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Memories of N-bomb China – in numbers |
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Degenerate mind, not art Cheerleaders spark a debate On Record
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Memories of N-bomb Straightaway I went back to the office as the official announcement was to be made by the Prime Minister at 5.30 p.m. I contacted my editorial colleagues and offered to write the editorial. My colleagues, including the editor in charge of the editorial page, declined my offer. They told me that they were anti-nuclear and, therefore, the editorial would disapprove of the test. They knew I was in favour of India acquiring nuclear weapons and, therefore, I could not write the edit. I was amused at the irony of the situation. The same paper had provided me a powerful platform in the eighties to campaign for the nuclear option and in the nineties against India acceding to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Now when India conducted the tests and finally brought about the fulfilment of my three-decade-old campaign, I could not write the edit about the subject. Fortunately, at that stage I had a call from H. K. Dua, who was functioning as the Editor of the paper. He not only asked me to write an article but also offered to feature it on the front page of the paper. Months later my colleagues in the editorial group came to understand that I was as much against the use and threat of nuclear weapons as they were but my understanding of the international strategic situation, the role of nuclear weapons in it and the optimum strategy for India was different from theirs. They made up for their misunderstanding with their warmth and friendship
and affectionately christened me “Bomb Mama”. I am recalling this incident because the nuclear issue is a cause for national misunderstanding today as much as it was on the day of the test. Just as it was difficult for people to understand that a person could be anti-nuclear and for a nuclear-weapon free world but still in favour of acquiring the weapons in order to have an effective say in the present nuclearised world and to ensure that other nuclear powers would not take advantage of an asymmetric situation, for most men and women of goodwill, the issue was and is a black and white one. Either you are in favour of nuclear weapons or you are against it. It is like the argument that every country having an armed force should be thinking of using it for aggression. Even today many in our country cannot explain how Gandhiji, the apostle of non-violence, approved of the use of the Indian Army to defend Kashmir against the Pakistani invasion. While Gandhiji demonstrated the use of non-violence in offence – in changing the status quo – he had not solved the problem of effective use of nonviolence in defence – preserving the status quo against aggression. He admitted it to General Cariappa in December, 1947. While the use and threat of use of nuclear weapons are unethical, deterring the use and threat of use of nuclear weapons is an ethical obligation. Not preparing for it when a country has the necessary capacity to do it will be a dereliction of duty. The nuclear weapons were in the hands of five most aggressive powers of the world. China, India's neighbour, had no compunction in arming Pakistan with nuclear weapons as a surrogate threat to India. In those circumstances how would India safeguard its security? Most of our young people, all those who were below 50 by 1998, would not have been able to recall how a threat of use of nuclear weapon (or major force) could demoralise a whole country. When the Chinese advanced down Arunachal Pradesh in November, 1962, the whole of Tezpur was evacuated and there was panic all over Assam. In 1942 when the carrier-borne Japanese aircraft dropped a few bombs, the provincial government of Madras evacuated the city. If the Chinese or Pakistanis were to hold out a threat of use of nuclear weapon in an asymmetric situation there was no doubt what would have happened in India, both in respect of morale of the armed forces as well as of the civilian population. Though India carried out a nuclear test in 1974, it was not followed up with further weapon development effort. Meanwhile Pakistan with China’s active support and tacit US acquiescence overtook India in the development of nuclear weapons. By 1987 they had assembled the weapon and tried out nuclear blackmail in 1987 and 1990. China continued to arm Pakistan with missiles and supplied ring magnets to Pakistani centrifuges in 1994 even after it had signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty. India could not get US nuclear deterrent protection as Japan could. The entire industrial world from Vancouver to Vladivostock was under nuclear deterrent protection. So were Australia, New Zealand and South Korea. No other country in the world faced the two-front threat as India did from China and Pakistan. Under these circumstances, what was a
sensible policy for India? To exercise deterrence vis-à-vis China and Pakistan and at the same time pledge that the country would never be the first to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons. Therefore, in my article I endorsed the tests and urged that India should proclaim a no-first-use policy and consider signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. At that stage there were chauvinistic elements who boasted of having acquired the big bomb. It was argued that the bomb could be used in defence and not be circumscribed by any no-first-use pledge. However, over a period of time sanity prevailed and the two points advocated in my article came to be accepted by the NDA leadership. Yet the issue of right to test has been raised by some after 10 years. India did not ask for any permission to test in 1974 and 1998. Nor does it need any body’s permission to test in future. This has been conceded – perhaps the only occasion in international diplomacy – in the 123 Indo-US agreement. Fortunately, after 10 years we are in a position to say that various misgivings voiced at that time in respect of the test did not occur. India did get a greater voice in world affairs and is now recognised as an emerging power which is not threatening to others. There are moves today to liberate India from the technology denial regime imposed on it in 1978. The US, Russia, the EU and even China would like to have India as a partner. Most other countries would have attempted to consolidate the advantages that had accrued from the Shakti tests. But as argumentative Indians, our political parties and leaders are busy discovering new grounds for disagreement and
controversy.
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China – in numbers
30,000: The expected number of Chinese MBA graduates in 2008. The number in 1998: 0 30,000: The expected number of Chinese MBA graduates in 2008. The number in 1998: 0 5.7 million: Students graduated from Chinese universities in 2007 (compared with 270,000 in 1977) 30: Number of nuclear power plants being built in China 500: The number of coal-fired power plants China plans to build in the next decade 10 million: The estimated number of Chinese people who have no electricity 97: New airports to be built in the next 12 years, bringing the total number to 244 by 2020 540 million: Number of mobile phone users in China, with an increase of 44 million in the past six months 180: The number of foreign press correspondents arrested or harassed in 2007 160: Cities in China with populations that exceed a million. In the USA there are nine; in the UK just two 21 million: The number of Chinese-made toys recalled last year by the US toy company Mattel 0: Miles of motorway in 1988 30,000: Miles of motorway today 6.3 million: The number of passenger cars registered in 2007 (compared with 2.3 million in 2004). More than 1,000 new private cars hit the roads every day in Beijing alone 68: The number of crimes thought to be punishable by death in China, including non-violent offences such as tax fraud, embezzlement and the taking of bribes 1.3 billion: China’s population. The country accounts for one in five people in the world 400 million The estimated number of births prevented by China’s one-child policy, introduced in 1979 22: The number of suicides per 100,000 people, about 50 per cent higher than the global average. Suicide is the fifth most common cause of death in China, and the first among people aged between 20 and 35 700,000: The number of people living with HIV or Aids in China. The UN has warned China it could have 10 million cases by 2010 unless action is taken 45 billion: Estimated number of chopsticks China produces every year, the majority of them disposable. In 2006, Beijing introduced a five per cent tax on disposable wooden chopsticks in an attempt to help save the country’s forests 30: The number of different animal penises on the menu at Guolizhuang, Beijing’s ‘penis emporium’. A yak’s costs about £15, while a tiger’s (which must be pre-ordered) will set you back £3,000
By arrangement with The Independent
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“In India doctors for the wealthy are plentiful but poor people often do not get the care they need. Over one million deaths of children under five occur annually in the first month of life in India.” — A report “State of the World’s Mothers,” brought out by global humanitarian
organisation, Save the Children “Why is the state at the mercy of the Centre for the minimum support price of its produce”? — Punjab Chief Minister
Parkash Singh Badal —
Irfan Pathan — Sonia Gandhi — Arjun Singh, senior Congress leader Corrupt nations do not develop their human resources. Without that you cannot create wealth or become a rich nation. — C. K. Prahalad, Professor of Strategy at Ross School of Business, University of Michigan Often when we get our job done as a company and the person who does it for us refuses to accept any favours, we feel guilty and wonder why he is not taking anything. — Naveen
Jindal, parliamentarian and CEO of Jindal Steel and Power — P.
Venugopal, Director, All-India Institute of Medical Sciences It is not a setback. I will not resign. It (anti-Venu law) was the decision of the UPA and the government. — Health Minister
A. Ramadoss
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Degenerate mind, not art The exhibition depicted art works during the Third Reich, which Adolf Hitler, a wannabe artist himself, did not like. He, therefore, ordered the destruction of all such works, which he called specimens of "degenerate art". But many of the works escaped the notice of Hitler's moral police. The exhibition consisted of these works. Many of them had nude depiction of the human body. Thousands of Berliners and tourists visited the exhibition held at a stone's throw from the Brandenburg Gate. What Hitler held as "degenerate art" were for many people works of exceptional beauty. After all, beauty or ugliness lies in the eye of the beholder. That is why M.F. Husain's paintings evoke divergent, if not contradictory, reactions. For a vast majority of the people, his depiction of Hindu gods and goddesses in the nude is a passable exercise in artistic freedom but for the bigoted few, it is enough reason to bay for his blood. Husain's travails have not ended as criminal cases still exist against him in various courts, though the Delhi High Court has quashed all those brought before it. Even so, Thursday's judgement struck a blow for artistic freedom when it said: "A painter at 90 deserves to be in his home, painting his canvas". The allusion is to Husain's self-imposed exile. The court quoted Pablo Picasso to say, “Art is never chaste. Where it is chaste, it is not art. In judging as to whether a particular work is obscene, regard must be given to contemporary mores and notional standards. Looking at a piece of art from the painter's perspective becomes important, especially in the context of nudity". Yet, the nonagenarian artist has been hounded out of the country. A case against him assumed such farcical level that a magistrate ordered the attachment of his flat in Mumbai little knowing that it no longer belonged to Husain. In India, as artist Anjolie Ela Menon says, "Only since Ravi Varma clothed gods did today's prudery begin taking roots". A visit to some of the oldest temples will show that artistic freedom did not know any bounds and sculptors of the period were not inhibited in sculpting gods and goddesses even in various stages of copulation. Nobody finds anything amiss in the erotic origin of certain temples. For instance, the Kamakhya temple in Guwahati is considered one of the most sacred because it is here that the yoni from the dismembered body of Sati is believed to have fallen. The temple, rebuilt in the 16th century, has a yoni or female emblem. Sometime in June-July, i.e., during Ameti, the temple is closed for three days as the earth, represented by Kamakhya, is said to become impure because of menstruation. Or, take another case. Khajuraho is a small town in Madhya Pradesh but it attracts a large number of tourists, both Indian and foreign. This is because it has many temples with erotic sculptures. Constructed between the 10th and 12th centuries under the rulers of the Chandella dynasty, there are about 25 Hindu and Jain temples there. Every conceivable form of love making is depicted in these temples. Another temple known for such depictions is the imposing Surya temple at Konarak. Built in the 13th century, it has many nude sculptures of gods and goddesses. Indian Erotica is a book published by Roli Books. It has an "18th century Rajasthani image of nude male devotees surrounding the personification of the female principle in the form of the goddess." The book exported the most from India is not any scientific treatise written by an Indian scientist or a book that won the Kendriya Sahitya Akademi award. The book that holds that distinction is an old text written in the 3rd century by a saint called Vatsyayana. Known as Kama Sutra, it is one book that you can find in the bookshops all over the world. India is rich in sex-related classics like Samaya-Matrika (Life of a Courtesan) by Kshemendra. Though such works are on erotic love, there is an implicit assumption that love is a route to God. Tantric texts see a symbolic or real sexual union, under certain strict conditions, as a pathway to God. "Bhakti and Sufi saints inculcated love of the divine in their hearts, but often used the imagery of human love in their poems and songs". The Song of Songs in the Bible, for example, features the love dialogue between a simple Jewish maiden and her lover. They describe in intimate detail their feelings for each other and their longing to be together. Some see it as an allegory of God's love for Israel, others see it as the expression of the power of love that affects the heads, minds and bodies of the two lovers. Needless to say, art and literature can flourish only in a state of freedom. In fact, art is a synonym for human freedom. The Elizabethan period in Britain saw a profusion of art and literature. William Shakespeare belonged to this period. In India, the Gupta period is considered the golden period of Indian literature. India's greatest writer, Kalidasa, belonged to this period. When freedom is curtailed, art becomes a casualty. This needs to be mentioned in the context of what happened to an art student in Baroda in May last year. Chandramohan Srimantula, a final year art student, had to do a project as part of his course. He had to draw a certain number of paintings for an exhibition, which was meant for peer review and assessment by the teachers. In other words, the exhibition was not meant for the public but for fellow art students and their teachers. He painted Jesus Christ and a Hindu goddess in the nude. Former law minister and BJP leader Arun Jaitley gave a graphic description of the paintings in an article in the Indian Express. If what he says is true, Chandramohan's crude, unimaginative paintings would not have got high marks. The teachers could have used the paintings to impress upon the students about the limits of artistic freedom. The matter should have ended there. But the exhibition was vandalised and the artist sent to jail, where he remained for five days sharing a cell with hard-core criminals. The mindset is the same when exploiting the loopholes of the judicial system, cases are filed against Husain. The Supreme Court has in the past cautioned lower courts against entertaining frivolous cases like the one against Richard Gere kissing Shilpa Shetty and a Hindi actress sitting cross-legged on a stage in Chennai. To paraphrase Salman Rushdie, "It is very, very easy not to be offended by a painting. You just have to turn your face away". Yet, the puritans who enjoy baking Muslims in their own Best Bakeries feel offended and make the legal system an instrument to hound out artists like
M.F. Husain.
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Cheerleaders spark a debate ONE of the issues which have attracted the media attention and a lot of arguments is the concept of cheerleaders at the IPL Tournament currently under way in India. Cheerleaders, who are subjected to lewd remarks, have generated a heated controversy. On the one hand, a group that represents the commercial interests has welcomed the concept and on the other vehement protests have also been coming from politicians and the so-called moralists. Both positions are open to question as in the whole process the real issue is being eluded. Various arguments are put forward in favour of the cheerleaders. While justifying the concept, one point of view argues that to cope with the markets and trends, it is important to add a bit of glitz and glamour to the multi-million event of IPL. It will create an environment necessary to popularise the event introduced in the context of liberalisation. It is emphasised that it will give a boost to the business. When glamour has become such a big part of the sporting arena, it is just an attempt to give something extra to the game. Another view is represented mostly by the liberals, who opine that no one can dictate terms in a free society. This view highlights the choice of the cheerleaders. It is argued that cheerleaders are women and they themselves have opted for this. Here, it is important to mention some of the cheer-girls, who are college and university-going students, saying it is just another mode of earning clean money and it requires a lot of hard work. Those who support them say that the issue has been blown out of proportion and focussed on this aspect that a vast majority of the audience is enjoying their performance. Cheerleaders are just livening up the thing on the field. As regards the protest, two main points of view have emerged. One point of view has argued that it dilutes the purity of cricket. Leading socio-historian and writer Ramchandra Guha dubbed the phenomena of cheerleaders despicable and degrading for the game of cricket. Voicing his resentment against the concept, he said, “All the organisers are doing by making scantly clad white women dance in front of a huge crowd is to stoke the base, voyeuristic and sexual insecurities of Indian males”. Another viewpoint is raised by the moralists, the so-called guardians of Indian culture. They have strong reservations against the concept as it is inconsistent with the cultural ethos of India. It is against our traditions and demeaning to women. Similarly, there is the entire hullabaloo over the cheerleaders’ skimpy outfits. Protesters termed it as an intrusion of American influence in India with their obscene clothes — microminies, push up bras and midriff revealing vests. While slamming the cheerleaders, Laxmi Kanta Chawla, BJP MLA, said, “These cheerleaders are an insult to every girl. They were paid in lakhs only because they wore skimpy vulgar clothes”. In the light of the nature of controversy it is important to put the issue in a proper perspective. Women’s right to dignity and honour comes under stake when the person of a woman is reduced to her body and she is treated as a beautiful object or a source of entertainment. Here the real issue is not obscenity or vulgarity in the concept of cheerleaders as the vulgarity, like beauty, lies in the eyes of a beholder. Even the authorities who say that no vulgarity would be tolerated won’t be able to define it as according to them it is a grey area and even the courts have not defined it clearly. It is only the officer on the spot who will decide it. The important question here is to see how the concept is affecting the sensibility and dignity of women. Should India become a party to a general culture of glamorisation and commodification of women? Similarly, the point that women are willing to become commodified should be evaluated in a proper light. The fact that many cheer-girls are finding it a lucrative mode of earning money and other related events should not blind us to the subtlety and mystification underlying the agency of women who are willing to join the process of their own
subordination. The writer is a senior lecturer, Panjab University Regional Centre, Muktsar
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On Record
THE US government is keenly interested in partnering India to develop infrastructure and accelerate financial sector liberalisation. Under Secretary David H McCormick, who is a principal adviser to the US Secretary of Treasury, feels that India needs to demonstrate leadership in various areas if it has to be a major player in the global community. Excerpts Q: How is US-India partnership shaping up? A: India can be a major player in the global community if it demonstrates leadership on common challenges and opportunities such as climate change, energy security, non-proliferation, global trade and investment. And as India’s presence in global markets expands, it is also increasingly called upon to address global challenges. The deepening US-India partnership is a byproduct of a growing friendship inside and outside the government. The relationship between the Treasury Department and our Indian counterparts, for example, is particularly strong. Each Treasury Secretary since the early-1990s, when India launched its first wave of economic reforms, has visited India at least once during his tenure. These regular contacts have led to concrete initiatives on a number of financial and economic issues. The bottomline is that we have accomplished much together in the past several years. Yet, there is much more we can and should do in future. Q: Which areas are covered by the two countries’ economic dialogue? A: The US-India High Technology Cooperation Group, which was initiated in 2002, stimulates high-technology commerce between our two countries, promoting investment in the technology sector that has been one of the primary drivers of India’s remarkable economic emergence. The US-India CEO Forum, launched in 2005, is aimed at incorporating the advice and experience of our private sectors into the US-India economic dialogue. And the US-India Financial and Economic Forum, a cornerstone of the Treasury’s economic engagement with India, brings together the Treasury, the Ministry of Finance and financial regulators on both sides to address key issues in our respective financial markets, not only improving skills and capabilities, but also ensuring systemic stability and integrity. Q: What are the major challenges for the two countries? A: I think there are five important global challenges and opportunities: infrastructure investment, financial sector liberalisation, bilateral investment, clean technology and multilateral trade. These areas are particularly promising for the US and India to stand together as global leaders and make meaningful progress, and should provide the basis for a common agenda. Q: How can the US help India in developing infrastructure? A: Last October US Treasury Secretary Paulson had participated in the CEO Forum conference on infrastructure finance, which was held in Mumbai, taking that forward we plan to organise “US-to-India” roadshows to introduce US investors and project developers to opportunities this sector offers. Increasing private infrastructure investment is not simply a matter of arranging introductions. Our engagement also highlights specific issues that inhibit domestic and foreign private investment. These concerns include regulatory environment, dispute settlement and investor protection. Legal and judicial reforms in India are an important part of improving the investment environment. Q:
What are your views on India’s liberalisation of the financial sector? A:
Liberalisation frees up capital in the financial sector that can be used to fund development projects and borrowing needs of India’s consumers and firms. Coupled with comprehensive reforms, accelerated liberalisation will enable India’s capital markets to efficiently mobilise and allocate financial resources. Mobilising foreign investment is only one part of the equation for addressing India’s infrastructure challenges and demands of its robust growth. Financial sector liberalisation and capital markets reform will effectively be the linchpin for sustaining India’s growth trajectory and mobilising the huge amount of capital needed to meet the country’s development
needs.
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I
was a Consulting Editor of The Times of India on the day when the “Shakti” tests were conducted. A long-time friend of
mine, who had been associated with me in campaigning for India exercising its nuclear option for over three decades, holding a high-level position, rang me up and informed me about the tests at 4.30 p.m. 
“Yusuf is a much better cricketer than me. I just got lucky to get a break (in international cricket) much ahead of him. He is a smart bowler, an aggressive batsman and a good athletic fielder in any position. He is mentally strong and can single-handed turn the game on its head.”
We want to ask BJP leaders who freed the terrorists in Kandahar. The attacks on Parliament, the Akshardham temple in Gujarat and in Kashmir all took place during the BJP regime."
Taking up politics as a career is not bad but when some one uses fraud and deceit to further his ends in politics, it affects society.
They (govt) don't like honest people, they want people who lick their shoes.
ONE of the most memorable experiences I had in Berlin soon after the unification of Germany was a visit to the exhibition of 'degenerate art'. We had to stand in a long queue for more than an hour to buy tickets that did not come cheap.