The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Call of Kathmandu
Prachanda makes the right moves

THE age-old ties between Nepal and India are entering a new and dynamic chapter of engagement. The very fact that there was no explicit declaration to this effect during the five-day visit of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ actually underscores the beginning of the striving for a new balance in the relationship. The political climate in Nepal has changed radically with the demise of the monarchy and the birth of a republic. As acknowledged by Mr Dahal, New Delhi’s role in the Maoists entering electoral democracy was positive. Regardless of Mr Dahal’s intent, his first foreign visit being to China, and not India, needlessly ruffled feathers in New Delhi. The flood havoc in Bihar caused by the Kosi breaching in Nepal and the pre-visit rhetoric over the 1950 India-Nepal Treaty were elements that added to the undercurrent of apprehensions on both sides.

Despite this backdrop, there was not the least discordant note during Mr Dahal’s wide-ranging interactions with leaders of the government, the political parties and industry and business. In fact, his emphasis on economic engagement and creation of the necessary climate for investment appeared to convince India Inc that at the head of government, the formerly ‘fierce’ leader of Maoist guerrilla forces was a man they could do business with. The words and sentiments were all right, on both sides, and the deeds that follow will be watched closely, for on this hinges Nepal’s economic development.

The Kosi issue was tackled in an equally business-like manner with decisions to set up official mechanisms for averting such calamities in future. On the 1950 treaty, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh assured Mr Dahal that New Delhi was ready to review the treaty and, subject to mutual agreement, rework the “outdated” provisions. Mr Dahal, in turn, was responsive to New Delhi’s concerns over security and cross-border issues. With disputatious issues dealt with or swept aside for the moment, Mr Dahal— whose government is yet to articulate a coherent foreign policy — can return home reassured of India-Nepal ties becoming stronger if anchored in mutual goodwill and economic cooperation. This should also satisfy his party, which was opposed to Mr Dahal signing any major agreements on this visit.

Sensex bounces back
US rescue plan lifts global markets

THE BSE Sensex’s pullback from Thursday’s intra-day low of 12,558 to Friday’s close at 14,042 was part of a global turnaround in stock markets as governments the world over took steps to release more money in their financial systems, rein in short-sellers and, more importantly, the US decided to go in for a comprehensive solution to the financial crisis. The global financial upheaval had unnerved investors all over. The Indian recovery started in the later part of Thursday as Finance Minister P. Chidambaram clarified that none of the public sector banks had any exposure to the debt of Lehman Brothers and none was in any financial trouble.

After sleeping rather too long over the slow-motion unfolding of the sub-prime crisis, the US administration finally decided to abandon ad-hoc interventions and have a once-and-for-all systemic solution to the toxic bank assets. This is an election year and the Bush administration could not afford to leave the middle class, caught in the mortgage whirlpool, to fend for itself. A standalone investment vehicle is on the cards— similar to the Resolution Trust Corp formed to fix the savings and loan crisis in 1989. Besides, the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank have joined hands with their counterparts around the world to enhance liquidity.

The rescue plan triggered an upswing in the US stocks, the biggest one-day gain in six years. Friday saw all Asian markets bounce back with gains ranging between 4 and 9 per cent. How long the rally lasts is anybody’s guess. It is all sentiment driven. India’s financial system has coped admirably with the fallout of the global crisis. The distress selling of stocks by foreign funds has been absorbed. The regulatory measures taken in the past some years have shown the results. The country’s growth prospects are bright. Foreign funds may return once the global financial situation stablises.

Thought for the Day

You cannot make yourself feel something you do not feel, but you can make yourself do right in spite of your feelings.

— Pearl S. Buck

ARTICLE

Regional Benches will help
Also let judges serve longer
by Fali S. Nariman

I am delighted that in its issue of September 18 The Tribune has published an editorial endorsing the proposal of the Chief Justice of India for Regional Benches of the Supreme Court in India’s major cities where litigation (civil and criminal) is bursting at the seams.

I have always believed that having Benches of the Supreme Court where major high courts are located is not only time-saving for the litigating public, but a much needed cost-saving measure as well. Justice Hidaytullah once told a senior counsel from Andhra Pradesh who complained of his matter not having reached for several days that “we do not run the Supreme Court on Bradshaw’s timetable.” Clients do want to be present when their case gets heard finally in the apex court: when I used to travel from Bombay to Delhi in the 1960s the client would spend three to four hundred rupees for an airline ticket: it now costs more than Rs 15,000.

Benches in the major cities would now obviate clients having to spend enormous sums in travel and stay in Delhi, and leave the Supreme Court free to decide cases of moment, expeditiously, at its principal seat in Delhi. It will also leave the CJI time to have a continuous Constitution Bench of five judges sitting throughout the year to deal with and dispose of important matters relating to the interpretation of our Constitution.

Besides, in a vast country like ours judges who sit in the highest court must get to know more intimately the performance of Justices in the High Courts — first hand, and not dependent on “hearsay”. It is well known that in the past extremely competent judges of the High Court were not appointed to the Supreme Court simply because of the “hearsay” of their erstwhile colleagues adorning the Supreme Court Bench — the case of Justice Pendse of the Bombay High Court who never made it to the top, sticks out like a sore thumb!

The system of appointments to the Supreme Court will be vastly improved by the measure suggested by the present CJI — his distinguished predecessors in office invariably resisted all pleas for setting up Benches of the Highest Court in different parts of India on the ground that it would disturb the “homogeneity” of the court: a somewhat shaky argument that has worn thinner and thinner over time.

It is not that good and able judges are not appointed to the Supreme Court under the present system of appointments, but that equally able and competent men and women have somehow got left behind — simply because the collegium (the “Big Five”) have no personal knowledge of their ability and performance, and therefore have to rely on “hearsay”. It used to be said at one time that a competent Judge of the High Court stood no chance of “elevation”, if he did not call on and “pay his respects” to certain Justices of the Supreme Court who hailed from that very High Court.

A professor teaching corporate law at Harvard once told me that the reason why there would always be non-executive directors in limited companies was that “some men greatly enjoy the genuflections of other men.” And some judges were (and are) no exception to this human weakness! Justice Wanchoo, the first and only ICS Chief Justice of India, was most averse to “genuflections”: whenever a Judge of the High Court called to see him he (Wanchoo J) would come into the room where the High Court Judge was seated, and himself keep standing. The caller would then sheepishly stand up and present his card with his name and before he could utter a word Justice Wanchoo would shut him up politely saying, “thank you Justice so and so for calling, Goodbye.” That was all.

Hopefully, with having regional Benches of the Supreme Court, judges of the highest court will be able to make their own assessment of the competence and performance of judges in the major High Courts — without the need of courtesy-visits!

Regional Benches in the major cities are of course fine, but I have a personal preference as well. During my six years in the Rajya Sabha, the members from Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland, though belonging to different political parties, were always unanimous in their demand for a Bench of the Supreme Court being located in the North-East. I always supported them — not because there would be much continuous work for judges of the Supreme Court in that region but because it would be an expression of emotional solidarity — an affirmation that the Union does care for the region and is keen that disputes that arise in that area get the benefit of the expertise of judges of the highest court. The North-East has for long felt that it is left out of the judicial reckoning, and to assuage that feeling I do venture to suggest that we must have a Bench of the highest court in Shillong or some other place in that neglected part of India.

And whilst we are at “reforms” at the highest level I would make an additional suggestion which the judges themselves cannot possibly make viz. that the age of the High Court judges be raised from 62 to 65 years and of Supreme Court judges be raised from 65 to 68 years — because I believe that there is simply no alternative to the wisdom of accumulated years of judicial experience to help decide court cases with proficiency and to the reasonable satisfaction of all.

MIDDLE

Love’s Labour’s Lost
by Raj Chatterjee

THERE’S no knowing the length to which a young man (and many an old fool) will go to show his devotion to the object of his adoration.

In this case the length was a distance of nearly 30 km which a boy of 19 crawled on his hands and knees to the house of the girl who had broken off her engagement with him.

It happened in Florida U.S.A. It is not surprising that the oddest exploits, like stepping on the moon, are performed by Americans.

The report which I read in a foreign newspaper, said that the young man, William by name, arrived at his destination with holes in his gardening gloves and the knees of his blue jeans.

But his ex-fiance, Robin, was neither impressed nor amused. In fact, she thought the whole thing stupid and called the police to remove her crawling suitor from her doorstep.

While I agree with her view of the incident, I do feel that she might have been more hospitable, like offering the poor fellow a glass of beer or applying a soothing ointment to his hands and knees.

It’s a very long time since I was William’s age but I remember with great clarity the stupid things I did on the several occasions when I suffered the pangs of unrequited passion.

Each time, of course, it was the “real thing” and I invariably swore to myself that I would look at no other girl as long as I lived.

One of my saddest experiences befell me when I was preparing for the B.A. exam.

There was an attractive girl in my class to whom I had been making advances by means of little notes hidden between the pages of novels that I used to lend her from time to time.

I must admit that there were no answering notes from her when the books came back to me but the girl always gave me a beauteous smile whenever we met and I naturally assumed that she felt the same way about me as I did about her.

A few weeks before the exam the girl borrowed my history notes from me. Why she didn’t have any of her own I cannot say, but perhaps she wanted to save herself the trouble knowing that she could rely on some diligent note-taker like myself.

As you will have guessed, the notes were not returned to me with the result that I did very badly in the history paper.

What hurt me to the quick was that the girl did not even thank me for my help. In fact I never saw her again but I heard later that all the time she had been giving me her encouraging smiles she had been engaged to a fellow in the army.

OPED

Taking on Taliban
US seeks sole command of NATO’s war
by Kim Sengupta

THE Bush administration is pushing for sweeping changes to the military command structure in Afghanistan so that the head of international forces would report directly to the US Central Command instead of NATO.

The changes would have huge repercussions for NATO, whose officials have stated that Afghanistan is a “defining moment” for the organisation’s ability to conduct large-scale operations abroad.

The Independent has learnt that the proposal to streamline the complex chain of command, enabling US General David McKiernan to be answerable to superiors at Centcom in Tampa, Florida, rather than NATO, is before Robert Gates, the American Defence Secretary.

Mr Gates arrived in the UK on Thursday after a visit to Afghanistan where he spoke about the deteriorating security situation with senior Western officers and Afghan ministers.

At the same time, in a mark of the seriousness with which the Americans view the situation, Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, flew to Pakistan from where Taliban fighters are mounting cross-border raids.

Any move to make the Afghan war an American-run operation would be controversial in some NATO countries. There is already public disquiet in countries such as Italy, Germany and Canada over the conflict.

Nevertheless, altering the command structure is an option in a wide-ranging plan by Washington to acquire greater control of the mission in Afghanistan. A violent Taliban resurgence has made the past three months the most lethal for Western forces.

President George Bush has recently announced that several thousand troops will be moved from Iraq to Afghanistan, and General David Petraeus, who led the “surge” in Iraq, credited with reducing the violence there, is returning to the US in overall charge of both missions.

But it is the proposed change to the command structure in Afghanistan which is seen by the Americans as crucial to whether or not the Afghan mission succeeds. Officials point out that in Iraq, General Petraeus was in sole command, which allowed him to carry out his counter-insurgency plan.

In Afghanistan, however, different NATO countries are in charge of different regions, often with different rules. Forty nations ranging from Albania and Iceland to the US and Britain are involved in Afghan operations.

The force in southern Afghanistan, the main theatre of combat, includes troops from Britain, the Netherlands, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Australia, Romania and nine other nations.

US forces sent to Afghanistan recently from Iraq claimed that operations were being stymied because of the multi-layered command structure. Colonel Anthony Anderson, commander of the 1st Battalion, 6th Marines complained publicly: “We are trying to keep our frustration in check ... but we have to wait for the elephants to stop dancing”, a reference to the alleged clumsiness of the international command.

Lt Col Brian Mennes, commander of Task Force Fury, a parachute battalion serving in Kandahar, said at the end of his tour: “We don’t understand where we are going here, we desperately want to see a strategy in front of us.”

The two separate missions in Afghanistan – the NATO-led ISAF (International Security and Assistance Force), and Operation Enduring Freedom, by the Americans in the border regions with Pakistan – are due be merged under General McKiernan.

This, say some US officers, needs a streamlined structure unencumbered by countless NATO caveats on rules of engagement. The Americans are said to be “acutely aware” of the sensitivity of NATO allies on the issue of command structure.

Mr Gates recently said: “The command structure is a sensitive matter in terms of the eyes of our allies. And so if there were to be any changes it would require some pretty intensive consultations with our allies.”

One avenue under consideration is for NATO to continue to be in charge of matters such as logistics, force protection and public affairs while direct counter-insurgency operations would be run from Centcom by General Petraeus.

Major General Julian Thompson, former commander of the Royal Marines, raised doubts about the viability of changing the command structure from NATO to Centcom. “It seems to me that this will make the command structure in Afghanistan even more complicated. What will be the position of NATO soldiers from other countries? It would be a bit like a British commander saying he would report directly to the MoD in London rather than NATO.”

However, General Thompson acknowledged: “To my knowledge there are certainly some difficulties with so many nationalities in Afghanistan. In Helmand, for instance, some of the troops from other NATO countries have had to refer back home on orders issued by the British.”

Why public health, education are on decline
by Sarbjit Dhaliwal

IN view of the changing lifestyle of politicians and bureaucrats, a definite disconnect has developed between the rulers and a large chunk of the ruled.

As a consequence, the quality of governance has declined at the state as well as national levels during the past three or four decades. There will hardly be a politician or a bureaucrat seriously interested in improving health, education, public transport and other services offered in the government sector. The reason is obvious.

Politicians and bureaucrats have stopped utilising these services long ago and they are not dependent on the public delivery system any longer. So their personal interest is minimal as far as improving the functioning of these services is concerned.

Politicians send their wards to English-medium schools. Likewise, officers of all hues do the same. For these classes of the society, sending children to government schools is the last priority.

Because of that most of the government schools in various parts of the country are without proper infrastructure, adequate staff and basic facilities required in an educational institution.

Take the instance of Punjab. For the past several years, politicians and bureaucrats have not bothered to provide adequate teaching staff in most of the schools because they have no connection with such schools.

Their children study in schools elsewhere. The kind of stuff most of the government schools in this region are producing needs no elaboration. The government education system in Punjab has virtually collapsed. Even education at the college level in the state is in bad shape.

The sword of derecognition is hanging over even government medical colleges. The way the state government is treating technical education, days are not far when things would also start falling apart for this sector of education.

Most politicians of Punjab have their “kothis” in Chandigarh or in other well-known cities such as Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar and Patiala having good quality private, convent schools.

That is also true in case of politicians and officers of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. In fact, now it has become a fashion among most of the politicians and bureaucrats to send their wards to the best of schools and universities abroad.

Have you seen any politician getting himself treated in a government-run primary health centre or in a civil hospital at the district or divisional level?

Whenever they face any medical problem, they approach private medical institutions because they know it well that medical facilities available in government hospitals, primary health centres and dispensaries are far from satisfactory.

Such dispensaries, primary health centres and civil hospitals have now been left for those who cannot afford to get themselves treated in private hospitals.

Top-notch politicians entitled to reimbursement of medical bills from the government treasury prefer to get treatment from abroad even for minor ailments and surgical interventions.

Why should politicians take interest to improve the lot of civil hospitals in such circumstances?

There were times when a seat in a government-owned bus used to be reserved for an MLA or an MP because they frequently used to travel by bus.

However, long back politicians have stopped travelling by bus. Now most of the politicians use high-end luxury vehicles to travel in their political constituencies as well as to the state headquarters.

Visit the office of any main political party during the meeting of its MLAs, former MLAs, MPs, former MPs and other office-bearers to have a glimpse of what sort of vehicles our politicians use to travel. And the use of vehicles of best makes proves one point clearly that there is a huge money in politics.

Obviously, those who travel in the best of vehicles and have traffic and other police authorities at their beck and call to ensure a smooth passage even on most-crowded roads will never think of improving the ramshackle public transport system that is now left only for the masses.

So politicians and bureaucrats are not even interested in dealing with traffic problems faced by people in cities.

In other words, politicians and bureaucrats at a personal level have already rejected the public delivery systems comprising government schools, civil hospitals and public transport and they opt for other better alternatives for which they have the financial means to utilise.

But the same politicians and bureaucrats, who at the personal level reject public education, health and some other services are occupying seats of power and authority to operate the very same services.

These are, perhaps, great contradictions in our governing system. Social scientists need to ponder over these issues and find the answer to the moot question whether those have no stake in the government delivery system be given the right to run that systems.

What shapes political views
by Shankar Vedantam

PEOPLE who startle easily in response to threatening images or loud sounds seem to have a biological predisposition to adopt conservative political positions on many hot-button social issues, according to unusual new research being published today.

The finding — certain to stir debate in the middle of a presidential campaign — suggests that people who are particularly sensitive to signals of visual and auditory threats also tend to adopt a more defensive stance on political issues, from immigration and gun control to defense spending and patriotism. People who are less sensitive to potential threats, by contrast, seem predisposed to adopt more liberal positions on those issues.

The new study takes the research a step further than psychology by suggesting that innate physiological differences between people might help shape both their startle responses and their political inclinations.

The study is part of a growing research effort to uncover the often hidden factors that go into people’s political make-up. In recent years a variety of studies have shown, for example, that voters are subtly biased in favor of attractive political candidates. Other research has probed how subconscious attitudes among undecided voters can predict whom they will eventually support, and how the speed with which voters answer a pollster’s questions can predict their depth of their commitment to one candidate or another.

“I was quite struck watching the conventions by the different tones,” said John Hibbing, a political scientist at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, about the recent Republican and Democratic conventions. “The Republicans are waving placards saying, `country first.’ Democrats are not saying, `country last,’ but there is a concern that is visceral in one group but not another.”

Hibbing and the other researchers who conducted the study stressed that physiology is only one factor in how people come to their political views — and it is far from being the most important factor. Startle responses, moreover, cannot be used to predict the political views of any one individual — there are many liberals who startle easily and many conservatives who do not. What the study did find is that, across groups of people, there seems to be an association between people’s sensitivity to physical threats and their sensitivity to threats affecting their social groups and social order.

“We are not saying if you sneak up on someone and say, `Boo!’ and see how hard they blink, that tells you what their political beliefs are,” said Hibbing.

Nor is there the slightest implication that either liberals or conservatives are somehow abnormal for being less or more sensitive to threat: “We could spin a story saying it is bad to be so jumpy, but you can also spin a story saying it is bad to be naive about threats,” Hibbing said. “From an evolutionary point of view, an organism needs to respond to a threat or it won’t be around for very long. We are not saying one response is more normal than another.”

By arrangement with LA Times-Washington Post