O P I N I O N S

Perspective

A lesson to learn
The Dubai Model’s bankruptcy is an eye-opener for India, says Mohan Guruswamy
There is a delicious irony to the Dubai bust. From November 20-22 this year it played host to the World Economic Forum’s “Summit on the Global Agenda” and where the so-called Dubai Model was lauded and touted as a recipe for emulation by others. 

Immigration law: Need for a cogent policy
by Ranjit Malhotra
Immigration remains a hot potato throughout the world. Attitudes have changed dramatically following economic recession. What is the future for global immigration and the state of nations during the economic crises? These issues were examined at length at the Fourth Biennial Global Immigration Summit held in London recently, which this writer attended.

OPED

Violence against women
Enforce the Act strictly to protect victims
by K.P. Singh
Domestic violence is the most hidden and tragic form of atrocity on women as its takes place within the sanctity of the home at the hands of their husbands. As a result of the deep-rooted patriarchal values in India, it is viewed as a private family matter that should be settled within the boundaries of home. Consequently, violence against women continues to assume epidemic proportions.

Future of Hindi theatre bright: Kulshreshtha On Record
by Shahira Naim
Noted theatre director, actor and director of the state-run Bhartendu Natya Akademi, Surya Mohan Kulshreshtha, is optimistic about the future of Hindi theatre. Heading the only theatre school of its kind in India besides the National School of Drama, the state Sangeet Natak Akademi award winner has served theatre in various capacities. He also staged over 100 plays in many European countries.

Profile
Gadkari to infuse new life in BJP
by Harihar Swarup
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has redeemed its pledge to give the BJP a new President, who does not belong to New Delhi’s power circles and is, in that sense, an outsider. Nitin Gadkari, a young leader – only 52 – with a clean track record, has come up in life the hard way. His elevation is also being interpreted as RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s New Year gift to the BJP.

Perspective

A lesson to learn
The Dubai Model’s bankruptcy is an eye-opener for India, says Mohan Guruswamy

There is a delicious irony to the Dubai bust. From November 20-22 this year it played host to the World Economic Forum’s “Summit on the Global Agenda” and where the so-called Dubai Model was lauded and touted as a recipe for emulation by others. The WEF meeting was supposed to do for it what the summer Olympics last year did for China! While the Olympics were real as were China’s many achievements, both the Dubai Model and the WEF have a fraudulent ring to them.

The WEF is a Swiss NGO started and run by Klaus Schwab, a former business management professor at a college who managed to parlay an official sounding name and some plain old huckstering into a global movement propagating a free wheeling capitalism and by fostering boundless optimism on the ability of private sector managers to solve the world’s problems.

Many of the WEF’s early stars like Percy Barnevik of ABB have fallen by the wayside after being exposed as highly paid frauds with till dipping proclivities, but the WEF has just kept growing by keeping one step ahead. As it did in Dubai last month.

Today the fading and tattered posters of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Makhtoum and airports choked with departing workers and managers tell the story of the economic mirage in the Arabian desert. Till the money ran dry Dubai’s $582 billion construction boom was financed by lenders flush with oil money and safe haven seeking black money. (How many Indian leaders have lost their money in Dubai is anybody’s guess. One former CM is supposed to have taken a particularly bad beating?).

With the US’ trade and budgetary deficits burdened economy finally giving way, the flow of money tightened, first into a trickle and then into a dribble, and the noose tightened around Dubai’s neck. Finally, matters came to a head over Dubai’s request to reschedule $26 billion of its debt. This would have been easily accomplished if lenders had any more appetite left for debt, but Wall Street lenders were badly hemorrhaging as it is and old friends looked the other way when Dubai beseeched and went into default.

Dubai is one of the seven crucial emirates that constitute the UAE today. While Dubai is the big name, Abu Dhabi is the real economic powerhouse. It pumps out 95 per cent of all the oil that flows from the UAE, making it the world’s sixth largest oil producer. The UAE is also the richest country in Asia with a per capita income of $54600. Abu Dhabi is reputed to have a sovereign fund that was worth close to a trillion dollars before the recent meltdown.

Even after the erosion it still has a tidy sovereign fund and Dubai has turned to Abu Dhabi for a bailout. So far Abu Dhabi is reported to have offered a mere $10 billion to help the cash-strapped Sheikh Al Makhtoum. Maybe its Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan wants him to get his just desserts first?

The Dubai bailout was necessitated by the financial difficulties at Dubai World described as “Dubai’s flagbearer in global investments.  As a holding company it operates a highly diversified spectrum of industrial segments and plays a major role in the emirate’s rapid economic growth. Its primary aim is to play the role of a growth engine that powers development both locally and internationally.”

Dubai World owns one of the largest marine terminal operators in the world; Drydocks World & Dubai Maritime City designed to turn Dubai into a major ship-building and maritime hub; Economic Zones World which operates several free zones around the world including Jafza and TechnoPark in Dubai; Nakheel the property developer behind iconic projects such as The Palm Islands and The World among others.

It describes its business strategy as “driven by a combination of pragmatic acquisitions and prudent investments, designed to deliver real, measurable results to all its stakeholders. As one of the world’s largest corporations, Dubai World embodies a commitment to work practices that are in harmony with corporate goals and environmental conservation and social responsibility. It believes that corporate success is symbiotic. Its corporate philosophy is based on strong fundamentals, best ethical practices and integrity.”

All this corporate philosophy seemed a bit barren and combined with an adverse global market things didn’t seem to work too well for Dubai World. In November this year, the boom turned to bust when Nakheel the real estate arm promoting the Palm Islands and The World housing and recreation projects went belly up with few takers and a vast mountain of debt.

Dubai World’s “strong fundamentals” turned out to be less strong than widely believed. Unlike the US which has a Central Bank that keeps printing currency to bail it out from time to time and the confidence of the world which puts its spare cash into American banks and in US currency, Dubai doesn’t even have a central bank. Abu Dhabi’s central bank issues the dinar.

With close to $80 billion invested in its two real estate projects, Dubai World is now badly wounded. But it has investments in several leading corporations the world over that, in theory, can restore some liquidity.

The problem is that if it tries to improve its liquidity by selling these shares in the market it will run down their values and where the holdings are large, as in the Standard Chartered Bank or Hollywood’s MGM Studios, it might even cause a run on those shares. These tremors are like to find resonance in the values of other stocks.

There is yet another problem. A few British banks such as Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and RBS have together an exposure of just over $50 billion in Dubai. These banks, and particular, the Royal Bank of Scotland, have just taken a bit of a bath in last year’s crisis and their nerves are raw. The point is that in a skittish and jumpy market anything might trigger off a crisis in confidence. In the times were normal the world economy is much too big for a mere $80 billion dollar debt turned sour having much effect on it. The trouble is that these are not normal times.

The world has only just about begun to recover and it is easy to fear that the Dubai World default might be the proverbial straw on the camels back. On the other hand, things are also perking up. India has just reported a 7.9 per cent growth in its last quarter and with a similar growth being reported in China the Asian giants might just power the world out of its gloom?

Nonetheless, the Dubai bust should hold a lesson for all our leaders who flock to the World Economic Forum’s rather smug and gratuitous fests which celebrate the easy ways of getting rich. There is no such way.

Countries like India have to pay their dues to and educate and train their people, make the investments in agriculture and infrastructure, and industrialise. Money doesn’t grow in deserts. You can only build an economy the old fashioned way. That is by saving and investing in industrialisation.

The Dubai Model is now revealed to be a mirage and one hopes that India’s leaders would have drawn the appropriate lessons from it?

Immigration law: Need for a cogent policy
by Ranjit Malhotra

Immigration remains a hot potato throughout the world. Attitudes have changed dramatically following economic recession. What is the future for global immigration and the state of nations during the economic crises? These issues were examined at length at the Fourth Biennial Global Immigration Summit held in London recently, which this writer attended.

Unfortunately, in India, immigration law is a neglected area. The present immigration requirements are not conducive to substantial foreign direct investment in India. Though the Centre has taken care of updating rules on foreign equity investment into India, the business immigration provisions have been ignored. The government needs to introduce a work permit regime for foreign nationals wanting to set up businesses in India and run offices on behalf of multinationals.

All global giants now have a presence in India. They are tapping the cheap labour market. Sadly, their entry is unrestricted and without a price tag. More important, the fees for processing work permit applications could be a good source of revenue to the exchequer.

India has remained an attractive destination for foreign investors the world over. In the last decade, it had become common for senior and middle level executives, employees and managers of foreign companies like consulting companies, banks, foreign multinationals and computing companies from overseas to send their employees for exploring the market conditions in India to start business operations in India.

However, in practice, the so-called business persons, were coming to India and after appreciating the favourable economic climate, commencing full-fledged operations on the strength of their business visas. Technically, this is a breach of the immigration laws. This devise was to obviate the need for the foreign employee to return to his country and apply for the employment visa afresh. Such a practice also leads to tax evasion. As this practice thrived, such foreign personnel on Indian soil would subsequently have their business visas converted into employment visas.

This shortcut avenue did entail its share of bureaucratic hurdles in so far relating to the variation of leave. The government could allow some incountry processing of applications in a regulated manner, with a fast track processing visa fee or premium fee for a quick turnaround. Dollar pricing could well be the benchmark to be in tune with international visa processing fee of major jurisdictions.

Unfortunately, instead of formulating a clear cut policy for foreign workers on the basis of a government-recommended shortage occupation list, the practice of granting of business visas was extended to the level of workers of foreign origin, for infrastructure projects in power, telecom, oil and gas sectors. It is common knowledge that there has been a huge rise in the number of Chinese workers entering India on business visas to execute a range of specialised infrastructure projects. Generally, business visa holders are high-end premium applicants. But we are confronted with a converse situation here.

India issued the large number of business visas to Chinese nationals — 69,084 in 2008 as against 58,046 in 2007. Till June 2009, at least 32,700 Chinese have been issued business visas. This despite the fact that workers coming to India to executive projects need to possess employment visas, and not business visas, from the Indian government.

If India had a work permit regime in place or a tier system for engagement of foreign employees of different levels, we would not have been confronted with this faulty ad hoc arrangement on account of policy lacuna and legislative void in this area of law.

The government through a series of circulars in August and September 2009, modified rules making it compulsory for those entering the country on 180-day business visas to have these converted into employment visas if they have to work in India. As of now, hundreds of troubled senior and mid-level managers of a large number of multinational companies are scrambling to comply with the new requirement and get their business visas converted to work visas while industry bodies take up their cause with the government.

Two road projects in Himachal Pradesh funded by the World Bank being executed by a Chinese company came to a standstill when 150 of their engineers and officials had to leave India in September 2009 on account of visa problems. About 3,000 Chinese professionals working on power projects in India (with business visas) were repatriated in September 2009.

For these expatriate workers, the government had set October 31, 2009 as the deadline to leave India and re-apply for work visas from their country of origin. The rule change was aimed mainly at about 25,000 low-skilled Chinese working in India. This is the right time for the Ministry of Home Affairs to issue a directive on the employment of low-level foreign workers for ongoing infrastructure projects in India.

However, there should be a caveat as to the number of foreign workers that can be let into the country. The quota regime should be strictly implemented, which can be reviewed on a rolling basis from time to time. This way, we shall also protect the interest of our domestic workers and the return of skilled workers returning from places like Dubai which are hit hard by recession.

Foreign lawyers handling infrastructure and transactional work are trying hard to break into the Indian legal market. This arena too needs deliberation regarding the immigration requirements.

The contours of our immigration policy need to adapt fast to the present-day situation. Biometrics and electronic border controls are the need of the hour. It is time India framed a cogent policy on key business immigration issues and relocation of foreign personnel in India in the light of rapid changing market conditions.

OPED

Violence against women
Enforce the Act strictly to protect victims
by K.P. Singh

Domestic violence is the most hidden and tragic form of atrocity on women as its takes place within the sanctity of the home at the hands of their husbands. As a result of the deep-rooted patriarchal values in India, it is viewed as a private family matter that should be settled within the boundaries of home. Consequently, violence against women continues to assume epidemic proportions.

Prior to the enactment of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (PWDVA), there was neither a clear legal definition of domestic Violence nor any law that specifically addressed it. Remedies available to women under the existing civil, personal and criminal laws proved to be inadequate. Moreover, these laws did not provide protection to women like mothers, daughters, sisters and live-in partners. A law to put an end to atrocities on women without disturbing their marital status was the need of the hour.

The PWDVA’s main objective is to make the relationship within a marriage more equal. The police, the judiciary, the protection officer, service providers, government department and victims of domestic violence are identified as main stakeholders under the Act. Violence at home is no more invisible now and every effort is made to bring it in focus through its provisions.

The PWDVA is primarily a civil law but an element of criminal law is also incorporated in it to ensure its effective implementation. However, reliefs granted under it are civil in nature. It is only on the breach of civil orders by the perpetrator that the criminal aspects come into operation, resulting in his imprisonment or fine or both.

The Domestic Violence Incident Report (DIR) can be filed before the magistrate concerned by the police, the protection officer, the service provider, the victim or by anybody on her behalf. The PWDVA seeks to provide a variety of reliefs to a victim of domestic violence. The victim can seek protection order in her favour by way of an injunction order to prevent domestic violence or even a threat.

The magistrate can issue orders, even ex-parte, to provide immediate relief to the victim. The residence order protects the victim against dispossession from the matrimonial home or shared household. The custody order restores the child’s custody to the mother until such time the parental rights are resolved in separate civil proceedings. The magistrate can order monetary relief to the victim to meet the actual expenses incurred on treatment etc. Compensation can also be granted for mental agony suffered by the victim.

The PWDVA is an attempt to provide women facing domestic violence, easy access to court. It imposes an obligation on the state to put in place appropriate support structures to help such women. The Act envisages the Protection Officer as an important actor in the scheme of implementation of the law.

Despite the Act’s civil nature, police are expected to play a vital role to ensure obedience of the court orders. The law carves out an important duty for the service providers registered under the Act.

The Act puts into place a single window clearance system for victims. Earlier, a woman had to seek relief from different courts. This was time-consuming and risky, given the threat to life encountered by most victims. The PWDVA seeks to change that scenario.

Having a law in place is one thing and having the people to imbibe the essence of law is another. A law is as effective as its implementation. The PWDVA has not yet gained the desired level of social acceptance. Women are waging a lonely battle for themselves.

Judges are hesitant to grant ex-parte orders even when circumstances demand. The proceedings are not concluded within the timeframe prescribed under the law. Interim orders are passed reluctantly. Frivolous appeals against such oders are entertained needlessly, delaying the proceedings. The police are not keen to identify their role in the implementation of the civil law.

The Lawyers Collective, in collaboration with the International Centre for Research on Women recently presented the Third Monitoring and Evaluation Report on the PWDVA 2005 in the presence of President Pratibha Devi Singh Patil in New Delhi. According to the report, the Act’s effective implementation depended on multi-agency coordination.

There is lack of understanding and coordination between the stakeholders. Sentiments were expressed to revisit the definitions of shared household as observed by the Supreme Court in Batra vs Batra. No law is perfect as a first draft. Law has to evolve with time and space. There are some issues in the PWDVA which require further elaboration and extension both by the legislature and the judiciary. It was pointed out that the higher judiciary should observe extreme caution and adopt a sensitive approach while reviewing various provisions of the law.

The PWDVA is being worked mainly by married women till now. Adequate number of full-time protection officers are not appointed. Not many service providers are registered in most states. Though some states have notified medical facilities and shelter homes, these lack in infrastructure. The police and magistracy require complete re-orientation of their mindset.

Gender budgeting has not taken roots in this area of the government’s functioning. Most states allocated either no funds or a very meagre budget for creating infrastructure required under the Act. Official apathy has resulted in practically no monitoring. In the absence of a working manual, the day-to-day functioning of the stakeholders is devoid of coordination.

The PWDVA is a giant step forward for women. Within the existing unjust and unequal bourgeois system, the Act gives oppressed woman some respite. Silence shall no longer remain her last resort. The Act ensures that women are not totally at the receiving end but do have some weapon to fight back.

Since law is viewed as the harbinger of social change and messenger of god, it is in the hands of those implementing it to do so effectively and in the spirit in which it was envisioned. The government departments should own and adopt the PWDVA as their priority area. Constant monitoring and review of its implementation will help protect women from domestic violence.

The writer, a senior IPS officer, is Inspector-General of Police, Training, Haryana, Chandigarh

Future of Hindi theatre bright: Kulshreshtha On Record
by Shahira Naim

Surya Mohan Kulshreshtha

Noted theatre director, actor and director of the state-run Bhartendu Natya Akademi, Surya Mohan Kulshreshtha, is optimistic about the future of Hindi theatre. Heading the only theatre school of its kind in India besides the National School of Drama, the state Sangeet Natak Akademi award winner has served theatre in various capacities. He also staged over 100 plays in many European countries.

He strongly believes that if quality and contemporariness are ensured, serials and reality shows can never pose serious competition to the thrill of a live performance. In an interview to The Tribune in Lucknow, he shares his views.

Excerpts:

Q: Coming from a middle class family in Agra, how did you join a theatre school?

A: As a child I was not familiar with the concept of theatre. We tried to enrich the Janamashtmi jhanki, set up virtually in every other home in that region, by enacting scenes of Krishna’s life or reciting poems. I remember reciting a poem on Sudama.

After completing my education, working in the LIC in Lucknow and doing amateur theatre, I joined the new drama school, led by eminent theatre personality Raj Bisari. The family was shocked because they wanted me to join the civil services.

Q: Have things changed now? Are families finding this career option more acceptable?

A: Television and serials have definitely changed things. There is so much exposure and far greater social acceptability. Young boys and girls now come to theatre as a stepping stone to enter films or television. But many in the process get addicted to theatre and continue their love affair with the stage.

Q: The same plays that we saw two decades ago are staged again and again. Very little fresh writing is seen. Why?

A: No. There are some classics in theatre, which would be repeated in every age. Each generation would interpret it according to its time. There are many new plays as well. I have directed Vansansi Jirnani written by Mahesh Elkunchwar, Harshan Vida by Naresh Saxena and Ramlila by Rakesh.

Q: But not many new plays are being written in Hindi.

A: Why does anyone write a play? Obviously not to be read. As there is no passionate audience for Hindi, no one wants to put in the effort. Actually there has been no tradition of proscenium theatre in India. It made its advent with the arrival of the British and flourished in coastal towns like Kolkata and Mumbai.

In Hindi, there is very little scope for modern realism. Such stylistic theatre has not worked very well here. Culturally it is alien. Plays that improvise drawing heavily from folk form work well on stage. Plays that develop their own distinct form keeping the needs of their content in mind work the best. For instance, when Rakesh’s play Ramlila was staged at Kamani auditorium, New Delhi’s cultural epicentre in 1985, its distinct folk style and clear message against communalism caught the popular mood. It managed to communicate. Safdar Hashmi asked me to do 10 shows in bastis in and around Delhi. Even in this very different audience, it effectively conveyed what it was meant to put across.

Q: Do you believe that Hindi theatre is not growing?

A: The economics of theatre is such that it cannot survive without state support. How many theatre persons even in big cities survive completely on theatre?

Once a film is made it has a long shelf-life and can have as many repeat shows with little additional costs. For theatre every show costs money requiring long period of rehearsals. If tickets were priced at Rs 500 or thereabout, it would not remain people’s theatre.

Q: What is the status of state patronage in Uttar Pradesh?

A: At the moment we have a culture minister (Subhash Pandey) who is pretty much hands on. Recently when I directed Jaat hi Puchcho Sadhu Ki, he came on his own, bought a ticket and sat in the audience .

Q: How do you plan to overcome dearth of good plays?

A: Writing plays requires special skills. A director can visualise a play but perhaps not write it. I think Ramlila worked so well as I and Rakesh worked together on it.

Film writing is far more developed and effective as it is divided in three distinct departments — story, screenplay and dialogue. A director often picks stories written by someone, develops the screenplay creatively visualising it as he interprets the story and then the dialogues are written by someone with a ear for the spoken word.

Profile
Gadkari to infuse new life in BJP
by Harihar Swarup

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has redeemed its pledge to give the BJP a new President, who does not belong to New Delhi’s power circles and is, in that sense, an outsider. Nitin Gadkari, a young leader – only 52 – with a clean track record, has come up in life the hard way. His elevation is also being interpreted as RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s New Year gift to the BJP.

It was not difficult to guess who would succeed Rajnath Singh. Little known Nitin Gadkari’s name had been doing the rounds for a few months.

Gadkari is virtually unknown in Delhi and other parts of the country. However, in Maharashtra, he is a familiar figure. He has the reputation of being a man who can get things done.

Significantly, he has constructed the seamless Mumbai-Pune express highway at half of the quoted price when he was the state’s PWD minister in the BJP-Shiv Sena coalition government from 1995 to 1999. Another feather in his cap was his successful venture in getting as many as 55 flyovers constructed for Mumbai. He also got an international airport built in Nagpur.

He sat with Atal Bihari Vajpayee when he was the Prime Minister and drew the map of the Prime Minister’s ambitious National Highway Project. So much so that he has acquired the nomenclature of “Road Man”.

Gadkari’s regret is that he could not complete his dream of constructing roads in every Maharashtra village during his four-year tenure as PWD Minister.

Gadkari has come up in life through hard work and perseverance. As far back as 1981, as a zealous party worker, he laid the carpets and white-washed walls at the RSS headquarters in Nagpur when party bigwigs like L.K Advani visited the city. Now he will be the boss in the party.

Gadkari drew inspiration from his mother, who was associated with the Jan Sangh, the predecessor of the BJP. He subsequently joined the RSS as a young volunteer and also enrolled himself in the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the BJP’s youth wing.

Simultaneously, Gadkari completed the LL.B course. He also obtained masters in commerce. As he grew up, his acumen as businessman came to the fore. He now runs a cooperative chain, known as Poorthi, which has made construction, furniture and retail supermarkets in business. He has two sugar factories.

Gadkari’s road-map for the BJP has not yet been spelt out but he is known to be against conversion. He has been quoted as saying that “we are not against Muslims or Christians’ conversion from one religion to another but it should come from the mind and heart and not luring the poor people with money”.

He supports open economy and holds the view that the government should stop sponsoring monoliths like Air India. He believes in the politics of development and diversification of agriculture towards energy and power sectors. This will increase the per capita income, stop farmers’ suicides, increase the Gross Domestic Product and create adequate employment opportunities for all.

He is anti-westernisation. He feels freedom should not come at the cost of Indian culture. The Bhartiya Sanskrit (Indian culture) is ancient and linked to Hindu Sanskrit. He reportedly said “our culture is what we inherited, and what we got from history”.

One wonders if Gadkari, son of a farmer, will be able to infuse new life in the BJP. He has after all come to acquire the image of a man who gets things done but politics is a different cup of tea. Senior leaders in the BJP have not taken kindly to the elevation of an “upstart” to the top position in the party and may strike at the opportune time.