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End the blame game Fallen giants |
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Discredited
cards
Obama in Europe
In full
flight
Was it all worth it? Towards a ‘Type 1
Civilisation’ Delhi Durbar
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Fallen giants The
time for gentle hints and polite pointing towards the way back to the pavilion is long over. Cricket’s big three — Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Saurav Ganguly — are hurting both their own tremendous contributions and Indian cricket by hanging around well past their match-winning days. As the abject display in the first Test against Sri Lanka amply showed, they haven’t got it any more. They have regularly extended their careers during the last couple of years by producing the odd big score just when it appeared inevitable that the axe would fall. And a fairly good tour of Australia notwithstanding, this has prevented the Indian team from deploying a fit, fighting eleven that can go out and win matches. Four Sri Lankan batsmen produced superb hundreds to post 600 runs at Colombo. In India’s poor reply, our big three scored 27, 14 and 23. Even putting that down to a collective off-day that is always possible, it is difficult to accept what happened next. Following on, India give their hosts their best ever home win, earning for themselves their third biggest Test defeat. The big three’s contribution was 12, 10 and 4. Contrast that with an instructive first Test played by South Africa and England just a couple of weeks earlier. Replying to England’s 593 at Lords, South Africa manage just 247. Following on, however, their top three batsmen come up with hundreds to save the match. The point is not individual match results. And nothing can be taken away from the thrilling bowling display put up by Sri Lanka’s spin wizards. It is about the ability to play top quality Test cricket. Especially when faced with the Twenty20 onslaught, it is important to ensure that the mother game gets the support needed to keep cricket’s foundations strong. Fresh talent is waiting in the wings, and needs to be accommodated. Fans will always cherish the wonderful knocks that Sachin, Rahul and Saurav have played, and we may never see their like. But it is now time to go.
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Discredited cards Driven
by stiff competition, banks often overcharge unsuspecting customers for services they have not asked for. Some private banks have become notorious for offering unsolicited loans on mobile phones and using muscle power to recover them from defaulters. Credit cards are usually thrust upon customers with terms and conditions wrapped in bank jargon and printed in such small letters that few would be motivated to read them. It is when the bill comes that shocked customers learn of the price they have to pay for availing a service they could very well do without. In resorting to such practices, banks are flouting the Reserve Bank of India guidelines issued in July, 2007, which prohibit banks from issuing unsolicited credit cards and loans. On Thursday the RBI clarified that if a customer gets an unsolicited credit card, he can approach the banking ombudsman to claim compensation for the inconvenience caused. The defaulting bank will also have to pay a penalty to the RBI. Earlier, on July 8, the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission had ruled that banks cannot charge interest in excess of 30 per cent a year from credit card holders if they default on payments. It is in this context that the new RBI guidelines have prescribed a ceiling on charges. But the regulator is often soft on punishing the violators. Instead of putting the onus on the customer to seek redressal for a violation of the rules, why can’t the RBI staff nab the violators and give them exemplary punishment? The compensation awarded by consumer courts is so small that most bank customers tend to avoid litigation. Why leave it to a customer to make a request to avoid unsolicited calls from a bank? Why not make those interested in having commercial calls register themselves with banks? The regulator needs to be more customer friendly and aggressive in enforcing the rules.
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Consciousness... is the phenomenon whereby the universe’s very existence is made known. — Roger Penrose
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Obama in Europe Mr Barrack Obama’s triumphant journey through Europe, Berlin being the crowning moment, has lessons for the world as it has for the United States. Beyond the rock star-like status he was accorded and the last hurrahs underlie two dominating European sentiments. There is the feeling cutting across the political spectrum of Europe’s continuing dependence upon the US, despite the brief brave era of hope of a European world presence. Second, there is immense relief that the eight years of Mr George W. Bush’s neoconservative and unilateralist policies are nearing their end. Mr Obama sought to emulate John F. Kennedy of another age. He was high on rhetoric, low on specifics, and even as European pundits wondered how a President Obama would shape up, the populace was content to revel in a moment of euphoria. Here was a black leader who had bettered the more experienced Hillary Clinton promising a new era of change. And he was talking of “partnership”, although his emphasis on Europe assuming its responsibilities by sending more troops to Afghanistan was not particularly welcome. If some were surprised at his pro-Israel bias, they do not understand the compulsions of American politics. There was a make-believe air about Mr Obama’s victory lap because John Kennedy’s stirring words came at a particularly vulnerable moment for West Europe. We live in a different age, with the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union gone. American triumphalism and the scourge of terrorism have replaced the Cold War. American policies have been attuned to converting its primacy after the end of the bipolar world into a permanent dominance of the world. Much of Europe did not like President Bush’s way of running the world, with Germany and France being the most vocal opponents of the Iraq war. But the new leaders of these countries felt impelled to alter their countries’ policies. President Nicolas Sarkozy came to the conclusion that he could enhance his country’s and Europe’s influence only by winning over the American leadership through professions of love for American accomplishments. Mrs Angela Merkel’s softer approach to Washington was determined by realpolitik and her own inclinations. For the world, Mr Obama’s European adventure represents the promise of change in American policies. How substantive a change he would bring about, were he to be elected, is a matter for debate. As the first black President, he would have to look over his shoulder and perhaps strike more war-like postures. Keeping the American Jewish lobby in mind, he is already talking about “all options” being on the table in relation to Iran. A body of opinion is already forming in world capitals suggesting that as President, Mr Obama could only be a weak leader. The military-industrial complex of Dwight Eisenhower’s description is very much a fact of American life and politics. And during the nearly eight years of the George W. Bush presidency, American policies have become more militarised, a trend Mr Obama would find hard to reverse, given the formidable nature of the vested interests involved. Traditionally, the United States has given the world a sense of optimism, and it is an item of faith among all American leaders that their country is the shining city on the hill. Without minimising America’s great achievements and ability to perform great acts of generosity, US ideals have become soiled after Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib and the nature of policies the Bush administration pursued towards the Palestinians for much of the time he held office. The argument that “we are not perfect but still have a unique moral fibre” is less convincing for much of the world. This is a striking difference because the world largely looked away from America’s reprehensible conduct in Latin America. Washington ran many countries in its southern hemisphere as its virtual colonies, large US companies exploiting their resources for profit at the cost of keeping armies of workers on starvation wages while the local dictators nominally ruling over them enjoyed US protection and friendship. Although the Soviet Union’s conduct in its former republics is much criticised by the West, it had the merit of evolving new leaderships in the region. The revolution in Cuba was waiting to happen. An Obama presidency would achieve one purpose. By electing a black, a part descendent of the stock that went to make the country’s black slave population, America would be sending out a salutary message. But the odds, it would seem, would be against him in charting out a brave new world. Responsibilities of office traditionally weigh down many good men and Mr Obama would be vulnerable on many counts. American presidents do leave their imprint on history, given the enormous power — both hard and soft — they possess. But their room for manoeuvre in terms of bucking the trend is becoming more and more restricted. President George W. Bush built up his policies on the strength of the neoconservative clan that had been hibernating for years. And in a stroke of luck for the neocons, September 11, 2001, happened and Iraq’s Saddam Hussein seemed a sitting duck because of the nature of his policies. At its baldest, the neocons’ argument has been that if the US has accumulated great power, “let us use it to serve American interests”. The neocons may be down but they are not out. The so-called Jacksonian train is embedded in the psyche of America’s policy-making elite. And we have the Republican candidate for the presidency, Mr John McCain, still talking about “winning” the war in Iraq and is taking his rival Obama to task for suggesting otherwise. Indeed, for many Americans, it is difficult to accept defeat. As the American media feast on the presidential contest, with television channels making pots of money, the world looks at the Obama phenomenon with some incredulity and disbelief. It would like the next US President to follow sensible policies for his country’s own good and for the good of the universe, but America’s greatest show on earth follows its own logic — to the befuddlement
and amusement of the rest of us.
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In full flight My
better half, Kapil, has been asking me to accompany him to the States on one of his trips there so that I too can enjoy seeing a new country. I have not been able to oblige him because , being a rather doting mother, I cannot bring myself to travel without my two little brats . However, nor can I bring myself to venture a long flight with them. These flashbacks into the past will help you understand why! My daughter Tamanna, and I were on a flight to Bangkok and she had mild fever. As I could not hold her and measure out her syrups myself, a kind sardarji neighbour willingly obliged. He expressed friendliness out of compassion for the sick child and tried to engage with her. The child rewarded him by beaming at him and deftly kicking a glass of water onto his lap.The poor gentleman tried to undo the damage with tissues but the seat and his trouser were firmly wet. Later when the food arrived, little bits kept tumbling onto his (wet!) lap thanks to the antics of the little one. I kept trying to field whatever bits I could before they reached his lap much like a desperate goalkeeper in a finals match but my daughter was clearly a champion scorer. I kept murmuring apologies.He heaved a sigh of relief when the food trays were taken away and put on his headphones to enjoy the inflight movie. It was then that Tamanna decided that she wanted his phones and stood up to pull them off his ears. No amount of reasoning could deter her from her singleminded goal. Not even her own set of phones. On another flight to Bangkok where we had wonderful hostesses, my daughter being well this time was full of even greater energy. She decided to expend that by running up and down the aisles with me giving chase. Though tiring, it was not a bad deal. Till she devised a little game. This involved walking up to the airhostess, winning her friendship (which is very easy when one is blessed with an angelic face) and then when the hostess least suspected it, trying to pull off her sarong! No amount of reasoning on the part of the airhostesses or me seemed to make her desist from this game.It turned out to be an extremely tiring flight with one determined girl, one extremely harried and embarrassed mother and a couple of pretty airhostesses clutching their sarongs tightly racing back and forth between the aisles. Other eventful flights involved stacking butter and jam tubs as a substitute for lego building blocks, running off to return with pieces of food from the plates of unsuspecting passengers in front and many many more…... My son, Aditya, a newer entrant to the skies, alternates between wailing loudly with head flung full back for maximum resonance or running between the aisles as fast as his little legs can carry him. I find myself constantly amazed at human tolerance and kindness and ask for God’s blessings for staff crew and fellow passengers! Meanwhile, it will take me a while to recover from this trauma and build up the nerve to fly with my two little
friends.
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Was it all worth it? Public
opinion as reflected by the print and electronic media has highlighted the bizarre happenings in the Lok Sabha on July 22 during voting on the confidence motion. The near unanimous judgement was that it was a disgrace to our democratic polity. More important than the moral aspect is the material cost. Hence the throw back in time to the first century BC when King Pyrrhus of the Greek kingdom of Epirus defeated the Romans, at great cost, in wars waged in two successive years – 280 and 279 BC – and rued, “ one more such victory and I am lost.” As for the other costs of winning the confidence vote the chickens still have to come home to roost, even if the contours of the prospective scenario are visible to the naked eye. First and foremost, the Prime Minister will have to kiss goodbye the long dangled idea of reservation of seats in legislatures for women, even if his Government lasts the full term until May-end 2009. Mulayam Singh Yadav will now join Laloo Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan, who had been resisting the legislation for over two decades. In fact, Amar Singh, who is Mulayam Singh’s ‘Sonia Gandhi’, has reportedly stipulated it as a condition for backing the nuclear ‘Deal’. The BJP has, meanwhile, gallantly voiced support for reservation of a third of the legislative seats for women simultaneously promising have 33 per cent women party office-bearers. This is despite the stand of Sharad Yadav, president of its ally Janata Dal (U). If it pursues the decision steadfastly it can unleash a veritable gender revolution in the country, like the Suffragette movement in the UK in the last century. Gandhiji had said that half of the country’s population was with him because he championed their cause. The Communist bloc has also been supportive of reservation of legislative seats for women. Their moral support would be a prophylactic against the BJP sliding back into Ram politics, particularly in the context of the raging the Ram Setu controversy . There is media hype that with the Communist albatross off its neck, reforms like raising the cap on FDI (foreign direct investment) from 26 per cent to 49 per cent and allowing the Government stake in public sector banks to come down below 50 per cent would go through. This has to be taken with a large pinch of salt. With or without Communist constraints, the Government lacks the infrastructure for speedy legislative action. More importantly, Communist trade unions could take to agitations and strikes. Above all, according to the present indications, the Government will be wallowing in the nuclear ‘Deal’ for some time, until the US Congress takes it up. When it comes to the crunch, Laloo Yadav, Amar Singh, Guruji Shibu Soren, and the like were not swayed either by the weight of the India-America civil nuclear deal or the Prime Minister’s eloquence in ‘selling’ it to the House. In the case of Laloo Yadav, his eyeing the Home portfolio betrays his self-interest in vociferous support to the Government . First, he has been impatient to put Advani and other critics of his in their place, which will be the jail on the Babri Masjid demolition issue and or any other contentious subject, primarily with a view to harassing them. Equally important is using the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to wipe the slate clean of the fodder scam cases involving him personally. Sixty-three out of the 64 accused in the criminal cases which arose from drawing tens of lakhs of rupees from Government treasuries in Jharkhand and Bihar for ‘buying fodder’ for non-existent cattle have been convicted and sentenced, with the apex court taking serious note of the snail’s pace of the trial. Laloo Yadav is the 64th accused. Not that he will be marched off to jail in the near future and will have to make Rashtriya Janata Dal into an Antarjatiya Janata Dal (AJD). But he would rather put an end to the pinprick. Second, with the Communist bloc out of reckoning, Laloo Yadav and his colleagues, with 24 MPs constitute the largest bloc. That among them are accused in criminal cases for murder, extortion and cheating makes no difference to him or the Prime Minister. Jayalalithaa as a coalition partner of Atal Behari Vajpayee’s rickety National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government had done it. She put her AIADMK chelas in the Union Home Ministry as junior ministers to get criminal cases against her dropped. Then there will be Amar Singh’s wish list. He would mainly look for economic portfolios like finance, commerce and trade. With the Communists not directly holding any portfolios it will be a tough job satisfying Amar Singh’s requirements. Then, Rahul Gandhi’s spellbinding performance in the Lok Sabha debate could make his mother wish to see him in the Cabinet. His admirers in the party are talking of external affairs portfolio for him. What about dada Pranab Mukerjee then? Finally, three senior ministers, Shivraj Patil (home), Arjun Singh (HRD) and Hansraj Bhardwaj (law), besides the Prime Minister, did not vote for the confidence motion because they are not Lok Sabha members. So whenever the Lok Sabha is dissolved they would remain ministers and MPs. So would Somnath Chatterjee, the Speaker, whose position is immutable to dissolution of the House.
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Towards a ‘Type 1 Civilisation’ Our
Civilisationis fast approaching a tipping point. Humans will need to make the transition from nonrenewable fossil fuels as our primary energy source to renewable energy sources that will allow us to flourish into the future. Failure to make that transformation will doom us to the endless political machinations and economic conflicts that have plagued Civilisationfor the past half-millennium. We need new technologies to be sure, but without evolved political and economic systems, we cannot become what we must. And what is that? A Type 1 civilization. Let me explain. In a 1964 article on searching for extraterrestrial civilizations, Soviet astronomer Nikolai Kardashev suggested using radio telescopes to detect energy signals from other solar systems in which there might be civilizations of three levels of advancement: Type 1 can harness all of the energy of its home planet; Type 2 can harvest all of the power of its sun; and Type 3 can master the energy from its entire galaxy. Based on our energy efficiency at the time, in 1973 astronomer Carl Sagan estimated that Earth represented a Type 0.7 Civilisationon a Type 0 to Type 1 scale. (More current assessments put us at 0.72.) As the Kardashevian scale is logarithmic – where any increase in power consumption requires a huge leap in power production – we have a ways to go before 1.0. Fossil fuels won't get us there. Renewable sources such as solar, wind and geothermal are a good start and coupled to nuclear power could get us to Type 1 eventually. Yet the hurdles are not solely – or even primarily – technological ones. We have a proven track record of achieving remarkable scientific solutions to survival problems – as long as there is the political will and economic opportunities that allow the solutions to flourish. In other words, we need a Type 1 polity and economy, along with the technology, in order to become a Type 1 civilization. We are close. If we use the Kardashevian scale to plot humankind's progress, it shows how far we've come in the long history of our species from Type 0, and it leads us to see what a Type 1 Civilisationmight be like: Type 0.1: Fluid groups of hominids living in Africa. Technology consists of primitive stone tools. Intra-group conflicts are resolved through dominance hierarchy, and between-group violence is common. Type 0.2: Bands of roaming hunter-gatherers that form kinship groups, with a mostly horizontal political system and egalitarian economy. Type 0.3: Tribes of individuals linked through kinship but with a more settled and agrarian lifestyle. The beginnings of a political hierarchy and a primitive economic division of labor. Type 0.4: Chiefdoms consisting of a coalition of tribes into a single hierarchical political unit with a dominant leader at the top, and with the beginnings of significant economic inequalities and a division of labor in which lower-class members produce food and other products consumed by nonproducing upper-class members. Type 0.5: The state as a political coalition with jurisdiction over a well-defined geographical territory and its corresponding inhabitants, with a mercantile economy that seeks a favorable balance of trade in a win-lose game against other states. Type 0.6: Empires extend their control over peoples who are not culturally, ethnically or geographically within their normal jurisdiction, with a goal of economic dominance over rival empires. Type 0.7: Democracies that divide power over several institutions, which are run by elected officials voted for by some citizens. The beginnings of a market economy. Type 0.8: Liberal democracies that give the vote to all citizens. Markets that begin to embrace a nonzero, win-win economic game through free trade with other states. Type 0.9: Democratic capitalism, the blending of liberal democracy and free markets, now spreading across the globe through democratic movements in developing nations and broad trading blocs such as the European Union. Type 1.0: Globalism that includes worldwide wireless Internet access, with all knowledge digitized and available to everyone. A completely global economy with free markets in which anyone can trade with anyone else without interference from states or governments. A planet where all states are democracies in which everyone has the franchise. The forces at work that could prevent us from making the great leap forward to a Type 1 Civilisationare primarily political and economic. The resistance by nondemocratic states to turning power over to the people is considerable, especially in theocracies whose leaders would prefer we all revert to Type 0.4 chiefdoms. The opposition toward a global economy is substantial, even in the industrialized West, where economic tribalism still dominates the thinking of most politicians, intellectuals and citizens. By arrangement with
LA Times-Washington Post
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Delhi Durbar A
week after the UPA government won the trust vote, the Congress is still gloating over its victory. Its leaders never tire of giving details about how “mission victory” was accomplished. Supervised by external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee and Ahmed Patel, the Congress president’s political secretary, the exercise was conducted with the precision associated with a military operation. Congress chief ministers and state leaders were assigned the task of identifying and winning over disgruntled MPs from the opposition camp while ensuring that their flock did not stray. The mission was cloaked in complete secrecy, so much so that a chief minister of one state was completely in the dark about the assignment given to his colleague in the neighbouring state. Mukherjee, Patel and a group of senior leaders met every evening to review the results of their efforts and accordingly issued necessary directions. Not just chief ministers but former CMs, AICC office bearers and state unit heads were also assigned specific tasks. In the run-up to the vote, it appeared at one point that the Congress was severely handicapped because it does not have wily players like Bhajan Lal to pull off this operation. But, as one Congress leader explained, the party does not depend on individual players alone but has a foolproof “system” in place which “always delivers.”
Perfect ten Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was clearly the cynosure of all eyes during last week’s debate on the trust vote in the Lok Sabha. Although Priyanaka is always a head-turner wherever she goes, she got more than her share of attention this time while seated in the Speaker’s gallery. The reason being that she had shed her more conservative attire for a simple yet elegant, well-fitted white shirt and black trousers. In fact, the Capital cannot stop discussing her new look and, from all accounts, she has scored a perfect ten. As somebody aptly wrote, the UPA government may have won the majority with a total of 275 but it is Priyanka who got the vote for style.
Thick hide A little knowledge is truly dangerous. No wonder that Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Devendra Yadav found himself in a spot when he exhibited his ignorance about the Indo-US nuclear deal. While supporting the deal in the Lok Sabha last week, he slammed the opposition for not understanding what he thought was a simple thing. “Hydel Act is of no consequence to India; India can have its own Hydel Act.” While it was clear that Yadav had not done his homework, the opposition promptly rose to mock Yadav for not knowing a thing about what he was seeking to defend. Yadav quickly recovered to offer a correction in chaste Hindi: “Haan Haan, hydel Act nahi hota, hydel to power hoti hai. Main Hyde Act hi keh raha tha (Yes, I meant to say Hyde Act. Hydel refers to Hydel Power.” The House was in splits, in any case. Contributed by Anita Katyal, Vibha Sharma and Aditi Tandon
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Corrections and clarifications n
The item “SIMI activist held” on page 1 of July 28 should have read that the Delhi Police had been intimated, not intimidated. Despite our earnest endeavour to keep The Tribune error-free, some errors do creep in at times. We are always eager to correct them. We request our readers to write or e-mail to us whenever they find any error. We will carry corrections and clarifications, wherever necessary, every Tuesday. Readers in such cases can write to Mr Amar Chandel, Deputy Editor, The Tribune, Chandigarh, with the words “Corrections” on the envelope. His e-mail ID is:
amarchandel@tribunemail. com . H.K. Dua
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