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Fragile peace in Assam
Dialogue in Washington
Unwanted daughters |
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The ‘millions’ behind BJP
A visit to the zoo
The Chinese offensive
Human rights concerns over Rwanda
Delhi Durbar
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Fragile peace in Assam
Sunday’s
serial blasts in Assam are a grim reminder of the fragile peace in the
troubled state. The prompt denial of any responsibility by the United
Liberated Front of Assam (ULFA) carries little conviction because the
Front had denied its role in the Dhemaji blasts too but confessed to
it later. The blasts now in Nalbari also assume significance in view of the peace talks initiated between New Delhi and ULFA. While the Government of India has appointed a retired director of the Intelligence Bureau , Mr P.C. Haldar, as the interlocutor, a delegation of the People’s Committee for Peace Initiative in Assam (PCPIA) is in the national capital to prepare the ground for talks. The blasts could be a signal from ULFA that it retains its ability to strike; or alternatively these could be the handiwork of hardliners, who are opposed to a dialogue, to derail the initiative. Given this background, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi’s statement that ULFA is trying to shift its base to China is certainly a matter of concern. For over two decades, ULFA militants have operated from the safe haven of Bangladesh. But ULFA general secretary Anup Chetia, arrested in Dhaka in 1997 and released by the authorities in 2005, was never handed over to India in the absence of an extradition treaty between the two countries. The whereabouts of ULFA chairman Arabindo Rajkhowa, the so-called “commander-in-chief” Paresh Barua and his deputy Raju Barua are also unknown although the present Bangladesh government is believed to have pushed two other ULFA leaders, “finance secretary” Chitrabon Hazarika and “foreign secretary” Sasadhar Choudhury, into the arms of the Indian Border Security Force earlier this month. India has had trouble dealing with ULFA bases in both Bangladesh and Myanmar. Any attempt by the ULFA brass to shift to China, therefore, must be foiled. With Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina scheduled to visit New Delhi next month, the two countries will hopefully be able to forge a mechanism for seeking deportation of individuals and a legal framework for the transfer of convicts and terrorists. At the same time, while ULFA’s terror tactics should not come in the way of peace talks, a crackdown on ULFA, efforts to isolate the hardliners and cut off their sources of funding must continue.
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Dialogue in Washington WITH the Copenhagen summit on climate change round the corner, it is natural that the upcoming high-level Indo-US talks in Washington will strive to find some common ground on contentious issues relating to it. The projected Indian stand linking the issue of climate change commitments to the case for greater US cooperation on the supply of nuclear power assumes significance in the wake of tardy American action on the Indo-US civil nuclear deal after the departure of Mr George Bush as President. Indeed, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to tell President Obama in talks slated for Tuesday that if the US expects India to fulfil the expectations on speedy steps to reduce carbon emissions, its energy security needs would have to be addressed, to enable it to make the shift from carbon-based sources. This is legitimate considering that it was US recklessness in carbon emissions over the years that has brought the world to the brink of disaster. It is only by augmenting energy security and making a strategic shift from carbon-based energy sources to newer ones, including nuclear energy, that India can optimise the benefit of a departure from carbon-based industrialisation. Consistent with India’s stand that developing countries can only take voluntary actions and not binding ones in meeting carbon emission reduction targets, India has shown willingness to take steps out of a sense of deep responsibility. India’s earnestness is borne out by the fact that it is contemplating legislation to meet specific emission cut performance targets in sectors such as power, transport, industry, agriculture, building and forestry. Indeed, we need to take actions on climate change because it affects our people’s lives. It is but fair that even as developing countries are moving to meet the targets, the US and other developed countries must do their bit by offering finance and technology to meet these goals. Copenhagen is just two weeks away. It is imperative, therefore, that efforts be stepped up for a meaningful global agreement at the summit. An Indo-US meeting of minds would go a long way in moving towards that goal.
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Unwanted daughters
HARYANA, which has one of the worst sex ratios in the country, has more cause for concern. The sex ratio has declined in 12 districts, the Chief Minister’s home district being one of them. More disheartening is the fact that even in some districts like Mahendergarh, which had shown positive trends, the sex ratio has dwindled. Clearly, the message — don’t kill unborn daughters — has fallen on deaf ears and government policies seem to have made little headway in changing the medieval mindset that prefers sons to daughters. In both Punjab and Haryana, son-crazed people not only continue to nurse deep-rooted prejudices against the female child but also find diabolical ways to snuff out their lives even before they are born. There have been reports of NRI couples, who get sex-specific tests done abroad, aborting the female foetus in Punjab. In Haryana, the proximity to the national Capital has made medical termination of unwanted female foetuses much easier. Significantly, areas closest to Delhi have an abysmal sex ratio. The Haryana government’s claim that it has been making serious efforts to reverse the sex ratio has proved to be hollow. The role of the district administrations and the ANMs (Auxiliary Nurse and Midwife) has been unsatisfactory. Efforts by individuals like 12-year-old girl Ishita Uppal and Shyam Sunder of Bhiwani and campaigns by NGOs like the Centre for Social Research are welcome, but not enough. The Delhi government must come down heavily upon the clinics where unborn daughters are killed without batting an eyelid. However, the state government cannot pass the buck and should tighten the noose around mobile clinics as well as break the tout-doctor nexus that facilitates the abominable practice of female foeticide. A multi-pronged approach with the active involvement of NGOs can help dent attitudes that devalue daughters. A state that boasts of high per capita income cannot afford to have a dubious record on gender issues. Already, signs of social upheaval are being witnessed in the gender imbalanced state where daughters are not allowed to be born and brides are in short supply.
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The infliction of cruelty with a good conscience is a delight to moralists. That is why they invented Hell. — Bertrand Russell
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Corrections and clarifications
Despite our earnest endeavour to keep The
Tribune error-free, some errors do creep in at times. We are always eager to correct them. This column appears twice a week — every Tuesday and Friday. We request our readers
to write or e-mail to us whenever they find any error. Readers in such cases can write to
Mr Kamlendra Kanwar, Senior Associate Editor, The Tribune, Chandigarh, with the word “Corrections” on the envelope. His e-mail ID is kanwar@tribunemail.com. H.K. Dua
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The ‘millions’ behind BJP Millions
stand behind me”, says the caption. The famous poster of the early thirties by German photomontage artist John Heartfield connects the Fuhrer to corporate capital. It shows Hitler delivering his Nazi salute, with the hand bent over the shoulder, and receiving a backhand donation from a giant figure behind representing Big Business, dominated then by the Krupps. Mt. Bokanakere Siddalingappa Yeddyurappa and the Bellary brothers, of course, are far less known than Adolf Hitler and the Krupps respectively. But the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and the big-money backers of his regime are tied by the same bond of millions that is no synonym of the soapbox orator’s “masses”. Mr Yeddyurappa has just survived a challenge from the Reddy brothers (as they are also known) and saved his rudely shaken throne as the Chief Minister of India’s southern State of Karnataka. But he has not done so before providing yet another abject proof of whom the far right really represents despite its apparent priority for an agenda of fanaticism and ultra-nationalism. It is, of course, not only the far right anywhere, or the BJP’s camp alone in this country that has these firm bonds with corporate patrons and puppeteers. So do several others. India’s Parliament has witnessed a debate between two parties — the ruling Congress and the opposition Samajwadi Party — taking sides in another corporate sibling rivalry, between the Ambani brothers. Even bit players in electoral politics, like regional parties, have their big-buck benefactors. But there is an important difference. What sets apart the business partnership of the far right is the nature of the return benefit sought and secured. The fund-givers, in this case, are not asking only for direct favours of the kind political parties and forces can dispense, especially if in power. They are even more interested in far-right campaigners creating a political ambiance, in which their ill-gotten fortunes won’t be a major public issue. A “temple” issue of the BJP’s type, for example, can help tycoons by keeping some inconvenient taxation issues away from the headlines. The financial patrons of the far right, of course, expect it to pay attention to their problems of excess. But they expect it even more to divert popular attention away from the diverse socio-economic problems of their creation. They make no secret of the returns they seek from their political investment. The far right can exercise political power, but without interfering with its freedom of profiteering. The Bellary brothers have made this clear beyond doubt to the BJP. The brothers — Revenue Minister G. Karunakara Reddy, Tourism Minister G. Janardhana Reddy and legislator G. Somashekhara Reddy — control what has been described as a mining mafia worth Rs. 300 billion. Allegedly including an illegal segment, the Reddy operations in the otherwise backward district of Bellary set new profit records since 2003 when the Chinese started importing iron ore from here on a huge scale in preparation for the Beijing Olympics of 2008. Thus it was that the brothers acquired the financial clout that eventually gave them the state BJP on a platter. The same year as the Bejing Games came a big political break for the party. In the last week of May 2008 came the results of the Assembly elections in Karnataka, giving the far right its first ever regime in South India. A hiccup preceded the victory, though, and the Reddys helped the party make history. The trends reported on the television showed that the BJP would have to draw on the support of Independent legislators to form the new government. The Bellary brothers set out for Bangalore, the state’s capital, and were to buy up the required legislative support. This was in addition to their money power winning the mandate for the BJP in 37 of the 117 seats out of a total of 224 in the Assembly. If the BJP and the Chief Minister thought they had compensated the mining kings with a couple of Cabinet posts, they were to learn a costly lesson. The Bellary brothers were soon to conclude that they had struck a bad bargain. They did not like to be given less importance in the Cabinet than Rural Development Minister Shobha Karandlajy, an Yeddyurappa favourite. And they deemed the government’s proposal for an additional tax of Rs 1,000 per truckload of iron ore as nothing short of a declaration of war on them. They joined the war when the Chief Minister ordered the transfer from Bellary of officers suspected to be loyal to the brothers. The Reddys raised the standard of revolt in the last week of October, demanding the removal and replacement of the Chief Minister who had incurred their displeasure. Both factions descended soon on New Delhi, forcing an already beleaguered BJP leadership to put on a brave face and pretend to find a political solution. The farce went on for days even as parts of Karnataka went under floods. Relief operations awaited a resolution of the political crisis, as none of the BJP top brass denied the priority of the need to save the sinking Yeddyurappa regime. It all ended in an unabashed capitulation to the Reddys, after a bout of crying on a TV channel by the Chief Minister. He hated, he said in a hoarse voice, to compromise for the sake of his “chair” but had to do so “for the sake of the state”. He stays on in power, but only after agreeing to abandon the minister the Reddys disapprove of, the idea of transfers unhelpful to them, and, of course, the tax proposal. The brothers, meanwhile, have told their supporters that this is only the “intermission” in the blockbuster they have been watching. The spectators, however, have not been confined to Karnataka. The whole country has been a horrified witness to this latest scene in the long and sordid drama of the BJP’s internal dissensions ever since its debacle in the Lok Sabha elections. The struggle between the Chief Minister and its challengers has shed lurid light on a less recognised dimension of the party’s ever-deepening crisis. It is a dimension from which an abstractly political analysis of the crisis can no longer divert public attention. The Karnataka episode has come as an expose of the claim that the BJP is going back to a golden age of ideology under the guidance of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the patriarch of the “parivar” or the far-right “family”. The mantra of “cultural nationalism” is proving no match for the “millions” behind the BJP and its
band.
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A visit to the zoo SHOPPING!” voted the females. The mothers, daughters and assorted aunts and grandaunts were unanimous. “Who’ll manage the children?” protested Uncle R. The debate was becoming heated. The males in the large extended family were determined to watch on television a cricket match scheduled that very day. The fairer members were equally adamant to carry forward their well-planned shopping spree. Both the warring parties appealed to the Eldest Member to exercise his casting vote. Solomon like in wisdom, the patriarch adroitly defused the crisis. “I delegate my total authority to our Youngest Member”, he declared. “What will you have, Zehn?” he queried the two year old, “Toys in the market, or popcorn and cartoons at home?” Now Zehn’s vocabulary was as yet limited to just a few sounds and syllables, but in her response that day she was firm, immediate and decisive. “Bow-wow!” exclaimed Zehn, pointing at our bedraggled family dog. The Eldest Member was quick to translate for us the lisp of his great-grand daughter, fully 90 years junior in age. “It’s the zoo that she wants to visit. Now stand and deliver.” The Eldest Member’s pincer movement left both parties dissatisfied. I likened their discomfiture to the picture of troubled matrimony drawn by Professor Higgins in his memorable lines in Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, “So rather than do either we do something else that neither likes at all”. The women were disconsolate. The men folk sulked too. The only enthusiasts for the spectacle of fauna were the Eldest Member, and the Youngest Member. The Elder was fascinated by the large cats. One of the highlights for him was when our bar-protected van traversed the safari route for lions. And when he came within touching distance of the majestic royal Bengal tiger his day was made. The Younger was unmoved by the ferocity of the big cats. Even the terrifying open jaws of the crocodiles left her cold. What took her fancy was the brilliant plumage of the exotic parakeets. And she pranced with excitement at the antics of the monkeys. Similar “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” must have inspired the English poet William Wordsworth. At our mundane level, little Zehn’s ebullience, along with the zest of the Eldest Member seemed suddenly to break the ice for our glum company of zoo visitors. Members of two generations, the young, and the not so young, had been scoffing the sojourn as an enforced afternoon ordeal. In a matter of moments, a peculiar realisation dawned. Here, they discovered, was some unique live entertainment, as Generation One and Generation Four savoured the moment. The spectacle of uninhibited enjoyment was infectious. Forgotten all at once was the missed market opportunity, and Team India’s performance on the cricket field. And so they all joined the merry
show.
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The Chinese offensive CHINA is holding the world economy to ransom by maintaining its policy of a weak yuan in relation to dollar and resisting all pressures to appreciate its currency. By its weak yuan, China is gaining access to almost every country market for its manufactured goods and is able to maintain a favourable trade balance with them. Its economic policy can be better understood in political terms than through the myriad of economic statistical data. Its foreign trade is also enabling China to maintain a low unemployment rate. Over several weeks now, the US dollar has depreciated against the two major currencies, euro and yen. Even Indian rupee has seen gains over past few weeks. In normal circumstances, it would have been a welcome development as it should have forced a realisation to the United States to come to grips with its ever-increasing but unsustainable trade deficit. However, China is insistent on maintaining links of its currency with the dollar at an undervalued parity. It poses a threat to the world economy. Such a relationship would not allow the world economy to overcome its recent recessionary trends though it does help immensely China to maintain a high level of its export to disadvantage of countries looking forward to the revival of US markets. The Mexican crisis of peso valuation in 1994 had signaled for a revaluation of the dollar. However, America did put it off for 15 years. In fact, many economists and most politicians in the US relished thought of a strong dollar due to their arrogant belief in themselves.. The short gain that it received after the crisis of the Asian Tigers in 1997 made the thought even more popular with Americans even though it was a perfect prescription for inflicting long-term damage to its economy. It also brought the current global crisis as a consequence to the worst melt down of the American economy since the depression of 1930. The foundations of its banking systems and financial institutions were rudely shaken. The overvalued dollar was responsible for damages caused by over-spending on imports, jobs out-sourcing and investments in countries with undervalued currencies. No wonder, the American capital flowed more to China during the last two decades than to any other country as the Chinese economy appeared to be on the rise. The flexible and mobile production networks in the global markets exchange rates affect more than foreign trades. Naturally, it affects the production and the direction of flow of capital. Indeed, America and China were helping each other by maintaining the strong dollar policy by the US and the weak yuan stance by China. It resulted in unprecedented rise in the Chinese surplus and reserves with the US from US$ 83 billion in 2001 to US$ 258 billion in next six years. The China surplus was today 75 per cent of the trade deficit of the US without oil imports taken into account. The unintended benefit that flowed from it made China the largest recipient of foreign capital investment in these years and mostly from America. It also became a favoured destination for the outsourcing of production by American giants. As Canadian author John Ralston Saul pointed out in his book On the Equilibrium, the US found an advantage in the Chinese reserves remaining parked with America as it was able to use it as its capital. It was unsolicited savings in the American possession with China showing no intention of making an immediate demand for it. As the trade imbalance was unsustainable, it did cause a fall in the value of dollar in relation to the European currencies and also in relation to other countries that held better prospects of economic growth like India. As China refused to allow its yuan to appreciate or rather pegged it down artificially, it created a pattern for global imbalances, claims the noted scholar Thomas Palley. By refusing to change value of its currency, China did not allow the US to effect any reduction in its trade deficit with China. Meanwhile, China was also taking advantage of forcing itself into other markets as well and also displacing others from the US markets. The economic policy was actually serving the political cause of China and was also maintaining the high rate of employment at home due to its increasing manufacturing. At the same time, China is fostering a situation that would not allow other countries to overcome their own recessions. For obscure political reasons, especially by refusal of the Americans to get rid of their cold war mentality and their arrogance as reflected in the belief of strong dollar, the Americans refused to confront China with hard reality of the world trends and force China to bring the value of its currency to the levels of reality. In the weakened economic conditions in the US, the American administration was on even weaker grounds to force China to come to terms feels Thomas Palley, a fellow with the American Centre for Investments who had maintained a watch of the relations between China and American for more than two decades. China has also taken a posture of advising the US to spend less and save more. On its side, the US insists that China save less and spend more. Thus the grey area is limited and there were no hard rules or even desire to intrude in to each other’s territory. Their putting off the issue to the other day is also helped by the silence maintained by other countries who believe that they would stand to benefit if the US and China keep the issue lingering and without solution. It would weaken the dollar which is to their advantage. It would escalate the trade deficit between the US and China that again would benefit them. None was willing to consider that their complacency of the 15 years had brought the world crisis and it would be difficult even for them to limp out if they silently watch the lingering between the US and China on this vital issue. Both have to play fair for the rest of the world. The continued economic crisis would affect them in a long
term.
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Human rights concerns over Rwanda RWANDA is set to succeed in its bid to join the Commonwealth this week despite serious concerns over its human rights record. A summit of Commonwealth heads of government in Trinidad and Tobago will add the central African nation to its 53 current members, despite its failure to meet entry requirements. “There is consensus on Rwanda”, a senior African negotiator told The Independent. The decision has been greeted with dismay by NGOs, while the author of a major report on Rwanda’s candidacy said it was clear evidence that the Commonwealth “could not care less about human rights”. Professor Yash Pal Ghai, a Kenyan-born expert in constitutional law and author of an independent report for the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) said: “From the very beginning, the governments of the Commonwealth had decided they wanted Rwanda in. The secretary general, Britain and Uganda have all been pushing for that outcome.” Supporters of the bid have argued that entry into the club would encourage Kigali to raise its standards, but critics counter that it will “lower the group’s average” and make it harder to take actions against states n such as Fiji, currently suspended for refusing to call elections n that trangress in future. “The Commonwealth stands for very little if it doesn’t stand for human rights and democracy,” said Tom Porteous, head of Human Rights Watch in London. “Admitting Rwanda will make it harder for the Commonwealth to project itself as a credible promoter of these values.” Rwanda, a former German colony, which later came under a Belgian mandate from the League of Nations, applied in 2007 to join the voluntary association of mainly English-speaking former British colonies. That move followed the breakdown in relations between Kigali and France as both countries traded accusations over events in the build-up to the 1994 genocide. Applicant countries are meant to have some historical or constitutional link with the Commonwealth, although the grouping made an exception for the former Portuguese colony Mozambique in 1995. In its bid, which has been strongly backed by Britain, Australia and Uganda, Rwanda has argued that it should be judged on how far it has come since 1994 rather than against a global standard. “There is room to improve, but no country is 100 per cent perfect,” Foreign Minister Rosemary Museminali said. “Rwanda should be looked at in the context of where it’s come from.” President Paul Kagame, whose Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front took power in the country after routing the Hutu militias responsible for the massacres, has succeeded in modernising the country’s image. The administration has a reputation for efficiency and has attracted strong international support including substantial foreign aid from the UK and US in particular. However, the CHRI’s report paints a portrait of a very different Rwanda. ”The Rwandan government has excellent public-relations machinery. Its leaders are astute, and effectively play upon the conscience of the world,” it states. The report details a country in which democracy, freedom of speech, the press and human rights are undermined or violently abused, in which courts fail to meet international standards, and a country which has invaded its neighbour, the Democratic Republic of Congo, four times since 1994. Professor Ghai draws attention to the laws against “genocide ideology”, prohibiting the raising of doubts about the extent of the killing of Tutsis in 1994 or any discussion of retaliatory killings of Hutus. Censorship is prevalent, according to the report, and the government has a record of shutting down independent media and harassing journalists. It concludes that Rwanda’s constitution is used as a “facade” to hide “the repressive nature of the regime” and backs claims that Rwanda is essentially an “an army with a state”. Kigali reacted furiously to the accusations, saying the claims had “absolutely no basis”. Rwanda has trumpeted its Commonwealth credentials with the switch from French to English instruction in schools last year, and won acclaim for low levels of corruption and high health and education spending. Rwanda’s former ambassador to the UN, Gideon Kayinamura, has boasted that other countries could learn from its democracy “where as many as 56 per cent of its MPs are women”. Its membership bid is strongly backed by Tony Blair who works as an unpaid adviser on governance. Suspicions persist that, beyond talk of deepening trade and improving cultural ties, Commonwealth diplomats are tempted by the prospect of cementing such a public defection from the Francophone world. “This British-French rivalry is a batty reason,” declared Professor Ghai, who said diplomats responded with “glee and pleasure” at Rwandan
membership.
— By arrangement with The Independent
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Delhi Durbar Samajwadi
Party spokesman and general secretary Amar Singh’s meeting with BJP leader L.K. Advani has raised eyebrows in political circles. As is his wont, Amar made it more enigmatic by underlining the proximity between the SP and BJP. That may or may not be the case. But Amar Singh is visibly unhappy with Mulayam Singh Yadav because he feels he is not defending him with the old fervour when others in the SP attack him and blame him for its downward slide. The SP held a function in Lucknow to felicitate their latest Hindi mascot Abu Asim Azmi. Azmi was flanked by Amar and Mulayam. While Mulayam was bending across Azmi to speak to Amar, the SP spokesman pointedly kept looking the other side. Yet, Mulayam was literally bending backwards to please Amar. One wonders what Mulayam secrets are locked in Amar’s cupboard!
Like fathers, like sons The turbulence that marked the start of winter session of Parliament last week did not come from the old warhorses alone. At the forefront of the uproar fuelled by the government's jinxed sugarcane pricing ordinance were fathers and sons alike, mainly from Uttar Pradesh where the political temperatures have been soaring like never before. On the one hand, you had the Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh decrying the ordinance with equal vocal support from his first-time MP son Jayant Chaudhary. And on the other, you had the Samajwadi bandwagon led by party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son Akhilesh. As decibel levels rose, one wondered how Jayant, a passout from the London School of Economics, adapted so fast to the exigencies of politics. As for Akhilesh, his aggressive support for the anti-farmer ordinance appeared normal, not only for political reasons but also for the fact that the Yadav scion loves to call himself an agriculturist. In fact, his Lok Sabha profile describes him in two words — agriculturist and engineer.
Surprise guests US Ambassador to India Timothy Roemer’s press conference last week on the eve of the Prime Minister’s visit to Washington saw an interesting American guest seated amongst journalists. The room at the Roosevelt House in the US Embassy where the high-profile event was organised was packed with scribes as well as lensmen vying for space to cover the high-profile event. Suddenly a tall man, who must have been in his eighties, walked into the room and occupied one of the chairs. Just when everyone was looking at him curiously, the US envoy entered the room and announced that his father was also seated among the journos. He also drew everyone’s attention towards two American women seated in the room, who were mistaken for the embassy staff by the scribes. They were the ambassador’s mother and his wife. Roemer’s parents were in India on a holiday. This obviously was an opportunity for them to see how their son performs before the foreign
media.
Contributed by Faraz Ahmad, Aditi Tandon and Ashok Tuteja
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