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Religion, not ideology Plight of Dalit women |
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Fact or fiction Why ban either? Whether we like it or not, when it comes to spy thrillers, West is best. There’s David John Moore Cornwell, whose career as a British secret agent was destroyed by the legendary Kim Philby. When Philby, the British double agent, ripped the cover off many British spies to the Soviet KGB, he also exposed Cornwell, better known to millions as John le Carre.
Oil price crunch
33 years ago
Dying for the deal A garden model for farmers Inside Pakistan
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Plight of Dalit women Ironically, even though Rajasthan boasts of a woman chief minister and a woman speaker of the legislative assembly, the plight of Dalit women in the state has gone from bad to worse. According to the latest field surveys by the Centre for Dalit Rights and the Programme on Women’s Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Dalit women in the state face gender, caste and class discrimination. Disturbingly, they have “very little access to food, water, sanitation and the government’s welfare programmes.” Against this background, the Vasundhara Raje government’s boast of a record socio-economic growth in the state during the past four years rings hollow. True, socio-economic deprivation is not something that cannot be wished away even 60 years after Independence. However, as the survey shows, Dalit women in Rajasthan are not only kept on the margins of society but are also often at the receiving end of societal prejudices. Despite too many laws and welfare schemes, little is being done to redress their day-to-day hardships. The plight of Dalit women is not restricted to Rajasthan alone. In almost all the states, they lead a miserable life. Tradition, feudal coercion and economic compulsions continue to entrap them into the most humiliating and despised occupations. According to a survey by ActionAid India, Dalit women in every state continue to be ensnared into categories of work that are culturally regarded as most intensely polluting, unclean and socially degrading. Continued bondage to unclean occupations creates not only deep psychological scars but also physical health problems. Unfortunately, the interface of caste, class and gender has created a mechanism where physical assault, sexual harassment and forced prostitution are rampant. It is time the Centre and the states formulated a comprehensive scheme to improve the condition of Dalit women. As education holds the key to development, the government should open more and more schools in villages and towns so that Dalit girls not only become self-reliant but also empowered. In this onerous task, the media, NGOs, civil society and educational institutions, too, should step in to supplement the government’s work. Above all, as the Centre for Dalit Rights study points out, there is need for an attitudinal change for ending the plight of Dalit women. |
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Fact or fiction Whether
we like it or not, when it comes to spy thrillers, West is best. There’s David John Moore Cornwell, whose career as a British secret agent was destroyed by the legendary Kim Philby. When Philby, the British double agent, ripped the cover off many British spies to the Soviet KGB, he also exposed Cornwell, better known to millions as John le Carre. The inimitable author of
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Smiley’s People among several others, started writing while in service, went on to write many more acclaimed novels of exceptional insight into the world of espionage. Before, Le Carre and his
A Perfect Spy, there was Graham Greene, best known for his novels
Our Man in Havana and The Quiet American. Greene was reporting to British intelligence until his death, making his admirers and critics wonder whether the novelist was a spy or the spy was living in the guise of a novelist. Perhaps, a reading of spy fiction might change the attitude of the government and motivate the former spies to write more enjoyable stuff. Spies are discreet, shadowy figures rarely seen, read or heard in public, and like good old soldiers they never retire, but fade away. Or, at least, that is the myth about the men and women who people the world of espionage. Now, all that was assumed about spies and their activities — pre-and-post-retirement — is turning out to be wrong. A succession of books —none of them are fiction — by former intelligence bosses, namely Ajit Doval, M K Dhar, retired Maj-Gen V K Singh and K Shankaran Nair has proved so embarrassing for the political establishment that the government has banned such men from coming out with narratives of their times. With most of these books being fact-based, the readership may be quite limited, unless, the former spies are actually purveying fiction as fact. In which case, the question is whether they were feeding fiction to their political masters while in office, in the hope that they can live off the facts after retirement. Actually, our spies should be encouraged to write, if only because India’s contribution to the best-selling genre of spy fiction is nil. |
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All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That’s his.
— Oscar Wilde |
Oil price crunch AS one keeps track of the day-to-day movement of oil, the protests over the rising cost of petrol and diesel and talks with experts, it is beginning to emerge that perhaps an economic disaster could well be in the making for the world at large, including India. To understand the current economic problems in India, it will be better at this stage to remember that the economic reforms were introduced by the PV Narasimha Rao government not as a well thought-out plan, but in response to the fact that India was going bankrupt, having by that time mortgaged a part of its gold reserves. There was no way that the World Bank was going to give us any more loans then unless we agreed to set our house in order and make efforts to be in a position to repay such loans. The country has done extremely well since. And because the people of India were angry, hurt and humiliated at the mortgaging of Indian gold, no Indian politician except, perhaps, the Left dare fiddle with the economy any more. Just as 1962 was a watershed for Indian politicians to stop interfering with the armed forces and ensure that they are strong, 1990-91 became the landmark from where the economy was no longer to be a plaything for politicians. Indians would like to see greater gold reserves than the family gold being mortgaged! That having been said, the current crisis caused by the increase in crude oil prices, people think, has not been handled properly by the Indian administration. The latest knee-jerk reaction in raising duties on the so-called larger cars is a populist measure with no relevance at all to the problem as such. Indian politicians, perhaps, do not know that in Central London one Indian vehicle seen on the roads is our tiny Reva, a car that does not use oil. Japanese have already put out hybrid models that run both on oil and electricity. With the kind of innovative skills that Japan has, they could soon come up with a real long-life battery to run the big cars. Our own young enterprising people in Bangalore could, perhaps beat them to it. Let it be understood that cars are not the reason for the oil crisis. The cause of India’s problem, attributed to high oil consumption, lies somewhere else. How is it that the three very intelligent people in Delhi — Dr Manmohan Singh, P. C. Chidambaram and Montek Singh Ahluwalia — running the country’s economy can’t see that right under their nose the huge new sprawling city of Gurgaon is running virtually on diesel? The Haryana State Electricity Department is hardly able to provide power for all those brightly lit and shining malls, the high-rise towers and flood-lit golf courses. India’s crisis lies in its failure to develop infrastructure to keep pace with its growth. Not just the roads — look at the pathetic record of the UPA government in the slowdown that the highway project has suffered; it is the power sector that is pulling India down now. India should, to speed up the building of new power plants, not just try to meet the immediate demand but it must also look at least 20 years ahead with a minimum of 40 per cent surplus power availability. That alone will keep our oil consumption in check. When our oil companies were flush with enough cash, they should have been looking at oil assets abroad, like their Chinese counterparts. The government forced these companies to blow up their money by selling petrol, diesel, kerosene and LPG well below the price that it cost the refineries to produce. The current steep hike in oil prices ordained by the government came about only because these companies (like the country in 1990) were about to go bankrupt. Is this the way the three intelligent men running the economy of the country should have acted? The nation needs to get clear answers from the government: why it failed to take action in setting up power plants to meet the growing need for energy? If nuclear energy is the solution then why has the government not signed the nuclear deal and exposed the Left for the way it is damaging India’s interests by delaying such a deal? Why has bigger investment not been made both at home and abroad to get access to fresh oil assets? Why the prices of petroleum products were not raised when the global prices went up and why were these huge shocks given at one go, precipitating huge inflation? These are very pertinent questions that need answers from the government. Agreed that the power plants cannot come up overnight, but somewhere the work has to start and the country needs to find a Sreedharan of the Delhi Metro fame for the power sector — one who will meet the deadlines. Coming back to the developing oil crisis, even as Saudi Arabia and other OPEC members have announced an increase in output, that may still not bring down the prices. This global crisis — apart from the mismatch between demand and supply — is because of the continuing weakness of the dollar. Daniel Yergin, the author of the Pulitzer winning book, “The Prize: the Epic Quest for Oil, Money and Power” and Chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates, says that the liquid black is the new gold. It is because it has become a hedge against the dollar. Let us not make any mistake. There is no shortage of oil. There are more than enough oil wells around the world and new oilfields are being added which could produce enough oil for another 100 years, if not more. The current problem lies in the continuing fall in the value of the dollar. Tragically, India’s rupee is linked to the dollar. Other factors responsible for the oil problem are the lack of petroleum engineers around the world and lack of availability of enough rigs to look for more oil. In India’s case, it is our failure to make timely investment to look for oil at home or abroad. Look at the scenario — Alexei Miller of Gazprom has forecast that the price of oil could go as high as $ 250 per barrel; Jeff Rubin of CIBC Canada talks the oil price touching $ 225 per barrel; and oil billionaire Boone Pickens says it will stay around $ 150 per barrel. But no one from the oil industry is talking of the oil price coming down in the foreseeable future. One wishes that these forecasts go wrong! If India is to avoid the crisis turning into a disaster, it has to think and think fast. First, has the time come when oil should no longer be treated as an item that can be taxed? How is India to involve some of its own people, preferably young new entrepreneurs rather than established huge companies, in oil exploration? How and at what speed can India generate enough electricity to meet the needs of the farms, factories and its cities? There is no time left for long-winded debates. The decisive moment is now. Failure to tackle the questions raised above could well unleash inflation of dangerous proportions endangering the very fabric of Indian society and its economy. There is a disaster in the making. Will the government rise to the occasion and meet this
challenge?
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33 years ago IT is a pleasure talking
to David Aikman. He is a bundle of anecdotes. A quintessential foreign
correspondent, he reported for the American newsmagazine Time from
as many as 55 countries. The fall of Berlin Wall, the massacre at
Tiananmen Square and the collapse of the Soviet Union are some of the
events he reported in his eventful career. Aikman is one of my
favourite authors. His biographies of Billy Graham and Mother Teresa are
memorable. His latest book is The Delusion of Disbelief in which he
takes on four atheists whom he variously calls the "four
horsemen" and the "gang of four" who launched "a
great assault upon faith in 2006" through their books. He abhors
jargons and has a simple style, sharpened by his long tenure at Time. A
fluent speaker in many languages, including Chinese, he has an
elephantine memory. When, at a round-table, a veteran Philippines
journalist narrates an anecdote about his visit to an area hit by
insurgency in his country and midway fumbles for facts, it is Aikman, a
listener, who fills the gaps. Because of his penchant for rushing to
trouble spots the world over, he was thrilled when Time’s Foreign
Editor asked him to go to India when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi
imposed the Emergency on the nation, suspending the Constitution, this
day 33 years ago. Along with the Emergency came pre-censorship when
some editors felt it was better to leave the editorial columns blank
than to extol the virtues of the 20-point programme the government had
announced. Another option was to write about how the trains ran on time
or how vasectomy targets were being met from Shahdara to Shajahanabad. By
the time Aikman landed in New Delhi, the government had withdrawn
pre-censorship. Instead, journalists were asked to practise
self-censorship. Indira Gandhi had thrown out of the country some
foreign correspondents like Lewis M Simons of The Washington Post
whose writing she found was prejudicial to the interests of the
nation. At New Delhi airport, the Customs officials even confiscated
Simons’ notebook. When he protested, the official retorted,
"These notebooks contain information harmful to the Government of
India". The wit in Simon’s reply that "they contain only
truth" did not, however, register on the official. If any foreign
correspondent wanted to report from India, he had to give an undertaking
to the government that he would not write anything which was not in the
interest of the nation. Of course, there was no definition of what
constituted the nation’s interest. The condition went against the
classic definition of news - something which somebody wants to suppress
(the rest is advertisement). A heated debate occurred among the foreign
correspondents in Delhi. Many of them decided to give the undertaking
and stay on in Delhi. For Aikman, it was an ethical question. Why should
he give an undertaking that he would report only that which was pleasing
to the dictatorial regime? He took the next available flight out of
India. For Time it amounted to missing out on a big story. Its
Bureau Chief in Hong Kong had no hang-ups about giving such an
undertaking. He rushed to fill the void created by Aikman. When Aikman’s
replacement landed in India, he had an experience he would never forget.
He was robbed on the streets and he lost all his travel documents,
including the passport, credit cards and wads of dollar bills. When
Aikman heard about his discomfiture, he did not have much sympathy for
his colleague who was ready to sacrifice ethics for a byline.
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Dying for the deal Not
long ago a Congress spokesperson said in Washington that it made no sense for the Government to move forward on the nuclear deal and resign. He argued logically that there was no guarantee that either the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board or the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) would clear the deal and, therefore, it would be futile to sacrifice the Government. It would be like courting death without securing martyrdom, he said and the audience seemed to agree. So the sign and resign scenario was laid to rest. The Prime Minister has resurrected the possibility of the Government proceeding to the IAEA Board of Governors without the support of the leftists even if it means the fall of the Government and early elections. It is clear to him, as much as to others, that the IAEA and NSG will be no cake walk. The India specific safeguards agreement has been negotiated only with the Secretariat and the members of the IAEA Board are blissfully unaware of its substance. But it is no secret in Vienna that the draft contains elements that are not common in such agreements. The IAEA agreed to introduce these concepts in the Preamble merely to enable India to deal with its domestic political problems. The uncertainties on the ground in Vienna were clearly spelt out by Abdul Minty, the immediate past Chairman of the NSG to Pallav Bagla in a significant interview. He questioned the very possibility of an India specific safeguards agreement being approved by the IAEA Board. “The safeguards agreement would not be that dissimilar from the many others…….in that sense, it would not be an India-specific safeguards agreement although it only deals with India.” If this is the approach of friendly South Africa, the others may look even more suspiciously at the draft finalised by India. A few questions raised by members can delay the exercise for months in the Board, though the agreement will be approved by vote, at which some countries may abstain. The NSG has not considered the exemption for India, but the corridors of the Vienna International Centre is rife with rumours of a text floated by the US to put forward to the NSG as soon as the safeguards agreement is through. The consensus rule of the NSG and the very fact that the NSG was set up specifically to deny India nuclear material, following our test of 1974, make the NSG exercise more difficult. Minty was uncertain about the time frame in the NSG: “I don’t think that anyone can predict that it would be a matter for one week or six weeks or three months or whatever. I think we will have to see the actual text that is put forward.” He denied that India had any substantive discussions with the NSG Troika. The last discussions were in the context of the old “outreach programme”, by which the NSG kept in touch with significant nuclear powers, he said. Simply in terms of the time needed for the intergovernmental bodies to act, it is unrealistic to expect that that the deal would be concluded before the Bush Administration leaves office. The reported assurance of a US spokesman that the US congress could consider the deal even in January should be just a metaphorical assertion of the US support for the deal. It is unrealistic to expect that the Congress would consider an important issue of this kind even after the elections. No one will be anxious to give President Bush a politically posthumous award in the form of the deal, particularly if the Democrats win the election. Rightly, the latest statement from the US spokesman is that each day lost by India makes it more difficult for the US to operationalise the nuclear deal. Perhaps it was no coincidence that the sign and resign proposal has come back just before the news of unprecedented inflation broke. The calculation may well be that as the country is moving towards an economic emergency; the Government will be allowed to continue even if it takes the deal forward. The leftists may find to their surprise that some other parties may rally around the Government to let it deal with the crisis. Another possibility is that the Government feels that it will be under pressure to resign on account of the economic performance and the nuclear deal has been brought up to divert attention. An economist professor will prefer to resign on a political rather than an economic issue. The leftists have already stated that they will make every effort to ward off early elections, a sentiment every elected politician shares. At this time of a nuclear renaissance around the globe, the demand for nuclear fuel and technology will be on the rise. Countries are planning to switch to nuclear power as they see the rise in prices of petrol and diesel and the imminent threat of climate change. With the increased confidence in security and safety, nuclear power has become the cleanest and safest form of energy. The IAEA is gearing itself to cope with the new demand for nuclear energy. By delaying the conclusion of the nuclear deal, we are denying ourselves the advantage we have of possessing the infrastructure. Those who oppose the nuclear deal on the ground that it will bring us under the domination of the US are missing a historical moment when India has to choose between ideological purity and practical wisdom. The Government has every reason not to miss the last opportunity to take the deal forward. It is a matter of India’s international credibility; of operationalising the best agreement possible to meet our energy needs and of securing international recognition for our nuclear weapon status. Though there is the risk of inviting death without martyrdom, any other decision will not do justice to India’s future generations. This is the moment of choice for the
Government. The writer is a former Governor on the board of IAEA and Ambassador at Vienna |
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A garden model for farmers Farmers
need to think beyond their yearly cycle of wheat and rice plantation. Experts feel the need for a change. One interesting model towards self-sufficiency, created by the Punjab Agricultural University in 2005, which has failed to get public recognition despite immense potential, is the ‘Integrated Nutrition Garden’ model. Interestingly, the Rattan Tata Trust had taken up this model as a part of its special scheme for the university, in 10 districts of the state. Sparing merely three kanals of land, a farmer could easily manage year-round supply of fresh and nutritious vegetables, pulses and even fruits. Joginder Singh from Sangrur district says: “I have never felt any need to buy anything for our kitchen, except a matchbox and salt”. Prof S.S. Johl, eminent economist and administrator, says: “Integrated gardens are very effective models towards self-sufficiency for farmers. In the context of soaring prices, farmers should realise the economic benefits of growing dals, pulses, fruits and vegetables in their own land. Besides self-sustainability, these products are good marketing ventures.” Buta Singh Romana, a member of the Punjab Farmers Commission, says a farmer needs to segregate three kanals out of his total land. One kanal could sustain the vegetables needed for a family. The remaining two kanals could be effectively divided among dals and pulses. The area boundaries are a perfect setting for medicinal plants and fruit trees”. Buta Singh says: “the project failed to achieve its desired results because majority of farmers did not have adequate land near their homes. Plucking neighbours’ vegetables, if no one was looking, is quite common here. The university has tried popularising the model at its Krishi Vigyan Kendras.” Experts also feel that no sustained campaign for popularising the integrated gardens was ever carried out by the university or the state. Prof Sarjit Gill, a former Additional Director, Communication Centre of PAU, says: “Farmers of Punjab are largely stuck in the wheat-rice cycle. There have been very poor attempts at diversification.” He says: “I know farmers are looking for the MSP while selling their produce and effective MSP returns are ensured for wheat, rice and to a lesser degree, in maize only. Farmers now need to realise the changed economics. The rising prices of all other produce, except wheat and rice, should be seen as an important trigger towards diversification. The government needs to step in, as well.” Professor Gill says: “Farmers were not able to follow the exact pattern of the integrated model which led to confused results on the ground. Instead of following the work schedule according to the laid-out pattern, farmers were engaged in work in a spread out area which diminished the impact”. Dr Buta Singh points out that “one of the major reasons for poor innovations in farming in the state is the waning interest of the youngsters. A large segment can be seen engaged in efforts to fly abroad. The planting is being carried out by migrant labourers. We need to do it ourselves”.
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Inside Pakistan New twist to judges issue The
Lahore High Court judgement disqualifying PML (N) chief Nawaz Sharif from contesting the coming byelections may further complicate the judicial crisis in Pakistan. The PML (N) has refused to accept the verdict with a threatened programme of agitation to be launched against the court’s ruling, which the party has described as “biased” and “the result of a conspiracy hatched by the presidency”. The News says, “Nawaz and Shahbaz Sharif had been declared eligible to contest elections by the EC in May this year. Previously, the same EC had decided they could not take part ahead of the February 18 general election. “The suspicion of political decision-making by the court has been voiced at every point, with arguments revolving around the issue of whether the pardon granted to Nawaz Sharif by former President Rafiq Tarar meant that he was no longer a convict. He had been convicted of hijacking and other offences following removal from power in 1999.” The controversial judgement has led to certain political parties questioning the impartiality of the judges who comprised the Bench that heard the case. As The Nation reported, “PML (N) lawyer Khawaja Mahmood Ahmed objected to the formation of the Bench, saying (one of the Bench members) Justice Shabbar Raza Rizvi had worked in the office of PML (Q) senator Dr Khalid Ranjha, who was to known have animosity towards Nawaz Sharif. The PPP has expressed its sympathies with Mr Nawaz Sharif, but the differences between him and PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari over the restoration of the deposed judges may get a new twist. Now Mr Sharif’s party may not agree to retain the PCO judges, appointed by the Musharraf regime after the November 3 emergency declaration, as Mr Zardari wants. Dubious peace The Dawn of June 24 carried an interesting assessment of the situation in the Swat valley in the NWFP where the Pakistan government and the Taliban entered into an agreement for “peace” a month before. The observations, as recorded by Khadim Hussain, coordinator at the Aryana Institute for Regional Research and Advocacy, almost justify the fears expressed by the international community. He says: “The general impression one gets... is that if the deal was meant to obtain a temporary respite from suicide attacks and attacks on government installations, the objective has apparently been achieved. On all other counts, the implementation of the deal seems to have run into serious trouble.” Hussain talks of two scenarios that have emerged after the deal. “The first scenario: the urban centres are open, suicide bombing has stopped, mobility of people in the towns has increased but very little business activity is taking place... “The second scenario: the Taliban have strong control over the upper parts of Swat and some parts of Kabal. They continue to hold trials for trivial disputes in a village of Matta called Budegram while the complicated disputes among the people are transferred to Peochar, the present headquarters of the hardliner militia of Maulana Fazlullah. “The Taliban continue running training camps in the maze of interlinked hills of Shaur-Peochar-Deolai and then in Khal, Dir, a district neighbouring Swat, where they have recently been reported to have burnt a few schools for girls.” As reported by Daily Times, PPP co-chairman Zardari is of the view that “A worker of assassinated PPP chairwoman Benazir Bhutto will soon be installed as president”. Mr Zaradri feels “the presidency is the right of the PPP and Sindh.” This shows, as Business Recorder commented, “The PPP is about to show the door to Pervez Musharraf and install in that high office a ‘Jiyala’ – a la the appointment of Salman Taseer as Governor of Punjab.” Mr Zardari, however, forgets that if at all a nominee of his party becomes the President of Pakistan he cannot function as a representative of the PPP. Most probably, he will emerge as a new power centre as it happened in the past. “Asif Ali Zardari may recall that his party’s successive nemeses, Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Farooq Leghari, were PPP nominees and would not have entered the high office without the PPP vote”, Business Recorder reminded him in a terse comment on the subject. |
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