O P I N I O N S

EDITORIALS

Budgeting blues
Price rise still troubles UPA 
IN her address to Parliament President Pratibha Patil has listed the UPA’s economic priorities, some of which may figure in the Union Budget for 2010-11. Since aam aadmi remains the centre of its agenda, the UPA budgets tend to focus on inclusive growth.

Talks a red herring
But a dialogue with Maoists still the best bet 
Maoists and the government find themselves in a catch-22 situation over their respective offers to hold “talks”. They are damned if they talk and damned if they don’t. While the Union Home Minister had earlier offered to talk with the Maoists if they stopped violence for 72 hours, the rebels have now responded with offer for a 72-day “ceasefire” if the government stopped the operation against them.

Judges’ retirement
Parliament should raise the age limit
There is ample justification for raising the retirement age of Supreme Court and high court judges. Though Union Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily has reportedly denied such a move from the government for now, the ruling coalition and all other political parties would do well to evolve a consensus on the issue for paving the way for a smooth constitutional amendment by Parliament.

• Thought for the Day

ARTICLE

Geopolitics and Sri Lanka
Indian diplomacy on test
by Kamlendra Kanwar
Sri Lanka is strategically placed to exploit the geopolitical struggle unfolding in the Indian Ocean between China and India, with the United States having its own agenda for retaining its influence. While Pakistan is playing for stakes in Sri Lanka with Chinese acquiescence to queer the pitch for India, the Russians too are keeping a hawk eye on any activity in the Indian Ocean.

MIDDLE

The photo journalist
by Raj Chatterjee
AT a distance of more than half a century, I can still see the shop in my mind’s eye as clearly as I did as a small boy in short pants. It exuded elegance with its admixture of aromatic smells, perfumes, soaps and powders. Two giant globules — trademark of English chemists — one filled with a red liquid and the other with green stood on either side of the prescription counter. A signboard above the entrance carried the name, “Fitch & Co. — Dispensing Chemists.” The manager lived in a flat at the rear of the shop.

OPED

How to reverse Punjab’s  downhill journey
by Sarbjit Dhaliwal
After laying the foundation stone of the new campus of Institute of Asian Studies in Kolkata recently, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke on the need to remain “contemporary and relevant”. It was obviously a well-thought political remark made in the presence of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in a state dominated by communists having dislike for a free market economy or the new economic order.

Let’s fight future wars by other means
by Mary Dejevsky
State-sponsored killing or kidnapping is, of course, nothing new. What is new is the sophistication of the methods, and specifically the use of hi-tech intelligence which permits targeting. The "wet jobs" of the past, which saw secret agents hunt down and dispatch "enemies", were called that for a reason: they could be messy and leave unwelcome tracks. Increasingly, there are cleaner, neater – or, in the modern jargon, "smarter" – ways of doing things. The decision to use such methods or not is essentially political and moral.

Super markets must tell truth about meat
by Martin Hickman
Super markets have agreed to own up to the large amounts of foreign meat in pies, pasties and sandwiches labelled as made in Britain, The Independent has learnt. As part of a Government plan to end misleading food labelling, the biggest grocery chains will show clearly the origin of foreign pork, bacon and ham in processed products, some of which have been made to look British.

EDITORIALS

Budgeting blues
Price rise still troubles UPA 

IN her address to Parliament President Pratibha Patil has listed the UPA’s economic priorities, some of which may figure in the Union Budget for 2010-11. Since aam aadmi remains the centre of its agenda, the UPA budgets tend to focus on inclusive growth. This means higher spending in rural India. But Finance Minister Pranabh Mukherjee is hard pressed for resources. He is under pressure to rein in government borrowings and fiscal deficit. To raise resources, he may roll back the excise duty and service tax relief provided to insulate domestic industry from the global financial meltdown. The President’s address, however, makes no mention of the stimulus withdrawal.

The recovery in growth has been marked by a rise in food prices. The opposition parties have time and again squeezed maximum political mileage out of it. On Tuesday again they closed ranks in Parliament to mount a joint assault on the government. Food inflation may moderate in the near future but the country has to prepare itself for food security in the long run. Farm output has failed to keep pace with growing demand. Mr Mukherjee will have to revitalise sluggish agriculture. To contain prices, the President has announced the government’s resolve to (a) bring forth legislation to ensure food security (b) increase agricultural productivity and (c) reform the public distribution system. The UPA’a problem is it is saddled with an Agriculture Minister who excels in non-performance. How can the law help if there are not enough foodgrains, pulses or oilseeds?

After recently tinkering with the fertiliser subsidy, which will result in a 10 per cent hike in the urea prices from April, the government has become cautious. It has dragged feet on oil price decontrol. The President too has skipped the issue. Being from the old school of the Congress, Finance Minister Pranabh Mukherjee is not as enthusiastic about economic reforms as his predecessor, Mr P. Chidambaram, or the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh. The Budget, therefore, may not unfold any controversial reforms even though the comrades are no longer around with the red flag.

Talks a red herring
But a dialogue with Maoists still the best bet 

Maoists and the government find themselves in a catch-22 situation over their respective offers to hold “talks”. They are damned if they talk and damned if they don’t. While the Union Home Minister had earlier offered to talk with the Maoists if they stopped violence for 72 hours, the rebels have now responded with offer for a 72-day “ceasefire” if the government stopped the operation against them. Holding talks with underground Maoists would always be tricky because besides “talks” according legitimacy to a group sworn to overthrow the government, the government can never be sure if the “talks” have the sanction of all the Maoists or only a section of them. This time too it is by no means clear if the Maoist spokesman, Kishenji was speaking for Maoists all over the country or only for the rebels active under him while offering the “ceasefire”. Yet another hurdle is that while both sides profess to be in favour of talks, each side also wants a clear commitment from the other to suspend armed conflict first. But the trust deficit is such between them that each suspects the other would take advantage of the lull to launch a surprise strike, which explains their reluctance to provide any such commitment. Nor is the agenda for talks clear. While the government would , in all probability, like to discuss the modalities for Maoists to disband their organisation and get back into the mainstream, it is safe to assume that the Maoists have no such thought in their mind.

Sadly, mainstream political parties have allowed themselves to be completely marginalised in Maoist strongholds in the states. They have ceased to function in those areas and appear to have ruled themselves out from the dialogue between the Maoists and the government. Their alienation from the people in these areas is of serious concern and which is evident in the failure of even a cadre-based party like the CPM to gather correct and credible information, let alone intelligence, about Maoist activities on the ground.

While talks, whenever possible, are desirable, the government clearly cannot allow the Maoists to hijack the agenda. But despite the suspicion that Maoists find themselves in a corner and are playing out for time, the government must make an effort to engage them, if only to give peace a chance. At the same time it should be ready to crack the whip, whenever it becomes necessary.

Judges’ retirement
Parliament should raise the age limit

There is ample justification for raising the retirement age of Supreme Court and high court judges. Though Union Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily has reportedly denied such a move from the government for now, the ruling coalition and all other political parties would do well to evolve a consensus on the issue for paving the way for a smooth constitutional amendment by Parliament. At present, while Supreme Court judges retire at 65 years, those in high courts attain superannuation at 62. Though the age for both categories, according to a proposal, could be raised to 68 and 65, respectively, there is greater rationale in maintaining parity between the two. Indeed, legal luminary and former Rajya Sabha MP, Mr Fali S. Nariman, had sought to raise the retirement age of high court judges from 62 to 65 years to make it equal to that of the apex court judges. A parliamentary committee report (2007-08) had also recommended uniformity in the judges’ retirement age.

There is no underlying principle of public policy fixing the retirement age of high court judges at 62. There is also no cogent explanation why judges drawn from the same pool retire at 62 and 65 years in high courts and the apex court, respectively. Mr Nariman’s Constitutional (Amendment) Bill (XI of) 2004 sought to remove this “competition” for the apex court. Even otherwise, there is an imperative need for increasing the judges’ retirement age. It will greatly help clear the huge backlog of arrears in the higher judiciary.

The National Commission to review the working of the Constitution had recommended the same on the ground that judges with long years of experience are able to dispose of more cases quickly. More important, according to many jurists, there have been several instances of learned judges who reached their highest level of efficiency and performance just when they reached their 60s and their retirement was thus a big loss to the judiciary. A high court judge serves for about 10 to 12 years, given the increased longevity of human life. Consequently, it would be a national waste of a judge’s long years of experience if he/she is retired at the peak performing level — mentally and physically.

Thought for the Day

One servant is worth a thousand gadgets. — Joseph Alois Schumpeter

ARTICLE

Geopolitics and Sri Lanka
Indian diplomacy on test
by Kamlendra Kanwar

Sri Lanka is strategically placed to exploit the geopolitical struggle unfolding in the Indian Ocean between China and India, with the United States having its own agenda for retaining its influence. While Pakistan is playing for stakes in Sri Lanka with Chinese acquiescence to queer the pitch for India, the Russians too are keeping a hawk eye on any activity in the Indian Ocean.

Considering that Sri Lanka sits adjacent to the shipping lanes that feed 80 per cent of China’s and 65 per cent of India’s oil needs, its strategic importance can hardly be ignored.

With the bulk of China’s trade passing through the sea-lanes in the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka thought it prudent to enter into a quid pro quo with the Chinese. While it drew upon Chinese support in terms of sophisticated arms and diplomatic backing, Colombo conceded strategic concessions, particularly a major new southern port at Hambantota, to Beijing. Ironically, it was India that Sri Lanka first approached for setting up a port at Hambantota, but when the Indians showed lack of enthusiasm, Colombo wasted no time in going to the Chinese.

China has developed similar port facilities in Myanmar (Burma), Bangladesh and Pakistan as part of a “string of pearls” strategy to develop its naval reach and protect crucial oil and other supplies shipped via the sea-lanes in the Indian Ocean.

In the run-up to the decimation of the Tamil Tigers, the Chinese were not only generous with weaponry but they also encouraged Pakistan to train Sri Lanka Air Force pilots and supply small arms. China sold Jian-7 fighters, anti-aircraft guns and JY-11 3D air surveillance radars to the Sri Lankan army, leaving the Pakistanis to meet the small arm needs of the Lankans.

In July last, for the first time, Sri Lanka attended the Shanghai Cooperation Council meeting as a dialogue partner, a blessing bestowed by Russia and China in recognition of its importance in the new Indian Ocean strategic game.

For India, it was none-too-easy to arm the Lankans to combat the Tamil Tigers due to the fallout this would have had in southern India, but it did provide defensive weapons and intelligence to the Sri Lankan government, besides economic aid, so as to maintain a degree of leverage with Colombo.

The Sri Lankans acknowledge that given its southern compulsions, India did give useful help in fighting the Tamil Tigers in the crucial stages. It helped the Sri Lankan navy through vital intelligence; it gave off-shore patrolling vessels and also provided a blockade against LTTE vessels.

The focus was on preventing Sri Lanka from falling into the Chinese lap and if that meant opening the purse-strings to counter-balance the Chinese supply of arms, Indian strategists were perfectly in tune with it.

There was the classic example of a $2.4 billion loan sought by the Sri Lankan government from the IMF to tackle its balance of payments problem which was refused by the IMF. Ordinarily, Sri Lanka would have turned to China, but before it could do that the Indian government indicated to Colombo that it was prepared to extend that loan if the IMF did not come round. It was indeed a case of once-bitten-twice-shy, having seen how the Chinese had grabbed the opportunity to develop the Hambantota port.

As part of its strategy to make Indo-Sri Lankan relations attractive for Colombo, the Indian government has also taken the initiative to set up a high-capacity power transmission link between India and Sri Lanka which is likely to be completed by 2013.

The 285-kilometre power link, including submarine cables, over a stretch of 50 km, would enable the two countries to trade their surplus power, thereby offering a cheaper option to bridge their power generation deficit and also manage their peak demands.

The link will also help Sri Lanka reduce its use of expensive fuels and import cheaper power from India’s surplus. For India, the link would help open up a new market for its projected surplus of power.

India currently faces an over 12 per cent power deficit, with a peak demand of 109,000 MW annually. The government hopes it could add at least 62,000 MW of generation capacity in the next couple of years, with additional capacities being set up by private investors through captive and merchant power plants. This, along with the power from ultra mega power projects has fuelled hopes for a tradable surplus.

On January 11, India signed an agreement with Sri Lanka for the construction of a railway line between Omanthai and Pallai in the island’s war-torn Northern Province. It is all set to open a consulate in the northern town of Jaffna so as to enhance its involvement in “reconstruction and rehabilitation,” for which it has offered a $108 million aid package.

India is also involved in the rehabilitation of the southern coastal railway line from Colombo to Matara by providing credit worth $167.4 million. It has considerable investments in Sri Lanka, including in the retail fuel, telecommunications, hotel, cement, banking, tyre, rubber and information technology sectors.

India can draw satisfaction from the fact that in regard to Sri Lanka, its interests broadly converge with those of the US. The Americans are indeed as keen to ward off the Chinese challenge for hegemony in the Indian Ocean states as India is.

A report published by the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on December 7 last called for Washington to counter Beijing’s influence in Colombo through “a broader and more robust approach to Sri Lanka that appreciates new political and economic realities in Sri Lanka and US geostrategic interests”.

However, India is loathe to Washington’s influence increasing beyond reasonable proportions in its strategic backyard. India is no doubt counting on Washington’s assistance. At the same time, however, it is wary about the US achieving too much sway in its strategic backyard.

With Mr Mahinda Rajapakse having won a second presidential term in Sri Lanka recently, India is pursuing its interests cautiously. New Delhi wants close ties with Colombo to counter the growing influence of rival China and to open up opportunities for Indian businesses. At the same time, it is concerned that political unrest in Sri Lanka, particularly communal tensions involving the Tamil minority, will have consequences inside India, especially in Tamil Nadu.

The Indian government’s reiteration of the call for a “political solution” to the 26-year civil war in Sri Lanka through a power-sharing arrangement between the Sinhalese and the Tamils is unlikely to find favour with Mr Rajapakse. While keeping the sensitivities of the Indian Tamils in mind, however, India will have to tread warily by not pushing too hard.

There can be little doubt that Sri Lanka under President Rajapakse would continue to take advantage of its strategic position by bargaining with the Chinese and the Indians. The days of India pushing its agenda with the Sri Lankans to the exclusion of China are indeed over. Indian diplomacy will indeed be on test.

MIDDLE

The photo journalist
by Raj Chatterjee

AT a distance of more than half a century, I can still see the shop in my mind’s eye as clearly as I did as a small boy in short pants.

It exuded elegance with its admixture of aromatic smells, perfumes, soaps and powders. Two giant globules — trademark of English chemists — one filled with a red liquid and the other with green stood on either side of the prescription counter. A signboard above the entrance carried the name, “Fitch & Co. — Dispensing Chemists.” The manager lived in a flat at the rear of the shop.

The neat-looking building with the small garden of summer flowers, stood a few yards away from an arched gateway at the beginning of the climb to the Charleville Hotel in Mussoorie, now a training centre for probationers in the all-India services, the “Steel Frame” which, alas, today shows cracks, hence the expression “millionaire-babus”.

The hotel was as comfortable and modern as European hotels could be in the ’20s but its chief claim to fame — appearing on the notepaper — was that it was the only hotel in India where Queen Mary had stayed for a few days during her visit to India for the coronation of George V.

Below the hotel sprawled the Happy Valley Club, one of the few British clubs in India which was open to Indians.

The club had no less than 12 bajri courts, and a practising wall much used by me.

My parents, who summer after summer, rented a house in Happy Valley, the most salubrious part of Mussoorie, were members of the club and I was allowed to play tennis and borrow books from the club library, that had deep leather armchairs where elderly members snoozed in the afternoon.

Every summer, the club held a tennis tournament which attracted enthusiasts from all over the country. On one occasion, at the age of 13, I extended the local champion to three sets. In all honesty, I should add that my handicap was plus 30 and his, minus 30.

The tournament provided me with some extra pocket money. I always watched the finals of the various events with my Box Brownie at the ready, snapping the winners as they came off the courts mopping their brows and shouting to the “abdar” (bar-man) for a whisky and soda.

My mission accomplished, I used to run up to Fitch & Co. with my exposed film and the exhortation that the prints should be ready the following morning. These were promptly despatched to an illustrated magazine which paid me the princely sum of Rs 5 for each one they used. In those happy days, the money was sufficient for a visit to the cinema and a week’s supply of comics.

OPED

How to reverse Punjab’s downhill journey
by Sarbjit Dhaliwal

After laying the foundation stone of the new campus of Institute of Asian Studies in Kolkata recently, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke on the need to remain “contemporary and relevant”. It was obviously a well-thought political remark made in the presence of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in a state dominated by communists having dislike for a free market economy or the new economic order.

Opponents, especially the right-wingers and supporters of the new economic order, often ridicule the communists for their, what they say, outdated way of thinking. There are many thinkers who say the communists have become irrelevant in the new global order. To stay “contemporary and relevant”, they would have to change somewhat alike China.

Interestingly, the PM has made these remarks when the economy of West Bengal has been officially projected to grow at the average rate of 9.7 per cent, which is better than the country’s projected over-all 9 per cent growth during the 11th Plan. The Left’s opposition to the nuclear deal and the disinvestment in public sector giants was perhaps on the back of his mind when the PM made the remark.

However, there is a rationale behind the Prime Minister’s remark to remain contemporary and relevant. What path – left or right – one should follow that is an issue, which can be debated for years.

In my opinion the Prime Minister’s remark is relevant for Punjab, his native state. The reason: Punjab has only 13 members in the Lok Sabha. With a high number of MPs in Parliament, big states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, A.P, Maharashtra, MP, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu have a strong political clout at the national level compared to Punjab that plays an insignificant role in the formation of the Union government.

Undoubtedly, Punjab’s relevance in the national politics could not be as crucial as of the big states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, AP, MP etc except in an unusual situation. Punjab’s little bit relevance in national politics is that it is dominated by the Sikh minority.

Besides, thanks to its sturdy farmers, Punjab has maintained its importance and relevance at the national level by making record contributions to the national food basket. However, as the agriculture sector is growing at a rapid pace in states like Bihar, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, M.P, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Jharkhand and Karnataka, it will become difficult for Punjab to maintain its existing food clout for long.

The Central Government has already framed national krishi vikas policy and accelerated the irrigation programme to improve the productivity of food grains in other states. Time is not far when some other states will catch up with Punjab in the farm sector.

Obviously, Punjab will have to make drastic changes in its agricultural policy to maintain its relevance in the national food politics. It will have to fix its agricultural priorities. What and how much should be produced will have to be made part of the policy.

The biggest challenge for Punjab is to boost its sluggish economic growth especially in the manufacturing sector. Believe it or not, Punjab is the slowest growing, state. Its projected over-all economic growth rate during the 11th plan is 5.9 per cent. It is at the bottom of all the states.

Gujarat and Karnataka will be growing at the pace of 11.2 per cent; Haryana at 11; Goa at 12.1; Uttaranchal at 9.9; West Bengal at 9.7 ; Kerala and Andhra Pradesh at 9.5; Maharashtra 9.1;Tamil Nadu at 8.5; Orissa at 8.8 and Jammu and Kashmir at 6.4 per cent. All the remaining states will be growing at a pace of 6 per cent or above. However, Punjab and Manipur would grow at an equal pace of 5.9 per cent, the slowest in the country.

Even in the agriculture sector, Punjab’s growth has been pegged at 2.4 per cent and it is at the 20th place out of 28 states. Agriculture in states like Bihar, Gujarat and Jharkhand will grow above 5 per cent. Haryana and Gujarat’s industrial growth will be in the range of 14 per cent and in states like Orissa, West Bengal, Uttaranchal, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand and Chhatisgarh it will be above 11 per cent but Punjab will be far behind. In years to come, the slowest-growing Punjab will really have no relevance in contemporary India as well as the world. Even during the 10th Plan, Punjab grew at the rate of 5.13 per cent against the average national growth of 7.8 per cent.

Politicians, academicians and professionals of all hues should get together to formulate short-and long-term strategies to accelerate the tempo of growth in the state to make it counted among the frontline states. After having ugly personal and political fights, frontline politicians must have realised by now that owing to their personal agenda Punjab has suffered a lot. The sooner they realise that Punjab should suffer no more because of their personal fights, the better for all of us.

The best course is to make a productive and judicious use of the subsidy given to the farm sector. Free power should only be for the needy farmers. Any farmer offering to pay full energy charges should be given 24-hour power supply. There will be many farmers opting for these.Give subsidies to promote those crops that should be part of the policy. Some part of the subsidy should be used to give interest-free loans to promote dairy farming on a big sacle. Part of the subsidy should be given to develop the textile industry and agro-based units for the processing of foodgrains. The setting up of export chains for vegetables, fruits etc is required. Crops playing havoc with Punjab’s environment should not be allowed. Sugarcane can prove a highly remunerative crop for farmers.

Concessions and incentives for the Industry in hill states have impeded the growth of even small and medium industries in Punjab. It would be impossible for the Union Government to withdraw these incentives given by the previous Vajpayee government. The best course is to press the Centre to give similar concessions to the border states.

Punjab, being a border state, has big disadvantages. All parties will have to lobby together to press the Union Government for concessions. All focus should be to take Punjab’s industrial growth to the level of Gujarat. Punjab cannot do without industry. The exclusion of Punjab from any national growth programme such as the Industrial corridor should be resisted with full might at the political level. Another focus should be to make the Wagah check post an important export-import destination. That will change Punjab’s destiny for the better.

A special task force should be set up to implement the central schemes, especially the flagship programmes such as NERGA, the Urban Renewal Mission, and the Rural Health mission.

Extensive reforms in the administrative set up are required. The administration needs to be completely overhauled. Start with reforms in the Revenue Department. The latest title of ownership of every inch of land should be clear and available on the official website. There should be a permanent identification of each acre of government and private land. If that is achieved, there would be huge fall in the number of court cases, murders, violent fights etc.

Health care and education need special attention. The entire population should be given a health care insurance cover and education should be made free for all up to the degree level (professional courses included).

People will have to play a crucial role to save Punjab’s pride. Elect only honest, bright and committed politicians to rule the state. Ensure that no corrupt, criminal and self-serving politician gets into the pious Punjab Assembly to decide on the destiny of the people. The self-servers deserve their place in the dustbin of history.

Let’s fight future wars by other means
by Mary Dejevsky

State-sponsored killing or kidnapping is, of course, nothing new. What is new is the sophistication of the methods, and specifically the use of hi-tech intelligence which permits targeting. The "wet jobs" of the past, which saw secret agents hunt down and dispatch "enemies", were called that for a reason: they could be messy and leave unwelcome tracks. Increasingly, there are cleaner, neater – or, in the modern jargon, "smarter" – ways of doing things. The decision to use such methods or not is essentially political and moral.

It is 30 years ago now, but I am just about old enough to remember the public outcry unleashed by the development of the neutron bomb. The unique selling point, as it were, of this weapon was that it was designed to kill people, while leaving buildings and other defences intact. And while all weapons destroy – which is, after all, what they are for – the visceral objection to this one weapon derived from the precedence it seemed to give to saving property over living human beings. Deep down, people seemed to feel that there were rules to waging war and that a weapon such as this broke them.

Something similar applies these days to the use of unmanned drones and high-altitude bombing. The unease reflects not only the fact that the slightest error can cause many civilian casualties, but because the killing is depersonalised. That a country so equipped can inflict such damage without putting its own people at any risk seems somehow to break the rules.

In fact, warfare has long been hedged about with rules, written and unwritten. And each successive conflict produces a new set intended to prevent what were judged to be the most heinous excesses of the last. It is not just generals drafting their tactics and requirements for future wars who can be accused of fighting the last one, but politicians and lawyers as well.

The Nuremberg trials set the standard for today. Since then, war crimes have been defined and redefined to fit new circumstances. The only constant is that it is the victors who not only write the history, but determine what constitutes a war crime, fill out the charge sheet and appoint the judges. The late Serbian leader, Slobodan Milosevic, is by no means the only defendant to question the justice of it.

I wonder now, though, whether the rules that the Western world – for it is the Western world – has generally accepted for the best part of a century may not be running out of steam. I wonder, too, whether a time might not come when it is accepted that conflicts are pursued by quite other means, so that war as we have known it, with the colossal loss of life and destruction it brings, is consigned to a more brutal past.

But who will dare to suggest that the price of abandoning the old rules – and finding some new ones – might be worth it? Today's industrialised nations, our own country included, are used to being on the winning side when they resort to military force. We have (by far) the technical advantage; our troops are mostly professional, not conscripted, and the territory we fight on is not our own. With the last generation of civilians to experience real war on the home front dying out, few know the extent of the horror it entails.n

— By arrangement with The Independent

Super markets must tell truth about meat
by Martin Hickman

Super markets have agreed to own up to the large amounts of foreign meat in pies, pasties and sandwiches labelled as made in Britain, The Independent has learnt.

As part of a Government plan to end misleading food labelling, the biggest grocery chains will show clearly the origin of foreign pork, bacon and ham in processed products, some of which have been made to look British.

The change, to be announced by the Environment Secretary Hilary Benn today, comes amid complaints that shoppers wishing to support domestic farmers and higher animal welfare are being misled about the origin and provenance of meat.

Under an EU labelling loophole, retailers can mark products with foreign meat "Produced in the UK" if they have undergone a significant change in Britain. In the case of a pie, encasing foreign meat in pastry would justify the description Produced in the UK and the product could even carry a Union flag.

The policy allows super markets to undercut British farms by buying budget pork from the Continent, where welfare standards are lower and production is consequently cheaper.

Imports of foreign pig meat have rocketed since the UK set new rules on overcrowding and the treatment of pregnant sows in 1999, leading to a 40 per cent collapse in the British pig herd.

In 2007, more than half of bacon sold in the UK came from the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany and Italy, while 43 per cent of other pork products came from Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.

Civil servants, the pig industry, caterers and retailers have held talks in the Pig Meat Supply Chain Taskforce since Mr Benn signalled his determination to end misleading meat labelling in an interview with The Independent last January. Today, at an NFU conference in Birmingham, he will announce that Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Waitrose, Marks & Spencer and the Co-op have signed up to a code of practice setting out exactly how foreign meat should be labelled. McDonald's, Wetherspoons and Whitbread have also signed up to the voluntary agreement.

They have committed to clearly display the country of origin on retail packs. If using the formula "Produced in the UK" they will have to add "using pork from country x".

Retailers will be banned from slapping national terms and symbols on products unless the pork is British and product specific terms such as Wiltshire Cure will mean that the pork used to make the product comes from within the UK.

Where the term "local" is used it will be clearly defined. Restaurants and pubs will follow the code by placing country of origin on menus.

Confusion over what counts as "outdoor bred" and "outdoor reared" pork will be cleared up with an announcement from Defra shortly. Shoppers can be misled into thinking pigs so labelled spend a lot of their life outdoors when it may only be a matter of weeks.

In his interview last year, Mr Benn complained: "If you buy something that has on the package 'Wiltshire cured bacon', I think most people would assume the bacon came from Wiltshire, but under the current European rules that is not necessarily the case. You may turn it over and discover that actually it came from Denmark."

Yesterday he said supermarkets would have to "provide clear information", adding: "The example I gave will be no more under the code because they will have to say from which European country was the ham cured in Wiltshire. It will be a big change."

— By arrangement with The Independent