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End of siege
Begum vs Begum |
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Terror effect
Back to Clinton era
Pie-ing with each other
Triumph of democracy
States seek more from Central kitty
Chatterati
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End of siege
THE national flag hoisted on the Taj symbolised the end of the anti-terrorist operation that began soon after the terrorists started killing innocent people in Mumbai on Wednesday night. The Pakistani militants came by the sea, held the guests and other occupants of the Taj, the Oberoi-Trident and Nariman House as hostages and thereby traumatised a whole nation. Never before were the countrymen felt so crestfallen as when the demons in human form kept them on tenterhooks for more than two days. But for all the failures and fumblings of the intelligence-gathering machinery, our security agencies rose to the occasion and in systematic and calibrated moves targeted the terrorists, one by one, and liberated the hostages causing minimum collateral damage to the hostages and the buildings, notably the architecturally marvellous Taj. The commandos of the elite National Security Guards (NSG), popularly known as the Black Cats, did a wonderful service from the moment they landed in Mumbai and began their onslaught against the terrorists. The martyrdom of Major Unnikrishnan of the NSG, the only son of his parents, who led from the front, was the high price it paid to liberate the Taj from the beasts. Immeasurable was the sacrifice made by valiant police officers like the Maharashtra Police’s Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare, Ashok Kamte and Inspector Vijay Salaskar, who were all killed on the first night of the attack. Various agencies like the NSG, the Army and the Maharashtra Police coordinated with one another, often subordinating their individual egos, to free the metropolis from the vicious terrorist hold. The nation will be eternally grateful to them for their sacrifices. Like the security forces which rose to the occasion, the hotel employees did everything possible to take care of the welfare of their guests, though they themselves faced a grave risk to their lives and some of them even fell to the terrorist bullets. The attack brought Mumbai to a standstill with even its Stock Exchange closed, but the people did not lose their cool and rose above the usual casteist, religious and regional divisions to stand united in the face of adversity. Small wonder that the terrorists who came to kill 5,000 and bring India on its knees ended up as abominable corpses.
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Begum vs Begum IF all goes as scheduled, Bangladesh will have an elected government in January next. The parliamentary elections, postponed many times since the democratic process was suspended in January 2007, will be finally held on December 29. The Begum Khaleda Zia-led Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which had threatened to boycott the polls if held on December 18, has agreed to try its luck now. It wanted some time to gear up the party machine as most of its leaders remain behind the bars; only a few have been released. The BNP, along with the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League, had also been pressing for the emergency to be lifted, which will be done, hopefully, by December 12. The government gave a clear hint to end the emergency rule after the Election Commission also pleaded for it. To make it appear that no political formation is being favoured, the caretaker government has also put off the upzila (sub-district) elections from December 28 to January 22, 2009, as demanded by the League. It is, however, yet to make up its mind about the BNP plea for revoking Article 91 (E) of the Representation of the People Order, 2008. The controversial provision empowers the commission to cancel the candidature of any person at any stage of the polls. Begum Zia’s party is more worried about this law as it wants to field some candidates who are not in the good books of the military-backed regime. The BNP is faced with an acute shortage of leaders with some following. Former military dictator H. M. Ershad has added a new dimension to the scenario by switching sides at a time when the battle lines are almost drawn. His Jatiya Party, which was earlier part of the BNP-led alliance, has joined the Awami League camp. General Ershad has his eyes fixed on the President’s post. He has, perhaps, got an undeclared assurance from the League in this regard. There appears to be another reason for his change of sides. The League won 12 of the 14 positions in the Bangladesh Bar Council elections held last fortnight. This was the first trial of strength by the two rival camps, indicating which way the wind has been blowing.
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Terror effect
SOME have called the November 26 terror attacks as ‘India’s 9/11’, Mumbai as India’s New York and the Taj as Mumbai’s Empire State Building, implying the terrorist aim was to hit India’s financial strength. However, this is only partly true. India’s stock markets did not witness any panic selling either by foreign or domestic investors as they did in the US after 9/11. Instead, the BSE Sensex ended higher on Friday. The damage in the short run is limited to insurance, aviation and hospitality companies. Hotel and flight bookings ahead of the Christmas and New Year celebrations have been cancelled as Western countries have cautioned their citizens against travelling to India. India’s economy, the third largest in Asia, is too large to be hit by such terror attacks and too fast growing to be ignored by major fund managers. After some hiccups, the growth journey will resume. Indians, unlike Westerners, are known for their business-as-usual approach and take such things in their stride. Despite the latest outrage, the global ratings agencies, Standard and Poor’s and Moody’s, do not see such developments to impact India’s sovereign ratings. “Terrorism is a global problem, portfolio investors have learnt to live with it”, says Mr Arindam Ghosh, CEO of Mirae Asset Management. Mr Mark Mobius of a California-based asset management fund shares this view. The real problem is poor governance, the slow reactive and episodic government approach to issues - whether terrorism or the financial crisis. The oil prices and the interest rates need to be cut drastically. The textile, reality, airline, hospitality and exporting companies urgently need special relief. Where is the money? After hiking Central staff salaries, waiving farm loans and committing large sums to the job guarantee scheme, the government is left with little to increase the spending on infrastructure. To expand the economy, India needs foreign investment and the government is doing little to restore investor confidence, which has taken another beating from the Mumbai terror blow.
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What a good thing Adam had. When he said a good thing he knew nobody had said it before. — Mark Twain
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Back to Clinton era
WHEN Mr Barack Obama called Mrs Hillary Clinton the "Senator from Punjab", he was referring not only to the exceptional support she received from the Indian Americans, but also the constant presence on her side of Sant Chatwal, a Sikh businessman. Sant Chatwal's turban and beard were conspicuous even in Delhi during the visit of President Clinton. Sant Chatwal had volunteered to raise funds for Mr Obama also after he became the Democratic nominee, but it was reported that he declined. Mr Obama had raised enough money and he did not want to be identified with a known supporter of the Clintons. By offering the post of Secretary of State to Mrs Hillary Clinton, Mr Obama seems to have made peace with a number of things, including her Indian connection. Forming a coalition with a former rival obviously means eating some of the words spoken in the heat of the campaign. Clearly, India and the Indian Americans will welcome Mrs Clinton's return to power as she knows India well and the Clinton name has an irresistible magic. She has visited India, though she did not accompany her husband to India in 2000. Whether she will be good for India as Secretary of State is only a matter of speculation. Her interest in India was more sentimental than substantial, as seen by her reluctance to support the nuclear deal, but she will generally follow the Clinton mode on India. She will certainly understand the Indian sensitivities on Kashmir and refrain from being an activist. Like Mr Inderfurth explained, Kashmir will be treated as a bilateral issue, which should be resolved between India and Pakistan, taking into account the wishes of the Kashmiri people, as the United States remains in readiness to chip in, if and when necessary. Pakistan also has no reason to believe that she will be partial to India. "Continue, continue, continue", said former Assistant Secretary of State and potential Barack Obama nominee for a high position in the State Department, Mr Rick Inderfurth, while discussing the approach of the new President to India-US relations. For a President, elected on the slogan of change, this approach will appear a contradiction even with regard to one foreign policy issue. But, in the case of India, any change may be only for the worse and, therefore, continuity will be welcome. Continuity in the sense of return to the Clinton era is very much in the air in Washington as testified by the appointments announced so far. From the White House Chief of Staff to the Attorney-General, the faces are familiar even if they are willing to change with the spirit of the times. The appointment of Mr Hillary Clinton unmistakably takes Mr Obama straight into the Washington groove and the Clinton era, making it difficult for him to make dramatic changes in foreign policy. Why he chose Mrs Hillary Clinton for State and number four in the line of succession rather than as Vice-President and number two is yet to be explained. Obviously, he had not felt compelled to distance himself from the Clintons, but he did not want to either suffer on account of her in the elections or to share the credit of victory with her. By choosing her as Secretary of State, Mr Obama has given her a visibility and responsibilities far in excess of the Vice-President. She will become the face of the new United States abroad, however hands-on Obama or Joseph Biden may be with regard to foreign affairs. For instant international name recognition, there is no one to rival Mrs Clinton and that gives her star power. Interestingly, despite her high profile and conversations with Ambassadors, which Mr Obama had mocked once, Mrs Clinton is not known to have any firm views on foreign policy issues. Her masterpiece on foreign policy, published at the time of her campaign, had nothing novel in it. It simply asserted that old alliances should be preserved and new friendships should be nurtured. She wanted engagement with Iran, but did not support Mr Obama's enthusiasm for early direct negotiations with Iran. She had supported the invasion of Iraq, though she appeared to be concerned about soldiers and their families. She was far more concerned about health care and women's and children's issues than about foreign policy. She shared Mr Bush's wish to keep all options open with respect to Iran and she had no doubt that Iran should be obliterated if it launched a nuclear attack on Israel. Still, Mr Obama has a comparatively clean slate to write on, with her as Secretary of State. Following Ms Madeline Albright and Ms Condoleezza Rice she helps maintain gender continuity in the State. Mr Obama's highest priority, the economic agenda, will be dealt with outside the State, but Mrs Hillary Clinton, as the most visible diplomat around the globe, will have to manage the political fallout of the rise of China, Saudi Arabia and Brazil as the major players in a solution. She will not be accused of being socialist in her approach to the economy and she may well orchestrate the Bush slogan, "free markets, free trade, free people" despite Mr Obama's inclination to regulate the economy. The Clinton legacy on Palestine is likely to make her plunge headlong into the crisis, like some of her predecessors like Mr Warren Christopher and Ms Condoleezza Rice. She believes that getting out of Iraq will help the United States to have some leverage in the Middle-East, success may elude her even after the last soldier flies out of Iraq. In Europe, she will be welcomed with an open mind even though Prime Minister Brown or President Sarkozy had no special linkages with the Clintons as their predecessors had. Mr Putin will watch her with suspicion as Russia was subdued during the Clinton era. Africa had related to the Clintons like the African-Americans did and much will be expected in Africa of the Obama- Clinton team. Latin America has many new leaders, who may know Mrs Hillary Clinton only by name. She brings both assets and liabilities to the Obama administration. Her star power will be balanced by certain disillusionment that change would be diluted by her. But being an ambitious woman, who will keep her eyes firmly on the White House, she will move with caution and gain for herself a benign image for future use. Just as she suppressed her anger as an aggrieved wife to stay on in the White House, she will thrive in Mr Obama's shadow in the next four
years. The writer is a former Ambassador
of India.
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Pie-ing with each other
I
stuck my finger into the pie. The pie was a different one. It was a humble pie. “O God!” I mused, “How will I eat this pie all by myself?” As if in answer to my prayer, my old friend Ashok stepped in from nowhere. He was a habitual braggart and I always felt amused by his stories. “I see, you are relishing a pie all by yourself” he chuckled. “Well, I was hoping somebody would come and share the pie with me. Welcome!” I said, relieved. On coming closer to the pie, Ashok stepped back in shocked disbelief. “Oh, it is a humble pie! Who has sent this to you?” “You know James? He sent it to me. I was sure of my success as usual, which I predicted ¾ but I failed this time. We had a bet on it. The one who presented the best pie would be proclaimed the winner. When my predictions were disproved, I realized I had failed. So, I went to the bakery and bought the best-baked pie available in town and sent it to him. And see his cheek, he sent to me in return a humble pie!” “But the icing over it looks good!" Observed Ashok. “It does, I agree. It is laced with humility. “Let’s take a bite of it”, he suggested, “Humble pies are good for health!” “Well, I didn’t expect that from you!” I retorted in total surprise. “Yes,” he said, “My doctor had always prescribed me humble pies every time I soared high on my achievements. I have been avoiding eating one ¾ though I know it is the right kind of tonic for my kind of disposition”. I made neat slices of the pie and took a bite. “How does that taste?” he inquired skeptically. “Like blubber”, I screwed up my nose. Ashok kept busy holding a spoon in his hand and sermoning me on humble pies. I heard him in rapt attention while I hurriedly finished off the humble pie ¾ all by myself. In my bid to finish off the arduous task quickly, I ate off the humble pie all alone without realizing it for quite sometime. “You didn’t leave even a single piece of the pie for me”. Ashok pretended to be annoyed. But I didn’t miss the twinkle in his eyes. I know it would be tough on my system to digest the humble pie. But as long as it remained in my system it would do me good. I really hoped Ashok would have helped me by partaking a few slices. But he humbled me with his heady conversation into eating the humble pie all by myself. James defeated me twice over! He made me have the pie and eat it
too!
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Triumph of democracy THE assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir are path-breaking. They have been the most peaceful in the past many years of conflict. The last elections saw over 900 killings. But more than the invisibility of violence, it’s the voters’ maturity that makes these polls special. At the outset, the phenomenal turnout in the crucial first phases has proved beyond doubt that no matter what the separatists want, an average Kashmiri is just not for a suicidal fight with democracy. That this sentiment should surface in the shadow of the Amarnath agitation shows the Kashmiris are desperate to put the recent protests behind them. Whether or not the separatists like it, an overwhelming majority of the voters in the valley have chosen participatory democracy over boycotts as a tool for problem-solving. For them, freedom may be an issue, but survival is a loftier one. That explains the contradictions in the aspirations of Kashmiri voters. Fatigued by conflict, trauma and lack of development, they are voting for governance, even though some are still keeping their pro-freedom hopes alive. For the first time in the valley’s polity, a changed political discourse ahead of elections has helped facilitate a mindset that elections are solely for administrative purposes, and not for the resolution of the Kashmir issue. Small surprise that even some pro-freedom Kashmiris are now willing to see “azadi” as a long-term goal and elections as the available mechanism to redress day-to-day grievances. Part of the voters’ ability to see things differently stems from the fact that mainstream parties — the National Conference, the People’s Democratic Party, the People’s Democratic Front (PDF) and the Awami National Conference (ANC) — have also de-linked “azadi” from development The NC’s chief ministerial candidate, Farooq Abdullah, and party chief Omar Abdullah have repeatedly said that elections are only meant for day-to-day administration. “Resolution of the Kashmir issue will happen when it will. Till then, life can’t wait. Schools have to run; hospitals have to function; roads have to be laid. I am sure people understand that they need to vote for better governance,” Farooq had told The Tribune on the eve of polling. The NC’s vision document, PDP’s self-rule document and the manifestoes of Haqeem Yasin’s PDF and Khalida Shah’s ANC also make the vital distinction between the political challenge of solving the Kashmir problem and the challenge of governing it. In doing so, the mainstream parties have said what the separatists have been saying for years. “The interesting bit about the 2008 elections is that the separatist discourse is sounding like mainstream, and vice versa. The separatists have long said that elections won’t resolve the Kashmir issue. That’s what mainstream leaders are now saying. The separatists have been unable to counter this argument,” says Bashir A. Dabla, a socio-political expert, who, like other observers, has been surprised at the massive voter turnout. His surprise is rooted in the Amarnath agitation, which was seen as a huge challenge to the election sentiment in the state. “The issue had sufficiently dented the trust an average Kashmiri had in the state government and its ability to handle the situation. The land transfer was seen by some as an attack on the Kashmiri identity — something the separatists used to reinvigorate themselves and get back to boycott politics. Even the compartmentalisation of governance and resolution issues appears linked to the Amarnath agitation. The agitation mounted a challenge which the politicians could not have faced by mainstreaming politics beyond a point. So they delinked issues. Voters’ response post-Amarnath has been both surprising and heartening,” says Gul Mohd Wani, a political expert. At a certain level, this response also indicates a serious rethinking on the part of voters on what can potentially solve their problems. Most of the voters, when contacted, said their ballot was precious and could not be wasted at any cost. Fifty-year-old Shabir Ahmad from Bandipora which polled over 50 per cent in the first phase, voiced the dominant feeling in the valley: “We sympathise with the separatists, and the fact that thousands have sacrificed their lives for freedom. But boycott is not a solution to anything. Participation is.” Close to where Shah cast his vote, some 600 residents of a nondescript village called Anderkut were out on roads protesting the non-issuance of voting slips to them — an act they thought undermined their democratic right to vote. “Mass protests in the wake of land transfer to the Amarnath Shrine Board could well be perceived as an outcry of Kashmiris desperate for the resolution of the Kashmir problem. Even though some Kashmiris saw the transfer as an attack on their identity as claimed by certain political leaders, others could see that the issue was political and was being whipped up for political gains. The people accordingly responded in elections, and voted keeping the issue aside,” says Prof Saeeda Afsana of Kashmir University . Now that the people of the valley have defied the disruptive forces and voted for democracy, they feel the government will reciprocate by speeding up delivery on every front. It’s in the hope of solutions to these problems that 1,86,489 conflict-fatigued voters of Bandipora and another 1,37,650 of Ganderbal voted on November 17 and 23, respectively. The trend, political experts feel, will continue except in Srinagar, where separatist influence will have to be watched. Till now, boycott calls have fallen on deaf ears, forcing hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani to dismiss elections as a farce. Mercifully, his statement finds no resonance in the valley.
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States seek more from Central kitty FOR
the first time states have joined hands to lobby for getting the imbalance in the Centre-state fiscal relations corrected. Led by Dr Asim K. Dasgupta, Finance Minister of West Bengal and Chairman of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers, various states have submitted a detailed document to Dr Vijay Kelkar, Chairman of the Thirteenth Finance Commission (TFC), urging him to rewrite the fiscal relations between the Centre and states in the light of points raised in that document. The thrust is on enhancing the share to the states from central revenue and to put a check on the Centre’s dictating of terms to states through Centrally sponsored schemes. At present all major sources- such as income tax, corporate tax, excise duties, customs, services tax etc- of revenue generating rest with the Union Government. Of the total revenue collected in the country, about 62 per cent goes to the Union Government and 32 per cent to all the states. In fact, the share of net Central transfer in terms of devolution from Central revenue to states came down from 32.7 per cent in 1990-91 to 29.5 per cent in 2004-05. Even the Union Government fixes the sum of market borrowing to which states are entitled. The share of states and the Centre in market borrowings was in the proportion of 50: 50 in1950 and now the share of states has come down to 20 per cent only. States want that they should be given the option to access cheapest sources for borrowing and should also be allowed the option to issue tax-free bonds. States want that the residuary powers in the Constitution, particularly the powers to levy services tax, should be transferred to them. States have told the TFC that by effecting a constitutional amendment, the Centre has unfortunately acquired for itself the entire power to levy services tax from which revenue has gone up to Rs 50,000 crore. States like Punjab, having the highest telephone density, get no share from the services tax. sRaising a significant issue states have urged that the Union Government should share the consequential fiscal burden of pay revision of employees in the state. As now the Sixth Central Pay Commission has revised the pay scales. The States will have to revise the pay structure for their employees in the light of that. For instance, Punjab has calculated the initial burden of pay revision to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore and Haryana has already made a provision of Rs 1,500 crore in its budget in this regard. Moreover, with the revision of pay scales in states, the Centre will earn revenue because each tax paying employee will have to pay 30 per cent income tax on the enhanced salary that will go to the Centre. In a way, the Centre is benefited owing to the revision of pay scales in the states. What has incensed states is the growing clout of the Centre to control the decision making power of states through the continuously multiplying centrally sponsored schemes even in subjects directly related to the states. States have been telling the Centre they should be consulted while forming schemes. There are many centrally sponsored schemes which are not relevant to states like Punjab and Haryana and do not fit in the priorities of such states. As in almost all Centrally sponsored schemes, states have to put some share of money, they often face problems in this regard. For instance, the Centre has laid down conditions to impose certain levies and taxes on states to release funds under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. Forcing states to levy taxes and levies in urban areas is obviously an interference in the power of states to take decisions regarding taxation. States want that all Central schemes related to state subjects such as agriculture, education, drinking water, urban and rural development should be transferred to them. However, instead of resolving this issue, the Union Government has come out with more centrally sponsored schemes. The states have apprehension, that the Centrally sponsored schemes will occupy a major space in states, thus marginalising the state governments in taking decisions with regard to their development. At present, most of the states give least priority to their planning boards, which even don’t have primary data to plan development schemes. Instead of confining the development processes, projects and schemes to their respective constituencies, chief ministers and ministers will have to develop models for a balanced growth of their states.
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Chatterati LALU
PRASAD is, no doubt, a class apart whether it is a leadership summit or on an election campaign. Answering a question at a summit recently in Delhi on Obama, Lalu said ever since they had exported the Mandal Commission formula to the Americans, Obama gained popularity and so became the President of America. Well, when Lalu is in Parliament and needs to excuse himself as he leaves the House all his MPs out of respect follow him and wait outside the toilet till Lalu is ready to enter the House again. And so is the case for Mulayam. Lalu on a tour of Madhya Pradesh got very excited as he came across some of the candidates of the BJP and the Congress who have nine to 11 children each and Lalu himself has nine children. He was more impressed that all children set off in the morning on bicycles to campaign for their father. So it’s a family in-house management campaign. Mini Sheila Dikshit has the same soft grand-motherly look and she tries to mimic. She talks about the progress in Delhi and has the crowds dance to her tune. Behenji has a seven-year-old pint-sized avatar herself. She looks, dresses and addresses rallies exactly like the UP CM. She has already addressed rallies in Madhya Pradesh and Delhi. Simran is gifted with a unique style and copies Mayawati’s style of speech, gestures and her overall look effortlessly. A new formula for extra money and attention. A place for celebrities Which is the best place in town to meet politicians, socialites and intellectuals in Delhi in the evening? It’s Khan Market. Intellectuals can be found in the well-stocked book stores and in cafes here and artists at art galleries in the little lane of Khan Market. The foodies have a choice of at least 20 different kinds of eateries that have cropped up in the middle lane of Khan Market. Designer clothes stores for the Page-3, Feng Shui shops for the believers and fancy shoes and jutis for the shoe lovers. Going to Khan Market in the evening for a stroll has become a habit for Delhiites. The fruitwalas in Khan Market may be a little steep on the price but you can find every fruit in the world there. It’s like the Mall Road of Shimla — always crowded with a feast of celebrities. Buta Singh strolls with his black cats. Priyanka Gandhi and Omar Abdullah eat out here with their children. Muzaffar Ali and Shashi Tharur find this market irresistible.
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