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Verdict of the sacked New threat to IITs |
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Web of contention
The challenge from ULFA
Sam Bahadur and Jaggu
India in space Canada best equipped to face climate change Chatterati
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Verdict of the sacked AS feared by most people, the Supreme Court of Pakistan, in a judgement delivered on Friday, revalidated the emergency imposed by President Pervez Musharraf on November 3 last year. The court also approved of the deposition of the judges, including Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, who refused to take the oath afresh under the controversial Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO). The verdict has come after a review petition filed against the apex court’s earlier judgement giving legal sanctity to the deplorable actions of the President of Pakistan. Most of the present judges in that country owe their position to the retired General. Yet the Supreme Court judges should have tried to prove through their observations that the cause of justice was dear to them. They have, however, exposed themselves as being more bothered about protecting the interests of the beleaguered President than dispensing justice. The 13-judge Bench, headed by Chief Justice Abdul Hamid Dogar, which heard the review petition, has indirectly justified the drive for the removal of President Musharraf’s judges, derisively called PCO judges. The judgement, authored by Chief Justice Dogar, who too carries the PCO tag, says that the deposed judges ceased to hold office on November 3 after they refused to acknowledge the legality of the emergency regime. The court strangely fails to recognise the fact that the emergency declaration was an illegal act, aimed at perpetuating General Musharraf’s rule. There is reason why the victimised judges, particularly Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, who tried to uphold the independence of the judiciary, have become heroes in the eyes of civil society. How President Musharraf’s judges are removed is still being discussed by coalition partners. They must be shown the door in the interest of judicial independence. The judges who have suffered because they gathered courage to stand up against the whims of a dictator deserve to be reinstated without further delay. Hopefully, the lawyers and others who have been fighting for the restoration of the judicial status quo ante will not keep quiet till they achieve success. Pakistan cannot have democracy without an independent judiciary, which has unfortunately not been there so far.
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New threat to IITs THE Union Human Resource Development Ministry’s notification of reservations for faculty posted in all the Indian Institutes of Technology has expectedly triggered a volley of protests by the directors, faculty members and alumni of these institutions, including Mr Nandan Nilekani, Member, Board of Governors, IIT-Bombay. They justifiably fear that the decision will compromise the high standards of teaching in these institutions and dilute the global brands they have come to be. According to the directive, the IITs will have to reserve 15 per cent, 7.5 per cent and 27 per cent of teaching posts for the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and the Other Backward Classes, respectively, “with immediate effect”. The IIT Council, which has taken up the matter with the government, is against the unilateral decision. Surpris-ingly, the ministry took a decision of such importance without taking the council into confidence. No one is opposing the need for affirmative action in admissions to professional institutions like the IITs and the IIMs. In April, the Supreme Court cleared the constitutional validity of the Central law which provides reservation of 27 per cent of the seats for the OBCs. It has been repeatedly stressed in these columns that the benefit of the reservation should go to the really deserving ones excluding the creamy layer — a principle that has been upheld by the apex court. However, the repercussions of extending the reservation to a sizeable number of faculty positions will be disastrous for the IITs. Right now, the IITs have the reservation for OBC candidates only in administrative posts, from attendants to the rank of deputy registrar. This is the way it should be and the government should not tinker with the selection criteria for the faculty. Lowering of the faculty quality to accommodate the reserved categories may lead to reducing the level of education for generations of students. And if teaching standards are diluted, it will hurt the weaker sections most. At a time when the Prime Minister, the National Knowledge Commission and the IIT Board of Governors are exploring ways to help the IITs retain their competitive edge on the global scene, merit should be the sole criterion for the selection of faculty and not reservation. The HRD Ministry would do well to leave the IITs alone and desist from meddling with the global brands.
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Web of contention FOR some inexplicable reason, an overwhelming majority of Internet users believe that they are anonymous while surfing the Net. They could not be more wrong, as the recent controversy about YouTube demonstrates. What is, arguably, the most popular video sharing website in the world is locked in a billion-dollar lawsuit for the infringement of copyright with Viacom and other copyright holders. A judge in New York has ordered YouTube to release information about who watches which video clips and when. This has raised major concerns among the advocates of privacy even though the data would not be publicly released but disclosed only to the plaintiffs, and it would include less specific identifiers than a user’s real name or e-mail address. The 12 terabytes of data — equivalent to the text of 12 million books — is a database that includes information on when each video gets played, and attached to each entry is each viewer’s unique login ID and the Internet Protocol (IP) address for that viewer’s computer. Everything that an ordinary computer user does online can be traced. The issue of employers violating privacy by checking workers’ electronic communications has been examined by various courts worldwide. Search engines keep records of users’ activities. For computer users, much of their daily activities are centred around computers, either online, or offline. They maintain diaries, personal mail, financial records, family photos and much more. Therefore, it is important that the privacy of users is respected and not violated, except when specifically required and legally sanctioned. The legal world has not evolved enough to be in step with the cyber world, which continuously poses new and complex challenges. These challenges are as much legal as technological. There is an urgent need for international law to tackle issues pertaining to companies which are physically within nations, but operate without borders and are accessed and used by a trans-national clientele. The privacy concerns over the access to YouTube data is yet another instance that highlights the importance of coming to legal terms with the complexities of the web.
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How time flies when you are doing all the talking. — Harvey Fierstein
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The challenge from ULFA ALMOST three decades ago, a group of youths in Assam rose in revolt against New Delhi. Now, in the 30th year of what they had started, northeastern India’s frontline separatist group, the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), is faced with the first major mutiny within its ranks. On June 24, two of the three companies of the rebel group’s crack “28th battalion” announced a unilateral ceasefire with the authorities, saying the move was aimed at facilitating peace talks between the outfit and the Government of India. This was indeed a significant development because this battalion of ULFA, also known as the Kashmir Camp, is headquartered in Myanmar, and has been the most potent strike force of the outfit. It has been active in Assam’s eastern Tinsukia, Dibrugarh and Sivasagar districts as also in adjoining Arunachal Pradesh. Not many would have been surprised that the Alpha and Charlie companies of ULFA’s “28th battalion” have called for a truce. On June 21, three days before the ceasefire announcement, a former commander of the “28th battalion”, Mrinal Hazarika, walked out of prison in Dibrugarh on bail. The authorities had apparently not opposed his bail plea, facilitating the ULFA leader’s release from jail where he had been lodged following his arrest in 2005 from Siliguri, West Bengal. The next day Hazarika telephoned journalists to say that he was back with his colleagues in the “28th battalion”. Two days later, Hazarika, along with Jiten Dutta, another top commander of the battalion, and a dozen other members of the unit issued a signed statement announcing the truce. These ULFA leaders, who can now be described as the pro-talk group, made it clear to the media at a rare news conference on June 26 at one of their strongholds that they had been in touch with the authorities for long. Hazarika, who was among those who addressed the visiting journalists, openly admitted having parleys with officials of the Assam Police, the Army and the central intelligence agencies during the run-up to their truce announcement. It was not surprising, therefore, to find Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi quickly welcoming the ceasefire call by the two companies of the “28th battalion” and promising help to facilitate their peace initiative. Whether or not the announcement of a truce by a section of ULFA will serve any purpose in taking the peace process forward is a different matter altogether. But it is important to take a look at the points made by the pro-talk ULFA leaders before the media. The main points made at the news conference by Hazarika and Jiten Dutta include the following: There has been no split in ULFA, and they have been forced to revolt because the group’s central leadership refused to pay heed to several points raised by them for almost two years now. The central leaders may have failed to appreciate the ground situation in Assam from a distance since they have been living outside for long. The central leaders have preferred to remain silent on the threat to the indigenous Assamese people from illegal Bangladeshi migrants despite being apprised of the matter. The central leaders and the other ULFA units must now take the cue and come forward for unconditional peace talks with the Government of India. The ULFA-appointed peace panel, the People’s Consultative Group (PCG) — set up in 2005 and which has held three rounds of talks with the Central government — has failed in its objective of preparing the ground for possible direct talks between the group and the government. The only other company of the “28th battalion”, the Bravo company, has not called a truce as yet because most of its leaders are outside the country. The call by the pro-talk ULFA leaders to their bosses — chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa, military chief Paresh Baruah, foreign secretary Sasadhar Choudhury and others — to hold unconditional talks with New Delhi is nothing unusual. What is significant, however, is their statement that ULFA’s central leaders — believed by New Delhi to be operating from Bangladesh — have preferred to remain silent on the threat posed by illegal migrants from Bangladesh to the very identity of the Assamese people. By raising the issue of illegal influx from Bangladesh, the pro-talk leaders seem to be trying to put the ULFA leadership in the dock and appeasing local sentiments, including influential mainstream groups which have been raising the migration issue with the determination to rid Assam of illegal aliens. There has been a charge against ULFA that it has been indifferent to the issue of migration because its leaders are operating from Bangladesh. The authorities may have facilitated the announcement of truce by a section of ULFA, but they cannot afford to be euphoric about the development. The events in Nagaland in recent weeks have shown what factionalism within insurgency movements can do. It can derail whatever gains have been made over the years insofar as peace processes are concerned. At least 40 Naga rebels have been killed in factional fights since May 2008. But, more than the government, it is ULFA that has to go into serious introspection mode now. The central leaders will have to analyse the reasons from their perspective as to why the “28th battalion” has taken this decision. The security establishment believes that the ULFA leadership could well be isolated sooner than later if more rebel units were to come forward to join the pro-talk group or the peace process. This argument or belief is something that the ULFA leadership cannot brush aside as trash. After all, for a long time ULFA’s top leaders have been running the outfit from a distance. It is also a fact that many of its top commanders who were appointed to key posts have fallen into the security dragnet. Their positions have been filled by new cadres, and it is possible that some of them may not have had the opportunity to work closely with their top brass. Another message from the latest turn of events is that direct talks between the rebels and the government are actually possible without the involvement of intermediaries. It would be naïve to expect ULFA to act like the pro-talk group in the “28th battalion”, but the outfit may be forced to formulate a strategy to repair the damage. ULFA could possibly launch a series of strikes, even if aimed at soft targets (a bomb blast in the central Assam district of Nagaon on June 27 injured six people), or to get busy in rebuilding the two companies of the “28th battalion” to fill the void created by the desertion of the pro-talk group. If that happens, Assam may witness fratricidal feuds among ULFA factions. The government, combating ULFA in a systematic manner since the first military offensive (Operation Bajrang) was launched in November 1990, has certainly got a temporary reprieve following the latest truce. The challenge now will be to build up and consolidate its gains and take things to the next level — having peace talks. But talks with two companies of the rebel group may not end the insurgency in Assam. In the next few weeks, it will be interesting to see if the pro-talk group heeds the Assam government’s stated position that rebel cadres coming forward to join the peace process must lay down their arms and stay at designated camps till the problem is resolved through peace negotiations. The cat and mouse
battle in Assam is not yet over. The writer is Director, Centre for Development and Peace Studies,
Guwahati.
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Sam Bahadur and Jaggu THIS is the story of a military giant, Field Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw, and an unknown Lilliputian called Jaggu. It unfolds when daddy was posted in Trivandrum, where we lived in the imposing colonial Pangode House. I was a schoolgirl then. Field Marshal (then Lt-General) Manekshaw was on a visit to the place. Out of the blue one night daddy announced that Lt-General Manekshaw was to lunch with us the next day, sending the entire household into a tearing hurry. We started getting brassware shined, crystal rinsed in vinegar, etc. After all, it isn’t everyday that a famed general visits you. We were, nay, the whole Indian Army was in awe of this person: decorated with many medals, having a distinguished military history behind him, adorned with a distinctive moustache and loaded with a sense of humour and charm. The menu and the guest list was fixed, including who was to sit next to whom, seniority-wise. Though mom could beat any Cordon Bleu chef, it was decided to call in Jaggu, the Army Club’s cook, to prepare his masterpiece pudding, the Rainbow Soufflé — a dome-shaped fluffy incollapsible soufflé of seven layers of different colours and flavours. Jaggu often boasted that “Gen Sam Bahadur Sa’ab” had always relished his preparation when the two were together in some cantonment. We thought that Jaggu, a name-dropper, just fibbed. Jaggu was a rotund chap. Mom and I couldn’t enter the kitchen to see his culinary secrets being revealed, as modesty prevented us. Jaggu worked bare-chested, wearing only his wide-flared shorts! The lunch went off aplomb. The melt-in-the-mouth fluffy dessert was simply heavenly. Soufflé, a French word, means “light as air”, which it certainly was. “Mmm…who made this pudding?” the General asked, digging his spoon into a second helping, trying to recall the familiar taste. “Sir, it’s Jaggu, the club’s cook”, daddy said. “Send the guy to me at once”, he ordered. Jaggu came running, buttoning his shirt and saluted him smartly. “Oye Jaggu ustaad, shabaash, tu ne phir kamaal kar ditta”, Lt-Gen Sam Bahadur commented, giving him a pat on his shoulder. Master cooks are called ustaad in common parlance. He also enquired about ustaad’s family’s welfare. This bonhomie put us all literally at stand-at-ease. Generals are also human beings. Lt-General Manekshaw certainly knew the knack of how to get around men. That was the sort of man Sam Bahadur was. Indeed, it was a unique meeting, though a very brief one between a general and a cook, both growing in stature, in our eyes. And Jaggu, though boastful, had not been
lying.
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India in space BETTER late than never! After dragging its feet for years, the Indian government seems to be finally waking up to the challenge posed to its interests from the creeping weaponisation of outer space. And the military seems to be quick in taking advantage of the government’s changing priorities. Days after the government decided to establish an integrated space cell came the reiteration of its long-standing demand for an aerospace command from the military. But the Indian armed forces would be well-advised to take one step at a time. It was the Chinese test of its anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons last year that jolted the Indian establishment out of its slumber. China shot down one of its own satellites last year as part of its overarching strategy designed to counter the overall military capability of the US. China successfully used a ground-based missile to hit and destroy one of its weather satellites that had been circling the globe at an altitude of about 500 miles. In effect China demonstrated an effective ASAT capability comparable to the US technology from the mid 1980s and Soviet/Russian systems from about the same time. The test reinforced China’s status as a true military space power; equal to the US and Russia, but more significantly key US space systems are now at clear risk in any future conflict with China. As a consequence, suggestions are being made that the US should start investing in offensive counter-space capabilities. The Bush Administration has tacitly asserted the US right to space weapons and has continued to oppose the emergence of treaties or other measures restricting them. For the US, any arms control regime in outer space would constrain its military options and it wants to retain its military flexibility. Earlier this year, the US navy’s missile interceptor successfully struck a dying spy satellite orbiting 130 miles over the Pacific Ocean. With this missile strike the US categorically signalled that its missile defences can be used to counter strategic anti-satellite weapons. An interceptor designed for missile defence was used for the first time to attack a satellite and as such showcased how the emerging missile defence arsenal could be reprogrammed to counter an unexpected threat, which, in this case, was deadly rocket fuel abroad a dead satellite. This will, no doubt, strengthen the hands of the supporters of the missile defence system in which the US has already invested more than $57 billion. This was a major success for the Missile Defence Agency in so far as it amounted to an unprecedented use of components of the Pentagon’s missile defence system, designed to shoot down hostile ballistic missiles in flight, not killing satellites. It is instructive that this strike by the US came days after China and Russia proposed a global pact banning weapons in space as well as rising Russian opposition to the US placement of missile defence interceptors in Eastern Europe. The US has opposed this treaty arguing that the proposed draft is largely directed only at the US military technology as it allows China and Russia to fire ground-based missiles into space or use satellites as weapons of war. There is also reluctance on the part of China and Russia on clearly defining a space weapon as they too want to keep their options open. Space is increasingly emerging as the most likely frontier for the next conflict. The US military is well aware of the importance of nurturing an ability to maintain control of the space as much of the operational advantage enjoyed by the US and its allies is due to an unfettered access to and exploitation of space-based technologies. Space is now viewed as a critical element of national infrastructure, which has evolved into a national security issue. Space exploitation and control have evolved to impact much more than just the military’s ability to carry out its missile and it has become increasingly central to the economy. Given its considerable utility and immense commercial potential, it will also become an important target for those who wish to counter US influence and prosperity. The dependence of the US and the western world on space based capabilities and their growing vulnerability implies that the weaponisation of space is all but inevitable. Moreover, the underlying logic of global politics will make sure that US technological and military monopoly in space will not endure for long. India needs to realise that whether it likes it or not, the arms race in outer space has already started and there is little India can do stop it. Rather than protesting from the sidelines India should be developing its own infrastructure so as to be able to meet the challenges that are bound to emerge in the near future. Also, by supporting America’s ballistic missile defence system India had long back cast its vote towards the weaponisation of outer space. Only after it becomes a space power can it challenge other space powers to work towards demilitarisation. No one would listen to a state that does not have power projection capabilities in space but insists on lecturing others from the margins. A national space policy should, therefore, be a top priority of the Indian government. India’s plan to set up a monitoring facility for the protection of its assets in space and the decision to create an integrated space cell are steps in the right direction. And it is clear that an aerospace command will soon be needed. But first the Indian armed forces should make the cell work effectively and learn adequate lessons so that a tri-services command can be optimally utilised whenever it comes into being. India has a long way to go before it can use space optimally for military purposes but that’s no reason to slow down nation’s efforts in protecting its genuine interests in the final frontier. The writer teaches at King’s College, London
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Canada best equipped to face climate change
A group of islands with the potential to develop into a tourist paradise has been named as the country least equipped to withstand the effects of climate change. The Comoros Islands in the Indian Ocean, between Mozambique and Madagascar, are a small nation of sparkling blue lagoons and picture-postcard beaches. But the country is politically unstable and a report published today says it is the world's most vulnerable country to the future impacts of global warming such as increased storms, rising sea levels and agricultural failure. At the other end of the scale, Canada is the best place to move to if you want to be a climate change survivor in the decades ahead (although Britain is also a good place to be as a warming atmosphere takes hold). The best-to-worst rankings are revealed in the first-ever climate change vulnerability index, produced by Maplecroft, a British consultancy which specialises in the mapping of risk. Its study, The Climate Change Risk Report, looks in great detail at global warming risks in 168 countries. Africa is the most vulnerable region, and eight of the 10 most vulnerable countries are African, with the Comoros Islands followed by Somalia and Burundi in second and third places. Only five non-African countries are in the 20 most vulnerable. They are Yemen, Afghanistan, Haiti, Pakistan and Nepal. As might be expected, developed nations score best. Canada is top, followed by Ireland, Norway, Denmark and Sweden. The United Kingdom is in 12th position, just behind the US. The surprise in the top 20 is Uruguay, which is listed ninth, and the only well-placed nation not to be in the club of countries which are rich, or Western (and usually both). The originality of the new study is that it does not predict global warming's impacts, from increased droughts to rising sea levels, which has been done for the past two decades by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Instead, it looks at how countries are fitted to meet them. "We're not saying anything about the changing climate," said Andy Thow, one of the report's authors. "We're saying, what's the situation on the ground in terms of vulnerability? If there were an impact, how vulnerable would the country be?" Vulnerability is examined by the study across six different sectors – the economy; natural resources and ecosystems; poverty, development and health; agriculture; population, settlement and infrastructure; and institutions, governance and social capital. Eventually a figure is arrived at on the scale of one to 10, with one being the most vulnerable, and 10 the most secure. The Comoros score is 1.21; Canada's score is 8.81. (The UK scores 8.06.) "The simple reason that Comoros is most vulnerable overall is that it scores poorly across all parts of the index," Dr Thow said. "The combination of all these factors is worse than for any other country. It scores particularly poorly in the agriculture and natural resources and ecosystems components. This reflects a situation in which pressure on natural resources is extremely high and there is very limited capacity to adapt to the impacts of changes in climate. That capacity is limited by factors such as poor land quality, low crop production and yields and water stress, combined with a growing population. "Canada, on the other hand, is extremely well equipped to adapt to changes in climate. It scores well across all aspects of the index. This is because of the low pressure on natural resources resulting from a low population density and large land area, combined with high agricultural capacity, a healthy economy, few development and health challenges and excellent public institutions." But Dr Thow pointed out that while Maplecroft's work showed Canada was well placed to manage the impacts of climate change on people and society, its wildlife was likely to be seriously affected by the expected magnitude of changes to climate in the Arctic region. The Comoros also scores lowest in the world (jointly with Chad) on the report's index of emissions of carbon dioxide, which means that the country likely to suffer most from global warming has done the least to cause it. Worst hit
By arrangement with The Independent
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Chatterati THE sad situation in Kashmir shows that it is not public welfare that counts at all. It's all about votes. The hype of the Amarnath Shrine land has proved once again, how unstable the PDP is. Or maybe how illiterate its ministers are! Having passed the deal in a Cabinet meeting, signing files, they obviously suffer from amnesia. Then their leader Mehbooba in a melodrama flies in from London and withdraws support on the same issue. Instigating violence and protests leading to the death of poor people. The aim was only to win over the Muslim vote bank in the valley for the coming state assembly elections. And then we all saw the whole show on T.V. How the BJP jumped in to do what it is best at: bandhs, strikes, road blockades etc. They were desperately looking for an agenda after the Ram Mandir, which the public does not buy now. So how can they let this pass by quietly? All my sympathies are with the people of J & K who are being tortured and punished for nothing. No one was ready to hear the Chief Minister's appeal for communal harmony and not to play dirty politics at the cost of lives and progress of the state. Congress gains Seen that smile on Amar Singh's face? Is it relief or just great politics? It's a new lease of life for the Congress and Mulayam if they do come together for the Uttar Pradesh elections. Both are gainers. In fact, this may deflate Maya Behenji in U.P. whereas the BJP is more or less consistent there. At least, the Congress fellows, who were ready to flee the party for greener pastures, will stay for some time. The Prime Minister will be able to pass his nuclear deal with all these new political bed-fellows, but how will the Congress face the elections with inflation on a new high? In fact, a Congress leader from Karnataka wanted to know "What's the high command?" Is it so high that no sound from the ground reaches it and no command from there reaches the ground? Several Congress leaders are hoping against hope that the high command may come to its senses and, at least, listen to some ground leaders. Focus on Kalam Kalam is clearly the man of the moment. He may be the ex-President but nobody notices the "ex". Perhaps, it's because he manages to stay active and relevant. And it seems to work because he looks innocent and acts transparent. Kalam is the new mascot of the Samajwadis, who are using him to justify their new approach to the nuclear deal. They may be repeating their nationalistic ideals but Kalam is also their way of neutralising the Muslim worry. It may be a bogey at the moment but the fear is that Muslims may be upset with the S.P. backing the nuclear deal. That's why Kalam is a useful shield for the moment. Of course, it's also good to see that Kalam works well to ward off the BJP. In this season of political dissent, it's good to see we have some icons who everybody loves.
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