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Mangalore’s ghastly tragedy
Canadian arrogance |
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Murder of dissent
Obama’s Afghan strategy in trouble
Witty duels
Spectacular 3G show
Nigeria after ex-President’s death
Chatterati
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Mangalore’s ghastly tragedy It would be some time, if at all, before the truth is unravelled about what went wrong with the ill-fated Air India Express flight from Dubai which crashed and turned into a ball of fire at Mangalore airport on Saturday. But a tragedy of this magnitude in which all but eight of the 166 passengers and crew perished must be investigated thoroughly. Responsibility must be duly fixed and lessons learnt in right earnest. What has emerged so far, however, is that the cause may be pilot error combined with a short runway overrun which required extraordinary precision in landing. Some questions may be answered after it is known what is there in the black box, recovered from the charred remains, while others may be based on surmises. While the first runway was a mere 5,000 feet on which a Boeing 737 800 could not land, this second runway which was built in 2,006 was 8,000 feet but on a plateau. Preliminary investigations say the pilot missed the touchdown point by at least 2,000 feet. The Mangalore crash has fuelled a new round of controversy on the role of expatriate pilots, most of whom come to India for one or two years on very high salaries and are then required to clock in more hours than the unionised Indian pilots, sometimes at the cost of their fitness. Some of the airlines are believed to be allowing them to fly without adequate breaks so that they accumulate their off days and go home for a few days practically every month. The complaint of Air Traffic Control personnel that some of these pilots are unable to carry out instructions because of the difference in accent is also a serious one. Considering that there is no shortage of Indian pilots, there is a case for foreign pilots to be replaced by Indian ones. While the government has given them time until July 31, 2011, before they are phased out, it is imperative that proper standards be applied to them and flying safety standards be adhered to. Now that the black box has been found, the inquiry into the crash can be completed expeditiously. All angles should be explored, including the airworthiness of the aircraft. The Mangalore runway must be expanded or even re-located. Such horrendous tragedies must be averted at all
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Canadian arrogance
Denying visa to a former employee of the BSF, the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi has transgressed all diplomatic limits while giving the reason for its illogical decision. The mission official who handled the case committed a major diplomatic gaffe when he described the BSF as a “notoriously violent paramilitary unit” which, in his opinion, has been “responsible for committing crimes against humanity”. The retired BSF employee, now a Hoshiarpur-based farmer, has been told that he does not deserve a Canadian visa because he has been associated with the BSF, “a unit engaged in systematic attacks on civilians”. The old man wanted to visit his daughter settled in Canada. The BSF is one of the elite armed forces of India assigned the responsibility of guarding the country’s borders. Those employed with the BSF, particularly the employees doing their duty at any of the borders, feel proud of the work they do as sentinels. It is a highly challenging job they do, as they have to deal with all kinds of notorious characters like smugglers, besides the soldiers of the country on the other side of the border. BSF men may have been harsh at times in dealing with the people living in the border areas, but that is unavoidable if we look at the circumstances under which they have to function. However, the Canadian mission has no business to comment on the BSF’s functioning. Diplomatic etiquette does not allow a foreign mission employee to say that a person associated with the BSF is guilty of having indulged in “crimes against humanity”. India and Canada have cordial relations, which should not be allowed to be sullied by irresponsible comments made by some arrogant official. Canada has a large presence of people from India and they are contributing considerably to the growth of the country. The External Affairs Ministry must take up the matter forcefully to ensure that the Canadian High Commission or any other country’s mission in New Delhi never indulges in this kind of misdemeanour in future. |
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Murder of dissent
It was no ordinary murder that was committed in Darjeeling last Friday. It was a murder most foul, a political murder aimed to stifle dissent. When miscreants grabbed Madan Tamang from behind and stabbed him in the neck, they did so under the gaze of 40 policemen, 10 of them armed. The 62-year-old President of the Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League was getting ready to address a small gathering of about 50 supporters in the heart of Darjeeling when the mob set upon him. Tamang had been a vocal critic of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) leader Bimal Gurung and had accused the latter of corrupt practices and to have held the Hills to ransom. The GJM in turn had issued threats that Tamang would be banished from the Darjeeling Hills. The well-educated and articulate ABGL leader spoke out against the mob and opposed the violence, blockades and strong-arm tactics unleashed by the Morcha. Although Tamang also favoured a separate state of Gorkhaland, his was a voice calling for sanity and sobriety. Ironiclly, though he may not have been of major consequence while alive, he will be missed badly after his death. The insensitivity of the West Bengal government and political leaders following the brutal murder is a sad reflection on the current political culture. State government officials have glibly blamed the clash between two political groups for the killing while glossing over the role of the 40 policemen deployed to maintain law and order at Tamang’s small rally. No explanation has been forthcoming for their strange reluctance to arrest the two members of the mob injured when Tamang’s bodyguard, an armed policeman, opened fire. They have been busy, on the contrary, advocating caution and the necessity to refrain from taking ‘hasty action’. The major concern of Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has been to keep the highway connecting Sikkim and Bhutan and passing through Darjeeling open. It is to the credit of West Bengal Governor M K Narayanan that he saw the crime for what it is and lost no time in deploring the assault on democratic forces Madan Tamang may not have been politically very important. And his death may or may not cast a shadow on the tripartite talks over Gorkhaland. But political parties and the state government would commit a grave error if they underestimate or gloss over the brazen attack on the citizens’ right to dissent. |
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We are as near to heaven by sea as by land! — Humphrey Gilbert |
Obama’s Afghan strategy in trouble
The Afghan President, Mr Hamid Karzai, was in Washington recently trying to bolster his credibility with the Obama Administration. His visit came after months of rancour between the White House and Kabul that at times seemed unmanageable. But the Obama Administration soon realised that confronting Mr Karzai publicly was not working and was even becoming counter-productive. As Mr Karzai came under US pressure to reform his corrupt government in recent years, he has often lashed out publicly, even threatening to join the Taliban in a recent fit of pique. The Obama Administration, meanwhile, has openly suggested that Mr Karzai bears considerable responsibility for all that has gone wrong in Afghanistan, refusing to root out corruption and preferring cronies to competent managers. The other day in Washington it was a different spectacle. Both sides seemed eager to calm Afghan fears about the looming NATO offensive in Kandahar that has been depicted to be pivotal in the efforts to break the back of Taliban influence in the southern region. The Kandahar offensive is likely to be of a smaller scale compared to the operation in the Marja area where despite the apparent defeat of the Taliban insurgents, they remain able and willing to continue to kill those opposed to their agenda. Mr Karzai also visited the Arlington National Cemetery to pay tributes to the American sacrifices in his country. Both Mr Obama and Mr Karzai tried to clear the air after weeks of public recriminations and underlined that they had set aside differences over how to fight the war in Afghanistan. It’s a troubled relationship and both men knew that they had to shore it up at least for public consumption. Mr Karzai said, “We are in a campaign against terrorism together,” and that “the relationship between the two governments and the two nations is strong and well-rooted.” Though the Obama Administration remains concerned about Mr Karzai’s plans for amnesty, the Afghanistan President did get an endorsement for his plan to begin peeling off disaffected Taliban fighters in a peace conference later this month. Mr Karzai plans to convene the first peace conference to draw out committed Taliban foot soldiers. It will be followed by a Kabul conference, which will bring together countries that provide military and financial support to the Afghan war. It is being hoped that the success of the Kandahar offensive will allow the Karzai government to negotiate with the Taliban from a position of strength. For all the positive gloss that both sides tried to put on Mr Karzai’s recent visit to Washington, there is a grudging acknowledgment in the US policy-making circles that Mr Obama’s surge is not showing any signs of success so far. About half of the additional 30,000 troops that Mr Obama decided to send to Afghanistan are now in the country, with the rest scheduled to land by the end of the summer. This will swell the number of American troops in Afghanistan to about 100,000. And they have around 14 months to make a difference before withdrawals are due to begin. The Marja offensive in Helmand province was initially deemed a big success but no effective Afghan authority has emerged to take the place of the Taliban. The American civilian leadership in Afghanistan has lost all faith in the leadership of Mr Karzai and vice-versa. More damagingly for the Obama Administration, the views of the American civilian leadership do not align closely with those of the top American military commander, Gen Stanley McChrystal. Mr Obama himself didn’t help his cause and lost credibility with Mr Karzai when he started publicly rebuking him for various governance failures in Afghanistan. True, Mr Karzai has spectacularly failed in constructing modern governmental machinery and seems to have little interest in building provincial and local governance institutions. But for better or worse, that is the hand that Washington has been dealt with in Afghanistan. Now Mr Obama is tying to belatedly handle Mr Karzai with greater sensitivity in public. It remains to be seen if this will be enough, especially in the larger context where the relationship of Mr Karl Eikenberry, the US Ambassador in Kabul, with Mr Karzai is at their lowest ebb. Meanwhile, Mr Eikenberry doesn’t see eye to eye on strategy with General McChrystal. Where General McChrystal enjoys a close relationship with Mr Karzai and has suggested that US officials should show more public deference to Mr Karzai, Mr Eikenberry has advised that the Obama Administration should try to find other Afghan figures, including provincial leaders, to work with rather than rely so heavily on Mr Karzai. Mr Eikenberry’s differences with General McChrystal make it difficult to have him as a credible interlocutor while Mr Richard Holbrooke is now no longer visible. As a result, there is no single US points-man in Afghanistan. Mr Obama is yet to come to grips with this slide in war-torn country. Under such a scenario, it remains unclear how the Obama Administration will be able to start transferring responsibility to Afghans by July 2011. Kandahar offensive will be much harder than that in Marja and no wonder, it still remains a work in progress. The Obama Administration’s much-touted reconciliation plan remains non-existent even as differences with Kabul have hardened on whom to include in this outreach and what the agenda should be. As India refashions its Afghanistan policy, it should take the evolving dynamic on the ground in Afghanistan into serious consideration. There is a strong belief in certain quarters in India that the US cannot afford to fail in Afghanistan. While this may indeed be the case, America’s Afghanistan strategy is facing a crisis and things are likely to get much worse before they get any better. America’s lack of capacity to come to terms with the challenges in Afghanistan will have long-term implications for regional security in South Asia. India should, therefore, carve out a policy response that protects New Delhi and its interests from the negative externalities of the US
strategy. The writer teaches at King’s College, London. |
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Witty duels
Almost everybody has got sense of humour. Some may have a very weird kind of it. Even most villains are seen letting out shrieks of laughter after committing a murder in Hindi movies. It is, in fact, a relative thing. You feel like weeping at some jokes on which other people are falling in aisles. The world thus sees great witty duels in everyday life. Sense of humour and wit are sisters. Common sense is a cousin. Hence those who possess these traits save the day and themselves with quick, witty responses. The world thus sees great witty duels in everyday life. A barrister, with a flair for the Queen’s English, was arguing a case before a judge, who had flair for discovering new meanings of words and phrases in English. “My Lord, he (the accused) was as drunk as a judge,” said the barrister, disregarding the repercussions it could have on the case. The argument jolted the judge out of his legal slumber and for a moment wondered at the lawyer’s indiscretion. But he decided to tackle the academic-lawyer in him with his own command of the English language. “No,” replied the judge, “The correct phrase is: as drunk as a lord.” “As your lordship pleases,” replied the quick-witted lawyer. I met comedian Jaspal Bhatti recently who, I had come to know, was launching his own website called MAD Arts (Media and Digital Art). When I rued that the meetings between us were few and far between, Bhatti said, “Yar, I have got a website prepared but these days I am looking for a hacker to inaugurate it.” The author, in his humble way of showing his gratitude to his wife while writing a book, dedicated the work to her in the following words: “I dedicate it to my wife without whose absence the book would not have been completed.” |
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Spectacular 3G show
What is this 3G over which the telecommunication companies have sweated for over 34 days, gone through 183 tortuous rounds of auction and committed to pay Rs 67,719 crore? What do the winning players that are Bharati with 13 circles at a bid value of Rs. 12,295.46 crores; Vodafone with nine circles at a bid value of Rs 11617.86 crore; Reliance Comm. with 13 circles at a bid value of Rs 8,585.04 crore ; TATA with nine circles at a bid value of Rs 5864.29 crores ; IDEA with 11 circles at a bid value of Rs 5768.59 crore; AIRCEL with 13 circles at a bid value of Rs 6499.46 crore; and STEL with three circles at a bid value of Rs 337.76 crore see in 3G? What really is at stake? How relevant it is to the common man? To some of the questions answers are not difficult to find but to some others answers can be given only by the bidders who no doubt must heave a sigh of relief at the end of the bidding. The respite would be momentary as it immediately starts building tremendous pressures for financial closures as the deadlines for payments approach faster than the bidding itself. The bid values suggest compulsions beyond the business case in the short term impacting the valuations. Vodafone downgrading its Indian business by over 2 billion US$ is a strong pointer. Each telcom company will certainly have its own strategy beyond merely the service portfolio and tariffs. Holding on to the leadership position may be another compulsion. The silver lining is of course the long licence period and the history of the Indian telecom wherein the sector governance has earned the reputation of ensuring a fair amount of responsive attitude to the sector needs for growth. In very simple terms the first-generation mobile was just a voice service ie capability to talk while on the move. It was indeed a great invention, which broke the shackles of fixed-line connectivity. The 2nd generation or 2G level of mobile service is usually identified as the Global System for Mobile or GSM. The 2G added data capability. So you had voice and data. Data permitted you to send short messages on the mobile which we all know as the SMS. It is very popular with the young who have thrown away all rules of the English language to speed up messages and responses and brought in a language of their own for communicating. Going a bit further we had 2.5G usually associated with the General Packet Radio Service or GPRS, which permitted you higher speeds enabling the Multimedia Message Service, known as the MMS. You could send pictures and clips. This brought in the MMS scandals as the kids have a moral code of their own and growing permissive attitude. This makes one wonder if, apart from the cyber laws, we need to bring in moral filtering, and if so, do we have technology back-up to develop the necessary capabilities, and most of all, who is responsible for overseeing? The 3rd generation mobile or 3G is usually identified as the Universal Mobile Telecommunication Service or the UMTS . This will add video capabilities to the mobile system. This opens up the doors for Video chats, TV channels, videos on demand and a host of other entertainment options, including high-speed gaming while on the move. This will also narrow the gap between capabilities on the desktop office computers and the mobile handheld devices. This could be the beginning of an era of mobile office in real sense granted that download speeds available will be high enough to permit negligible delay in the downloading of files. Underlying the generations of the mobile technology is the evolution from analogue to digital and core network technologies as well as necessary affordable handheld devices to provide functions, including camera. The enabling path has been the bandwidth connecting the subscriber to the network over the air. Band width is actually the chunk of spectrum with lower and upper frequency limits in a specific band of frequencies earmarked for the mobile services. For instance, in the 900 Mhz band, which has frequencies available from 902 Mhz to 927 Mhz, typically a service provider allocated 4.4 Mhz would have carriers in the range 902 Mhz to 906.4 Mhz. This band width, which came bundled with the licence in initial 2G licences, has been at the centre of a storm over its allocations for quite some time now leading to a whopping Rs 67,000 crore bonanza for the exchequer. We have to wait and see the impact of 3G spectrum valuations on the 2G spectrum. The optimal use of this costly and limited asset is essential for economic operations on the one hand and on the other higher availability of spectrum permits flexibility in network design, bringing down the overall network costs. The equitable distribution of this resource is, therefore, of great importance. As they say, history repeats itself. We have to see what happens. The fees paid will put a pressure on the tariffs which will limit the growth. Will we have killer applications justifying network capabilities? One can expect that apart from the corporate applications, there will be a growing pressure to develop applications and content relevant to the younger generation and the common man . As we begin to grapple with the 3G onslaught, 4G is already on the horizon promising higher capabilities. Do we address it or leave it alone for the moment is a question the players will have to address sooner than later. The writer is a former Chairman of MTNL |
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Nigeria after ex-President’s death
The death of President Umaru Yar' Adua of Nigeria on May 5, 2010, passed off largely unnoticed and unreported in India. This is hardly surprising given the interest of the Indian media in developments in Africa in general and those in West Africa in particular. The international media, however, has not only reported the event in fairly great detail but has also been looking at the emerging scenario. As the biggest country in Africa (population: 150 million), the leading regional power in West Africa and the world's sixth largest oil producer and exporter, Nigeria is of considerable importance to the international community. Are developments in Nigeria of any relevance to us? Just consider these: Nigeria is the third largest supplier of oil to India (400,000 barrels per day). Our interests in the oil and gas sector of Nigeria is growing significantly as was evident during Petroleum Minister Murli Deora's visit to that country in February this year. ONGC-Mittal (OMEL) has committed $350 million to develop the two blocks which they acquired a couple of years ago. India is also going to partner with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) for a green-field refinery in Port Harcourt. Nigeria is our biggest trading partner in Africa (volume of $8 billion with our exports of pharmaceuticals, chemicals, engineering goods and IT software amounting to $875 million). There are no political irritants; Nigeria is, in fact, a great supporter of the G-4 initiative for the expansion of the UN Security Council. Dr Manmohan Singh's official visit in 2007 (a historic one-the previous such visit being almost 50 years ago by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru) led to the signing of various agreements and the introduction of new initiatives. Are these not enough reasons for a greater interest? Now to get back to the story of Yar' Adua. The 58-year-old leader had been suffering from a number of ailments for quite some time. For months, he had been in Saudi Arabia undergoing treatment. The running of the country was in the hands of the Vice President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan. In February this year, this was formalised by a decree making him the acting President. President Yar' Adua's election to the post in 2007 created a history of sorts since it was the first time in Nigeria that power was passed on from one civilian government to another in a democratic process. Yar' Adua, though relatively unknown nationally was handpicked by the then President, Olusegun Obasanjo, as the party's (People's Democratic Party-PDP) candidate. International observers had found some malpractises in the elections, but endorsed it as largely free and fair. The tenure of Yar' Adua has been seen by Nigerians as stagnant, largely due to his ill-health. However, he did initiate action on many of his electoral promises: finding a solution to the problem of militancy in the oil rich Niger delta region, tackling the chronic power shortage in the country, reforming the banking sector and a sustained fight against corruption in the government. His biggest success has been in his efforts to persuade most of the militants in the Niger delta to lay down their arms. The militants under various organisations, the most important being Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), have been fighting for decades against the exploitation of their land without any benefit to them, environmental pollution and a general degradation of their lives. Blowing up of oil pipelines, kidnapping of foreign oil workers and creating a general atmosphere of fear and uncertainty in the area were the modus operandi adopted by the groups to draw national and international attention to their causes. Over the years, these methods were adopted by opportunistic bandits who made a business out of kidnappings and ransoms. The militancy in the region had led to a sharp fall in the output of oil which dropped from 3.1 million barrels per day (mbpd) a few years ago to 1.9 mbpd. The amnesty policy of Yar'Adua for the militants has yielded some significant results ensuring an increase in oil production. The problem is far from over and is, at best, a work in progress. The other big success of his tenure has been the overhaul of the banking system. This needed some tough action and taking on of powerful people and lobbies. Nonetheless, it was undertaken and many influential bankers were even put behind bars. If Nigeria is to achieve the aim of 202020 which they talk about often meaning joining the top 20 economies by 2020, peace, stability and a smooth transition of power in the next elections will be vital. India's interests dictate that we remain positively engaged with Nigeria. |
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Chatterati
Delhi-ites thrive on politics. An evening gathering rarely talks of culture. They all assume sitting in their drawingrooms while sipping wine that they can form or dissolve governments. At the moment the topic is UPA-II's performance in the last one year. The mutual agreement after heated arguments is that the Congress is the strongest political party and remains united under the Nehru-Gandhi
leadership. Some senior Congressmen, including ministers, freely give opinion on the running of their colleague's department. The intellectual technocrat, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, everyone feels is a firm believer of Mahatma Gandhi's "Hear no evil, see no evil and talk no evil". UPA president Sonia Gandhi has wisely chosen her advisers who are low key, loyal to her and know the pulse of everything. Delhi-ites are in awe of the Congress at the moment as to how the high command has managed in a subtle manner to put its arrogant regional alliance partners in their place. Pranab saves the day Who is the real boss in the Congress? The day the Budget session of Parliament got over, both Mrs Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh thanked Pranab Mukherjee for helping the government emerge unscathed from a stormy Parliament session. This Bengali Tiger, the main Congress troubleshooter, really saved the government from a lot of embarrassment. The Prime Minister and the Congress president heaved a sigh of relief and lauded Mukherjee for his floor management and thanked him for getting the Finance Bill passed. Later, while chatting with Mukherjee in the Speaker's chamber, Mrs Gandhi told him, "Boss, you must be tired. You should take some leave." Well, now we know that Sonia does give credit where it is due, while being grateful and respects seniority which is rare in today's politics. Fashion shows by kids India is the new hub for everything. We know that even toddlers today are more savvy and aware of the world than my generation was. As the holiday season in Delhi starts, international brands of kids clothing find their way to fashion shows. The models are from 3 to 10 years old. The hottest selling show-stopper is Sushmita Sen's daughter Renee. How can Indian designers be left behind? Ritu Beri has her daughter always on show when she has a fashion show for kids. They have ranges from swimsuits to lehenga-cholis and salwaar-kameez. The fashion shows are held in Mc-Donalds, ice-cream parlours and five-star hotels' swimming pools. Mothers accompanying the kids are dressed to kill in their shorts and designer sunglasses. They are there to cheer their kids. New age, new trends. Actually to see the kids in this scorching heat modelling while they should be playing indoor games is not a pleasing sight while pushy wannabe mothers urge them on. During our time we were sent to kathakali, paintings, shalokas learning and music classes so that we were in touch with our culture. Kids today are well informed about the designer and the prices of their outfits. Where is innocence that we all love in our children? |
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