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Sino-Indian relations
Missile defence plan |
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Uranium from Mongolia
Austerity drive won’t do
Things forgotten, things unique
A skull that rewrites the history of man
Placating Russia won’t work
Chatterati
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Sino-Indian relations
Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh’s observation that the Indian media is blowing things out of proportion on the China front and that there is no evidence of increased incursions by the Chinese into India must lead to some restraint in the Indian media while reporting international affairs. Foreign policy is a complex issue and painting an alarmist picture on the basis of half-baked information can jeopardise relations with a country. While the Indian armed forces need to maintain tight vigil on the border with China and there is no room for complacency, it is also important that minor incursions which have always taken place from both sides are not exaggerated. It is, therefore, just as well that Dr Singh has spoken to counter the tendency to whip up a virtual war hysteria. National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan put it in perspective when he said recently, “What we need to be careful of is that we don’t have an unwarranted incident or an accident of some kind. That’s what we are trying to avoid. But there is always concern (that) if this thing (media hype) goes on like this someone somewhere might lose his cool and something might go wrong.” This overall tone of moderation on the part of the government fits in with a strategic dialogue that India and China are engaged in with a mature outlook on both sides. Barring occasional public expression of differing perceptions, the border tangle is largely confined to regular rounds of talks between the two sides. In today’s context when economic interests dictate political ties increasingly, India and China have moved to a stage where China has become one of India’s largest trade partners, and India is now one of the most vital investment and overseas project contracting markets for China. The Indian calculation apparently is that gradually the Chinese would shed their designs on territorial acquisition in enlightened economic self-interest. How true this premise proves only time will tell, but what is vital today is that while the political dialogue be kept going, the borders, the seas and the air route be guarded zealously.
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Missile defence plan
The
Obama administration’s decision to scrap the US missile defence plan for Eastern Europe is a step in the right direction. As expected, it has evoked a positive response from Russia, which had been opposed to former President George Bush’s missile shield idea for US allies in Europe on the pretext of blunting the threat from Iranian long-range missiles. Moscow considered the missile defence system, to have been built in Poland and the Czech Republic, as being aimed at neutralising Russia’s nuclear deterrent. That is why Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has described it as a “correct” and “brave” decision. It can go a long way in easing tensions between the US and Russia. The erstwhile Bush administration’s controversial scheme of things for its East European allies had undermined the achievements made after the end of the Cold War. President Obama’s latest decision is being seen as a tactic to bring Russia on board on the Iranian nuclear issue. The US now expects Russia to soften its opposition to the US-led drive for additional UN sanctions against Iran, which has been refusing to dismantle its controversial nuclear programme. However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has made it clear that there is no question of a trade-off on Iran, and Moscow will continue to firmly oppose any move for new UN sanctions against Iran. Whether the US succeeds in winning over Russia on the Iranian nuclear question remains to be seen. But there is another objective that the US intends to achieve immediately. The scrapping of the missile defence plan is most likely to clear the way for a new pact on nuclear arms reduction between the US and Russia. This is urgently needed to replace the Cold War-era Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, going to expire within three months. If the new pact comes about, Russia may agree to destroy at least 1,300 long-range missiles, which will not be a small gain for the Obama administration. In any case, the US today needs Russia as a partner in resolving major global issues. |
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Uranium from Mongolia
After
the signing of the Indo-US nuclear deal in September last year Mongolia is the fifth country to have entered into a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement with India. Earlier, such pacts were signed with France, Russia, Kazakhstan and Namibia. Details are being worked out for a similar arrangement with Canada, too. All this has been possible after the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group lifted the 34-year-old ban on India last year for doing nuclear trade with any country despite New Delhi not having signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Now that the situation has changed, India has no difficulty in procuring the latest nuclear power generation technology and ensuring uranium supply from different countries. Australia, which has been showing reluctance so far, may also fall in line in the near future. The pact with Mongolia, which was signed on last Monday along with four other agreements, has special significance. Mongolia is among the countries with large uranium deposits. Once the Mongolian uranium starts arriving in India, the country’s nuclear reactors will be able to run smoothly. Nuclear fuel shortage may become a thing of the past. India needs to generate as much nuclear power as possible to meet the growing energy requirement of industry and other sectors. India and Mongolia are set to expand their trade and cooperation in various fields with a sharper focus on health and cultural exchanges. The visiting Mongolian President, Mr Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorji, has been assured of a $ 25 billion soft loan by India for helping the Central Asian nation to tide over the financial crisis it has been faced with in the wake of the global economic slowdown. The two countries can easily find new areas for increasing bilateral trade and economic cooperation. Mongolia can benefit considerably from India’s advancement in different areas like IT and telecommunications.
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Discretion is not the better part of biography. — Lytton Strachey
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Austerity drive won’t do It is claimed that the government and the ruling party have instituted an austerity drive to conform to the imperatives of the much-anticipated country-wide drought conditions, and the need to economise to reduce the fiscal deficit that will be higher than the acceptable levels consequent on the stimulus packages adopted by the government in the light of the global financial crisis. Measures of effecting economy and increases in productivity and efficiency are the goals the government and political parties should constantly strive for. Therefore, steps in that direction will be welcomed by the aam admi. But the word “austerity” appears to be inappropriate to describe what the ruling party and the government presumably want to do. The dictionary meaning of the word “austerity” is “lacking comfort, luxuries and adornments”. Surely, the idea is to function without luxuries and adornments. But is it the intention to function without comfort? There is often reference to Gandhiji and his austerity. But it often escapes notice that Gandhiji’s closest comrades, all men of unostentatious and simple style of living, did not shed their normal clothes, adopt vegetarian diets, give up smoking or live in mud huts. Are we to conclude that Gandhiji was the only person identified with aam aadmi and the rest of the leaders of the Congress party of the times of freedom struggle were not.? Gandhiji carried his austerity and identification with aam aadmi to the extent of not wearing the appropriate warm clothes when he attended the Round-Table Conference in London. Others, including Jawaharlal Nehru, wore the clothes appropriate for British weather when they were on a visit. Therefore, let us leave Gandhiji and his style of identifying with aam aadmi out of the scope of this discussion. Gandhiji was a mahatma and aam aadmi wants a higher standard of living and has no aspirations to become a mahatma. It will not be correct to argue that austerity is part of our tradition and culture. If we are to go by our traditional culture, austerity is prescribed for people who have transited from Grihasthashram and become Vanasprastha. Our culture provides for a comfortable life for people during their working years. Comfort is different from luxury and ostentation. We have examples of people like Azim Premji or Narayanamuthy who, in spite of being billionaires, live simple, unostentatious, efficient, productive and comfortable lives. Comfort is necessary for efficient functioning. Airconditioning of offices in summer is not a luxury, but a comfort necessary to ensure higher productivity. When Udyog Bhavan and Krishi Bhavan were built during the time of Nehru they were designed to be centrally airconditioned. Then came the foreign exchange crisis of 1957 and the idea was abandoned and airconditioning was restricted to deputy secretaries and above. The most puzzling among the decisions on austerity is the one asking the ministers and officers travelling to foreign countries to take the economy class ticket. They are supposed to attend conferences and enter into negotiations with their counterparts in the countries they visit. Do we want them to be fresh, alert and feeling relaxed, or tired and jet-lagged? Has somebody calculated the cost to the country of a negotiator not on top of his talents as against the savings in the airfare between the business class and the economy class? The same considerations apply to travel within the country for ministers and senior bureaucrats travelling up and down to a state capital on the same day or overnight and having to be in the office next morning. It also seems to have been overlooked that some of our ministers are senior citizens for whom it is not advisable health-wise to travel long hours sitting in an economy class seat. Aam aadmi is not in charge of government decision-making. Do we want higher quality decisions from decision-makers working in comfort or should we sacrifice the quality and quantity in decision making to identify ourselves with aam aadmi? The price of such short-sightedness in terms of decision-making will be borne by the common man. He is the beneficiary of good and efficient governance and the primary sufferer if quality and productivity in that respect is affected The highest potential for ensuring economy and improving productivity in national decision-making is in ensuring that disruptions in the functioning of Parliament are avoided and not treated as an established ritual. A few days of disruption of Parliament will more than offset all the potential savings envisaged in the austerity drive. One single shout during the Presidential address to the joint session of the US Congress resulted in the reprimand of the errant member. That is the kind of legislative conduct aam aadmi in this country expects from our legislators if they really care for the common man instead of trying to advance their own parochial and partisan interests We have a long history of such economy drives (not austerity ones). An ad hoc cut of a percentage is often imposed on the budgets of all ministries. It is always accompanied with exhortation that non-plan expenditure should be cut. Invariably that results in maintenance expenditure being cut leading to the neglect of the upkeep of the assets already created. The infrastructural assets created earlier deteriorate. Our public buildings are shoddy, our roads develop potholes, our electricity system becomes inefficient, our irrigation canals get silted, our schools do not have adequate teachers and our rural hospitals lack medicines. Creating assets and not maintaining them is one of the banes of our development process. If only the storage of foodgrains had been maintained properly the saving for the country would have been very much more than what the austerity measures can be expected to yield. The monsoon did not fail us as much as it was feared. Therefore, distress relief expenditure on account of delay and a shortfall in the monsoon is likely to be considerably less than anticipated. This gives an opportunity for the government to ask each ministry to identify possible retrenchments of wasteful expenditure and propose steps to increase efficiency and productivity. The Administrative Reforms Commission has proposed reforms to this end. The need of the hour is not austerity but identification and avoidance of wasteful expenditure and leakage and diversion of government funds and, above all, to increase the efficiency of the government in delivering goods and services to the common
man.
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Things forgotten, things unique MY father was a prisoner-of-war in Singapore and my mother a patient in a T.B. sanatorium. So my poor grandmother was landed with the responsibility of looking after me. I say “poor” because I was a particularly obnoxious child and often drove the usually patient lady to the very edge. I don’t really blame her for accepting the offers of generous relatives to relieve her of this burden for a few months. The people who hosted me have all blurred in my memory but I do remember that all of them, without exception were extremely kind to me. A few things have stayed in my mind chiefly because I have never come across them again. In Sialkot, I think there was this huge cast iron griddle, like a waffle iron, which had a dozen half egg shapes scooped out of the tray. Every time we had egg curry, the eggs would be whisked, poured into these scoops and the griddle placed over the cooking fire. The cooked eggs, would be made into curry. They were delicious — the white and the yolk firmed into one. I have never, never again come across this. I have asked many people over the years but no one seems to know what I am talking about. Was that griddle custom built for that particular relative or was it an invention which failed with consumers? I don’t think I will ever know. Another relative, probably in Bannu, garnished our “kheer” with the thread like fibre from the inside of banana peels. “It will make you grow big and strong,” she would say. I have never again come across anyone who carefully shreds the inside of banana peels. All my questions to doctors and dieticians, in this regard, have been met by the same uncomprehending look. Where did the lady garner her belief in the nutritional value of this fibre? The third unique experience was in Lyallpur. The family lived in a typical colonial bungalow with its wrap-around verandah and acres of largely untended garden. But there were a large number of trees and most of them had monster plants trained along their trunks. The year I was there these plants bore fruit. It was a long, green, scaly fruit, which was plucked and then buried beneath clothes in the chest of drawers in my room. At night the whole room would be permeated by the strong but beautiful aroma of the fruit. Finally the fruit, now yellow, was taken out, peeled, sliced and fed to the rather large family. It was delicious, a splendid combination of the best of a pineapple and the best of a banana. The bonus was that my clothes carried the wonderful fragrance for weeks. I have never again seen, leave alone eaten, the fruit of the monster of a plant and everyone I’ve spoken to about it, has looked at me incredulously as if I was making up another one of my endless stories. Under the circumstances I can’t really blame
them.
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A skull that rewrites the history of man
The
conventional view of human evolution and how early man colonised the world has been thrown into doubt by a series of stunning palaeontological discoveries suggesting that Africa was not the sole cradle of humankind. Scientists have found a handful of ancient human skulls at an archaeological site two hours from the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, that suggest a Eurasian chapter in the long evolutionary story of man.
The skulls, jawbones and fragments of limb bones suggest that our ancient human ancestors migrated out of Africa far earlier than previously thought and spent a long evolutionary interlude in Eurasia – before moving back into Africa to complete the story of man. Experts believe fossilised bones unearthed at the medieval village of Dmanisi in the foothills of the Caucuses, and dated to about 1.8 million years ago, are the oldest indisputable remains of humans discovered outside of Africa. But what has really excited the researchers is the discovery that these early humans (or “hominins”) are far more primitive-looking than the Homo erectus humans that were, until now, believed to be the first people to migrate out of Africa about 1 million years ago. The Dmanisi people had brains that were about 40 per cent smaller than those of Homo erectus and they were much shorter in stature than classical H. erectus skeletons, according to Professor David Lordkipanidze, general director of the Georgia National Museum. “Before our findings, the prevailing view was that humans came out of Africa almost 1 million years ago, that they already had sophisticated stone tools, and that their body anatomy was quite advanced in terms of brain capacity and limb proportions. But what we are finding is quite different,” Professor Lordkipanidze said. “The Dmanisi hominins are the earliest representatives of our own genus – Homo – outside Africa, and they represent the most primitive population of the species Homo erectus to date. They might be ancestral to all later Homo erectus populations, which would suggest a Eurasian origin of Homo erectus.” Speaking at the British Science Festival in Guildford, where he gave the British Council lecture, Professor Lordkipanidze raised the prospect that Homo erectus may have evolved in Eurasia from the more primitive-looking Dmanisi population and then migrated back to Africa to eventually give rise to our own species, Homo sapiens – modern man. “The question is whether Homo erectus originated in Africa or Eurasia, and if in Eurasia, did we have vice-versa migration? This idea looked very stupid a few years ago, but today it seems not so stupid,” he told the festival. The scientists have discovered a total of five skulls and a solitary jawbone. It is clear that they had relatively small brains, almost a third of the size of modern humans. “They are quite small. Their lower limbs are very human and their upper limbs are still quite archaic and they had very primitive stone tools,” Professor Lordkipanidze said. “Their brain capacity is about 600 cubic centimetres. The prevailing view before this discovery was that the humans who first left Africa had a brain size of about 1,000 cubic centimetres.” The only human fossil to predate the Dmanisi specimens are of an archaic species Homo habilis, or “handy man”, found only in Africa, which used simple stone tools and lived between about 2.5 million and 1.6 million years ago. “I’d have to say, if we’d found the Dmanisi fossils 40 years ago, they would have been classified as Homo habilis because of the small brain size. Their brow ridges are not as thick as classical Homo erectus, but their teeth are more H. erectus like,” Professor Lordkipanidze said. “All these finds show that the ancestors of these people were much more primitive than we thought. I don’t think that we were so lucky as to have found the first travellers out of Africa. Georgia is the cradle of the first Europeans, I would say,” he told the meeting. “What we learnt from the Dmanisi fossils is that they are quite small – between 1.44 metres to 1.5 metres tall. What is interesting is that their lower limbs, their tibia bones, are very human-like so it seems they were very good runners,” he said. One of the five skulls is of a person who lost all his or her teeth during their lifetime but had still survived for many years despite being completely toothless. This suggests some kind of social organisation based on mutual care, Professor Lordkipanidze said. —
By arrangement with The Independent
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Placating Russia won’t work Russian
leaders never liked the idea that the United States, Poland and the Czech Republic were cooperating on missile defense to confront an emerging Iranian threat. The notion that two former Warsaw Pact states that Moscow used to control would be hosting 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a corresponding radar facility in the Czech Republic was unacceptable. Kremlin leaders alleged that the system was meant to target Russia, not counter Iran, and they had threatened to scuttle unrelated arms control negotiations with the United States unless Washington backed down. With the Obama administration’s announcement Thursday that it is indeed abandoning the Polish and Czech sites, Moscow’s complaining appears to have worked. Yet the administration’s capitulation to Russian pressure is a serious betrayal of loyal allies in Warsaw and Prague whose governments pursued politically unpopular positions at the request of the Bush administration to help confront a rising threat from Iran. (Announcing this policy change on Thursday, the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland, added unnecessary insult to injury.) During the 2008 campaign, Barack Obama showed little enthusiasm for the missile defense plans of President Bush. After his election, however, Obama appeared to take a firmer position, one closer to his predecessor’s thinking. “Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile activity poses a real threat, not just to the United States, but to Iran’s neighbors and our allies,” he said in Prague on April 5. “The Czech Republic and Poland have been courageous in agreeing to host a defense against these missiles. As long as the threat from Iran persists, we will go forward with a missile defense system that is cost-effective and proven. If the Iranian threat is eliminated, we will have a stronger basis for security, and the driving force for missile defense construction in Europe will be removed.” Whatever the official explanation now for not moving forward, many — including the Kremlin — will read this shift as an effort to placate Moscow. Announcing the decision ahead of Obama’s meetings with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev reinforces such thinking. The Obama administration has prioritized a follow-up to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), and dropping the Polish and Czech sites removes a major obstacle to finalizing agreement. Yes, Washington has an interest in an arms control deal with Moscow, but Russia’s need for such a deal is much greater: It cannot afford to maintain its aging nuclear weapons, nor could it compete with the United States in any new arms race. Russia’s nuclear arsenal is already within or moving toward the ranges proposed in the latest negotiations regarding both warheads (1,500 to 1,675 per country) and delivery vehicles (500 to 1,100). That should have provided Washington with significant negotiating leverage, but the Obama administration’s eagerness for an agreement before START expires Dec. 5 has essentially forfeited that leverage. Russia’s repeated efforts to link the missile defense sites to an arms control agreement should have made it harder politically for Obama to back down. Ten interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar facility in the Czech Republic were never a threat to Russia. Winning Russian help in dealing with Iran as a quid pro quo is also very unlikely. Yet Obama’s efforts to placate the Russians come at the expense of U.S. relations with Eastern and Central European governments that are already uneasy about the U.S. commitment to their region. Worse, rewarding bad Russian behavior is likely only to produce more Russian demands on this and other issues. The administration defends its decision by claiming that Iran is not developing a long-range capability as quickly as was previously thought. The Bush administration, however, had proceeded on the reasoning that Iran would have the capability in four or five years, roughly when the missiles and radar would be fully operational. Announcing this change ahead of an Oct. 1 meeting with Iranian officials also seems particularly unwise. The Kremlin started a dangerous game of chicken by linking conclusion of a post-START agreement to missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic. Moscow appears to have prevailed in that contest of wills. The administration should insist on delinking these two separate issues and move forward with the missile defense plans it inherited. —
By arrangement with LA Times-Washington Post
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Chatterati AICC managers have done with what they are good at. They have bought time on the seemingly hot issue of YSR successor. So, as the mourning period for YSR came to an end, the Jagan Mohan camp continued to lobby in Delhi. But the seasoned AICC Congress firefighters have, as usual, beaten them with a proposal the ‘AP son brigade’ cannot ignore. The high command has postponed the leadership issue till the assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal are over. This one-month waiting period will be an extended exercise in strategic thinking. Disgruntled Andhra leaders camping in Delhi say they are being given homoeopathy treatment. They are given ‘meethi golis’ and are being asked to be patient. In the meantime YSR’s son Jagan has been told he could plan a formal entry into state politics — as a stepping stone for bigger things in future — by contesting the by-election from the assembly seat that has fallen vacant due to his father’s death. In the meantime, senior Andhra leaders in Delhi are waiting for the phone call from 10 Janpath. Congress ticket for leaders’ kin only? As the Haryana and Maharashtra elections have been announced, ‘family comes first’ seems to be the slogan. In both these states nearly all senior political leaders of the Congress want their brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, nephews and nieces to get the Congress ticket. In Haryana infighting within the party is at its peak now. This seems to be the best way to adjust your relatives in the most lucrative business in the country today. Mrs Gandhi recently stated that this family quota system should be done away with. Even though fortunately for the Congress in Haryana, Hooda does not have any danger from the Opposition. His rivals are within his own party. In Maharashtra also the Congress leaders want all their kith-and-kin adjusted in this coming election. If this is how the ticket distribution is going to be done, then obviously it is an in-house game. During the Madhya Pradesh elections, Mrs Gandhi decided not to give the ticket to relatives of Congress leaders. Will this formula take place in these two states too? So there is still hope for the ordinary Congress worker, who has no relative to fight his case. He still may get a chance to become an MLA. Low-key birthday celebrations Three boys celebrated their birthday last week. Home Minister P. Chidambaram started his day as usual at 9 in the morning. As he reached the venue of a high-level official meeting, he was greeted with flowers and good wishes. He spent the whole day at office and then went home to a quiet dinner and bed. P.C is a workaholic and no-show guy. In his constituency down south his followers distributed dhotis to the poor and prayed for him. Next came Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujarat. After his victory in the byelections he camped in Delhi for some time. The birthday boy spent his day on his own. Only his friend, Arun Jaitely, went to meet and wish him. Some BJP leaders say they called and wished him. There were just some posters put up by his followers wishing him on his birthday. The third birthday boy was the exiled flamboyant artist, M.F.Husain. He turned 94. He a penchant for high-end cars like Ferrari but roams barefoot. He is in exile due to threats from Hindu fundamentalists and so shuttles between London and New York. He was in New York for this birthday. You can be lonely at the top, it seems.
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