to a garden that is seeped in memories of tenderness. My grandmother’s garden comes alive. The leaves dancing oh so merrily and us little ones tumbling into the piles raked neatly by the gardener for leaf manure. Why do leaves change colour, grandma? I remember asking. Grandma, one of the first five women graduates in the undivided Panjab usually, had an answer for everything. First would come the lesson in biology. Leaves get their green colour from chlorophyll, a pigment that enables them to process sunlight, I remember being told. Usually the chlorophyll pigment dominates and makes leaves look green. When chlorophyll moves from the leaves to the branches, trunk, and roots, the yellow and orange pigments that are always present become visible. “Trees,” said my grandma, “like us need to store as many nutrients as they can to enable rejuvenation in spring.” Throughout the winter, trees accumulate Carotenoids (sugars) and anthocyanins (phosphates). As sugar accumulates, the leaves turn brighter red. Red colour is nature’s sunscreen. It shades the chlorophyll so it doesn’t break down and thereby conserves the supply needed to put forth fresh foliage. In the newly sprung foliage, the red pigments of the anthocyanins shade sensitive photosynthetic tissue while trees reabsorb nutrients from their leaves to put forth new growth. Biology lesson over, it was usually time for grandma to transport us to a world peopled by little people like us: Brownies, Elves, Fairies and all those denizens of an enchanted world so far removed from the fantasy worlds of today’s children peopled by weaponry and bloodthirsty assassins in games such as Counterstrike. In that enchanted tale the Brownies rode down from their abode in the trees, astride the golden brown leaves to attend midsummer-night feasts and spring soirees. My grandmother usually exhorted us to go find a Brownie and hold him tight until he granted us a wish. And at this time of the year part of me always peers surreptitiously under the dancing leaves hoping to spot an elusive Brownie. Perhaps I haven’t quite stopped hoping that I will find one who will trade me a wish for his freedom. And so I watch the leaves tumbling in a wild abandon of gold and rust, and my heart dances along
too.
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Bureaucratic terror LONDON – Mohammed Atef was furious. The al-Qaida leader had learned that a subordinate had broken the rules repeatedly. So he did his duty as the feared military chief of a global terror network: He fired off a nasty memo. In two pages mixing flowery religious terms with itemized complaints, the Egyptian boss accused the militant of misappropriating cash, a car, sick leave, research papers and an air conditioner during “an austerity situation” for the network. He demanded a detailed letter of explanation. “I was very upset by what you did,” Atef wrote. “I obtained 75,000 rupees for you and your family’s trip to Egypt. I learned that you did not submit the voucher to the accountant, and that you made reservations for 40,000 rupees and kept the remainder claiming you have a right to do so. ... Also with respect to the air conditioning unit ... furniture used by brothers in Al Qaeda is not considered private property. ... I would like to remind you and myself of the punishment for any violation.” The memo by Atef, who later died in the U.S.-led assault on Osama bin Laden’s Afghan refuge in 2001, is among recently declassified documents that reveal a little-known side of the network. Although al-Qaida has endured because of a flexible structure, its internal culture nonetheless has been surprisingly bureaucratic and fractious, investigators and experts say. The documents were captured in Afghanistan and Iraq and date from the early 1990s to the present. They depict an organization obsessed with paperwork and penny-pinching and afflicted with a propensity for feuds. “The picture of internal strife that emerges from the documents highlights not only Al Qaeda’s past failures but also – and more importantly – it offers insight into its present weaknesses,” concludes a study of the documents issued in September by the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. “Al Qaeda today is beset by challenges that surfaced in leadership disputes at the beginning of the organization’s history.” In the years after 2001, anti-terror officials worked to understand a foe that defied a Western mind-set. In contrast to state-sponsored extremist groups, al-Qaida was a decentralised alliance of networks. Recruits in Afghanistan had access to bin Laden and other bosses. Operatives were often given great autonomy. But the egalitarian veneer coexisted with the bureaucratic mentality of the chiefs, mostly Egyptians with experience in the military and highly structured extremist groups. “They may have imposed the blindingly obdurate nature of Egyptian bureaucracy,” said a senior British anti-terror official who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons. “You see that in the retirement packages they offered, the lists of members in Iraq, the insecure attitude about their membership, the rifts among leaders and factions.” Like newly arrived fighters in Iraq today, recruits in the 1990s filled out applications that were kept in meticulous rosters. The shaggy, battle-scarred holy warriors of Afghanistan were micromanagers. They documented logistical details – one memo accounts for a mislaid Kalashnikov rifle and 125 rounds of ammunition. They groused and nagged about money. In a letter from the late 1990s, a militant wished Atef “Peace and God’s mercy and blessings” and “praise to the Lord and salvation to his prophet.” Then he got down to business: “I have not received my salary in three months and I am six months behind in paying my rent. ... You also told me to remind you, and this is a reminder.” Mustafa Ahmed Al Yahzid, an Egyptian trained as an accountant, ran the network’s finance committee between 1995 and 2007, said Rohan Gunaratna, author of “Inside Al Qaeda.” “He is known as being a very stringent administrator, who keeps tight control of Al Qaeda’s finances,” Gunaratna said. Committees and titles proliferated. And for years, schisms pitted bin Laden’s inner circle against factions who saw him as a chaotic commander prone to military miscalculation. They also faulted him and his deputies for disdain toward non-Arabs, a persistent flash point of conflict, according to the West Point study. Dissent was loud. Two influential Syrians scolded bin Laden “like a disobedient child” in an e-mail in 1999, the study says. They urged him to end tensions with Mullah Omar, the Taliban chief. “I think our brother (bin Laden) has caught the disease of screens, flashes, fans and applause,” the Syrians wrote. “You should apologize for any inconvenience or pressure you have caused.” The documents also suggest a vexing struggle to retain operational control in recent years. Iraq is the best example. The rise of al-Qaida in Iraq under Abu Musab al-Zarqawi attracted new fighters and funds. But the fiery Jordanian had kept his distance even when he ran his own Afghan training camp. As he gained the spotlight in Iraq, he feuded with the core leadership in Pakistan, who worried that his onslaught of bombings and beheadings would backfire. Their efforts to rein in al-Zarqawi are documented by a letter from a Libyan chief known only as Atiyah. US troops found the 13-page letter in the safe house where an airstrike killed al-Zarqawi in 2006. Atiyah sounds like a sage veteran alternately chiding and praising a rookie hothead as he urges al-Zarqawi to mend fences with bin Laden and refrain from indiscriminate violence. “My dear brother, today you are a man of the public,” Atiyah wrote from Pakistan on July 9, 2005. “Your actions, decisions and behavior result in gains and losses that are not yours alone, but rather they are for Islam.” As predicted, al-Zarqawi’s rampage had weakened al-Qaida in Iraq by the time he died. In the aftermath, the leadership in Pakistan lost a chief who was captured en route to Iraq on a mission to take charge there.
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Cricket’s journey beyond the boundaries THE current controversy surrounding Shoaib Akhtar’s ban by the PCB for five years has put the BCCI and its preparation for the much-hyped IPL in a fix. The ban on Akhtar by his national cricket board technically should not have caused any problems in him playing for Shahrukh Khan’s Kolkata team for the IPL, but for the BCCI’s unreasoned and grossly unfair engagement with the ICL, another ‘private’ body. It was ICL which had spearheaded the idea of 20-Twenty tournaments in the country with teams comprising players of varying nationalities. BCCI has discredited and banned the players playing for the ICL by declaring them ‘rebels’. It is, however, not difficult to understand the dilemma of the BCCI. It considers and projects itself as a ‘national’ body and behaves like a government organisation working for the welfare of the public. It thrived during a period when anything ‘public’ was treated as a holy cow and the word ‘private’ meant illegitimate, sinful and unscrupulous. This was also the period in which folklores and legends of Indian cricket were created through jingoistic instruments, involving a post-colonial urge to master the art of the erstwhile masters – cricket playing. The sport in the sub-continent had emerged as a powerful, indelible marker of territorial boundaries of the two newly bifurcated nation states. No wonder a final ball hit for a six in Sharjah by Javed Miandad off the bowling of Chetan Sharma, to register a victory against India, was no less than losing a war. That match remained etched in the collective national memory of Indians as a moment of as much shame and ignominy as the photograph of General Niazi’s surrender to the Indian army, for a Pakistani. A loss to the England team did not hurt as much. The 90s however saw a change in the country’s economic climate and its policies. The euphemism ‘middle class mentality’ made a surreptitious exit from kitty party circuits in the cities. The market and the private players arrived to dominate the proceedings. The word ‘private’ began to connote authentic, legitimate, efficient, trendy and upwardly mobile. The new generation had arrived with similar casual, non-jingoistic, dollar-aspiring engagement with the world. India-Pakistan matches lost their edge. The last time the two teams played with each other the old guards were disappointed. They said there was no sweat and blood. Instead, post match, Shoaib, Yuvraj, Bhajji and Afridi were seen dancing together in the company of some of Bollywood’s hot and happening, much to the bewilderment of the connoisseurs of yore. The world, however, is yet to become truly global. The residues of the anti-colonial context still survives within and the new found economic stature of India has shifted interests to dominating the world, in buying European and western business concerns by the Mittals and the Tatas, and in defeating Australia in the world of cricket. These take-overs and a win in Australia give a similar sense of ‘coming of age’ for the much bruised colonized psyche of the people of the subcontinent. India did not have much to prove to its neighbors in the subcontinent. Its new aspiration was global and not regional. The Bhajji-Symonds row and the unprecedented media attention that it received in the recently concluded series in Australia points towards the new trend, the emergence of the new ‘other’, the new adversary. The launch of IPL is a new venture being attempted to create more wealth. ICL tried the concept and if the spectator turn out in its fixtures is any indication, then it has proved to be a disappointment. The only novelty that the IPL is offering on its menu is the presence of current stars from the international circuit, unlike the ICL which has either discards or the retired stars. ICL tried to seduce the spectators by taking the services of dance girls and Bollywood divas but it clearly did not work. The fact of the matter is that the idea of Yuvraj Singh and Brett Lee playing as team mates rather than against each other is a bad idea. It stands for bad economics because of bad sociology. A very lukewarm response to ticket sales for Shahrukh Khan’s Kolkata IPL team, as reported in various newspapers, corroborates the argument. How about a joint India- Pakistan-Sri Lanka team taking on a team composed of players from Australia and England? Think about it Mr Sharad Pawar and Mr Lalit Modi. Stop chasing a Katrina or a Kareena; understand the changing geo-political context and its sociology to be a winner in a global world.
The writer teaches sociology at the Government College for Girls, Chandigarh
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Prejudice runs deep Whether by calculation or coincidence, Hillary Clinton and Republicans who have attacked Barack Obama for elitism have struck a chord in a long-standing symphony of racial codes. It is a rebuke that gets magnified by historic beliefs about what blacks are and what they have no right to be. Clinton is no racist, and Obama has made some real missteps, including his recent remark that ‘bitter’ small-town Americans facing economic hardship and government indifference ‘cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them.’ Perhaps he was being more sociological than political, and more sympathetic than condescending. But when his opponents branded him an elitist and an outsider, his race made it easier to drive a wedge between him and the white, rural voters he has courted. As a black man, he was supposedly looking down from a place he didn’t belong and looking in from a distance he could not cross. This could not happen as dramatically were it not for embedded racial attitudes. ‘Elitist’ is another word for ‘arrogant,’ which is another word for ‘uppity,’ that old calumny applied to blacks who stood up for themselves. At the bottom of the American psyche, race is still about power, and blacks who move up risk triggering discomfort among some whites. I’ve met black men who, when stopped by white cops at night, think the best protection is to act dumb and deferential. Furthermore, casting Obama as ‘out of touch’ plays harmoniously with the traditional notion of blacks as ‘others’ at the edge of the mainstream, separate from the whole. Despite his ability to articulate the frustration and yearning of broad segments of Americans, his ‘otherness’ has been highlighted effectively by right-wingers who harp on his Kenyan father and spread false rumours that he’s a clandestine Muslim. In a country so changed that a biracial man who is considered black has a shot at the presidency, the subterranean biases are much less discernible now than when the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. They are subtle, unacknowledged and unacceptable in polite company. But they lurk below, lending resonance to the criticisms of Obama. Black professionals know the double standard. They are often labelled negatively for traits deemed positive in whites: A white is assertive, a black is aggressive; a white is resolute, a black is pushy; a white is candid, a black is abrasive; a white is independent, a black is not a team player. Prejudice is a shape shifter, adapting to acceptable forms. So although Obama’s brilliance defies the stubborn stereotype of blacks as unintelligent, there is a companion to that image – doubts about blacks’ true capabilities – that may heighten concerns about his inexperience. Through the racial lens, a defect can be enlarged into a disability. He is ‘not ready,’ a phrase employed often when blacks are up for promotion. Clinton surely had no racial intent, but none is needed for a racial effect. In a society long steeped in stereotypes, such comments reverberate. The incessant loop of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. cursing America and repeating old conspiracy theories has revived fears of black anger among whites whose threshold of tolerance for such rage has always been low. No matter that Obama seems anything but angry. A few sentences from his pastor are enough to incite such anxieties.
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