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Attacks on civilians
Shrinking investment options
Nepal back from the brink |
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Different aspects of Maoist problem
Regret slips
Caste cacophony
Canada fuels global warming
Chatterati
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Attacks on civilians IT is deeply regrettable that Maoists are moving away from their avowed code of conduct not to attack civilians. Significantly, earlier this month when a bomb exploded under a crowded bus in Chhattisgarh’s jungles killing 24 civilians, a spokesperson of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) had said that they were sorry but it could not be helped. Even that veneer of remorse was missing when they engineered the derailment of the Mumbai-bound Gyaneshwar Express in West Midnapore district taking at least 140 lives and injuring many more on Friday. Posters were left at the site of the derailment that the attack was carried out to protest ‘atrocities’ by the CPM. That the attack was part of a week-long protest organised by the Maoists is now clear. It is, therefore, imperative that the Central and state governments gear up to deal with this heightened threat to those who were hitherto not in the line of fire but now are. The Maoists are daring to step up attacks primarily because there is dissonance within the UPA and a demonstrable lack of political will to take on these outlaws. There was the recent case of Home Minister Chidambaram confessing that he had only a restricted mandate to deal with the Maoists while Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh sympathetically described them as misled ideologues and former minister Mani Shankar Aiyar supported the latter. Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee until recently saw the Maoists as indirect allies against the Left parties and is only now waking up to the reality of the need to combat them. The signals that go out to the Maoists are, therefore, of a weak will to deal with them. The Gyaneshwar Express sabotage should convince the Central and state governments that soft options to deal with the Maoists are over. It is imperative that the establishment comes down hard on these insurgents who are waging a no-holds-barred battle against the state. While it is our case that the living conditions of the tribals be improved so that they do not get weaned away towards extremism, any group that takes the law into its own hands and takes to insurgency must be dealt with firmly.
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Shrinking investment options THERE are no longer any safe havens for investment. Surplus global capital is moving from one territory to another. As the Greek debt crisis fallout has gone beyond Europe, stock markets have become volatile, alternating between bouts of steep fall and rise. The latest thinking is that the European and US recovery, propped up by massive government spending, is in danger as governments have piled up huge debts, which they now find hard to handle. After Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain are problem areas. Germans are reluctant to help fellow Europeans as they angrily but helplessly watch the erosion of their wealth due to a consistently falling euro. Untouched by the euro troubles, Britain must be patting itself on the back for sticking to its own currency. Though oil has reversed its downward journey along with the stock markets, it no longer provides a comfortable zone to investors. The latest craze is gold, which is ruling at or near its high. Investment at this stage is risky. If the euro zone stays calm and fears of double-dip recession recede, capital could return to the equity, oil and currency markets, leaving gold to a free fall. On the contrary, so much cheap money is floating around with the interest rates near zero in the US that gold may retain its appeal as a safe investment haven and even rise further. India and other emerging markets are still the preferred destinations for investment as the developed world sorts out its problems. For years rich Indians parked their black money in Swiss banks. Though these banks offer no interest and even charge a fee for keeping money, depositors preferred them as they could carry out transactions just on the phone. Since the unaccounted money kept in Swiss banks became an issue, many have deserted the banks for safer areas like real estate. Now banks are chasing clients with a red carpet. It is an uncertain world.
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Nepal back from the brink THE three major political parties in Nepal have finally managed to pull the country from the brink of a looming political crisis by hammering out a last-minute agreement hours before the life of the Constituent Assembly was to expire on Friday at midnight. Pressure from civil society leaders, who had threatened to keep the lawmakers confined to the building till they agreed to extend the Assembly’s life by one more year to frame a new constitution, was largely responsible for cementing the accord. The Prime Minister, Mr Madhav Kumar Nepal, whose resignation was being sought by the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) as a pre-condition to their cooperation, apparently offered to step down but only after the three principal parties agreed to a ‘package’ for peace. Observers believe that the UCPN (Maoist) will be asked to honour its past commitments, dismantle its militia called the Young Communist League, surrender arms and return the property taken over by them by force to their rightful owners as part of this package. But judging by the Maoists’ past conduct, there are serious doubts over their ability or willingness to do so. In the past one year they have tried their utmost to force the country into political turmoil by first demanding the sacking of the then Army Chief and followed it up with the demand that President Ram Baran Yadav should step down. The blackmailing culminated with the demand that the Prime Minister must resign first before the Constituent Assembly is allowed to function. While the UCPN(Maoist) did secure 38 per cent of the popular votes and emerged as the single largest party with 229 members in a House of 601, it is yet to learn to abide by the opinion of the majority and honour democratic principles. Its ability, therefore, to change its spots is doubtful at best. The suspense in Nepal is, therefore, bound to continue till the parties reach an agreement on power-sharing and form a new government of ‘national consensus’. The sooner they do it, faster will they be able to initiate measures for national reconstruction. Nepal does need a responsible government as well as a responsible opposition and one can only hope that the leaders will not fail the people again.
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Crime doesn’t pay. — An American proverb
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Different aspects of Maoist problem THE May 28 train derailment caused by Maoists resulting in the death of 140 persons, the April 6 massacre of 75 CRPF personnel, the blowing up of a bus near Sukma in which 44 civilians and special police officers were killed and the almost daily instances of disrupted communications and violence in the “red corridor” have brought the long-festering Maoist insurgency to the centre-stage of India’s internal security threats. It has also highlighted our hollowness and incompetence to deal with the problem at the strategic, operational and tactical levels. Though the origin of the Maoists’ movement can be traced back to the 1960s when the Naxalites started operating in various parts of the country, the Maoists emerged as a real internal security threat when the Peoples’ War Group and the Maoist Communist Centre joined hands in 2004 and formed the CPI (Maoists) to fight against the Indian state. The bane of our counter-Maoists strategy, even after watching what has happened in Nepal, has been a lack of lucidity in analysis and consistency in formulating and implementing a viable strategy. It is evident that the Central government has woken up now but the desirable synergy with the state governments concerned is yet to be achieved. Besides, there are many powerful NGOs and the media who still consider that the Maoists are nothing more than today’s avatars of Robin Hood. As a nation, which has considerable experience of countering insurgencies and terrorism — in Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur, Tripura, Assam, West Bengal, Punjab, J&K, and Sri Lanka — it is disheartening to see that our home security machinery has not been able to learn lessons from the past. The root causes of the Maoist problem in tribal areas are the loopholes in the Indian Forest Conservation Act, the Mining Act, the land acquisition law, the power plant law, etc. Until the necessary measures are taken by the government to reform these acts, it will not be possible to uproot the Maoists’ movement or any other left wing extremist problem. Even more important is the need to address governance through good administration, prompt and fair judiciary, and the law and order machinery that inspires public confidence. The development-versus-military action debate reflects political naivety. No one can deny that the long neglected tribal areas require comprehensive and accelerated development projects. But is it possible to carry out governance and development in an area where the writ of the state does not run and everyone in the state machinery fears for his life? And who is responsible for the developmental neglect of the tribal areas so far? The quelling of Maoist violence has been rendered difficult because, according to the Constitution, law and order is a state subject. There is no clarity on more serious situations like across-the-states insurgencies. The policing authority is vested with state governments. This makes the Central government incapable of directly affecting the quality of policing, which is the cause for much of the problems in managing insurgencies. Unfortunately, the state governments devote little attention to this important issue and very often refuse to recognise the basic linkage between normal policing and insurgency. They have neither the resources nor the inclination to upgrade the quality of the state police nor the capacity to raise extra forces without substantial financial help from the Centre. They let the situation deteriorate till it blows out of their control. Lately, the Finance Commission has allocated a huge amount to the states for the purpose of police training. But, as evident from the recent incidents, the police force is still in a pretty bad shape. In many areas, the actual number of police personnel is much lower than the posts sanctioned. A huge number of police posts lie vacant. There is far too much of political interference in the professional functioning of police organisations in the states. The law enforcement agencies across the country, without exception, are in a state of disrepair. Unless these are re-invigorated and energised, we cannot achieve the desired results. The responsibility without resources at the state level and the lack of accountability at the state and Centre levels need to be resolved quickly. Three suggestions need to be made on the employment of armed forces against the Maoists: One, military pressure alone cannot resolve matters unless there is good governance and a strong thrust on socio-political and socio-economic issues. Political leadership and civil administration have to govern the affected areas (and the rest of the country) with greater commitment and efficiency. Two, protracted and excessive employment of the Army leads to the law of diminishing returns. The reasons are as follows: (a) Over-dependence on the Army reflects lack of trust and faith in the capability of the state and central armed police and para-military forces. Also, after a while locals start treating the Army as another police force. (b) The armed forces require legal cover under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act to handle such situations effectively. (c) Such deployments and prolonged duties have an adverse impact on the Army’s discipline, morale and operational effectiveness. (d) During a war/war-like situation the Army needs public support. It cannot afford to alienate the local population as is currently happening in Manipur and to some extent in J & K and Assam. The excessive use of the army in such situations is neither good for the Army nor the nation. As far as the Air Force is concerned, utilisation of their capabilities in jungle terrain has to be discussed with them first before we seek Cabinet approvals. It would be counter-productive to use the Air Force in any offensive role unless the situation gets totally out of hand. The Home Minister in recent months has outlined a series of organisational and systemic measures for revamping India’s internal security architecture and greater synergy in internal security operations. But he has paid little attention to the human resource factor (the man behind the gun!) in the homeland security forces and its development. The following points need his immediate attention: A police officer trained for town policing and protective duties is not oriented or trained to carry out search and destroy missions against guerrillas in jungles. At present, the senior hierarchy in all the state armed and Central police forces (CPOs) comes from such officers. The Central police forces when allocated to a state have to function under the Director-General of Police of the state. The direct entry cadre commissioned and brought up in these units has no role at the policy and planning level. The state armed police and the CPOs on counter-insurgency/guerrilla operational tasks and missions require different rules of engagement, training, equipment, leadership and man management. People who have worked alongside the CRPF are aware of the constant moves of their companies at short notice, non-existent command and control at the battalion level, their inhuman living conditions, poor physical fitness, and lack of the basic equipment like bullet-proof jackets, radio sets, bullet-proof and mine-protected vehicles. How can we expect high results from such psychologically depressed personnel? Counter-insurgency operations against the Maoists require integrated operations because insurgents when pursued in one state manage to take shelter in the neighbouring states. Every major operation requires detailed planning, coordination, and follow-up on the intelligence and combat aspects. Inter-state coordination and disputes over the state or Central responsibility can be resolved if there are effective Unified Command Headquarters with clear-cut political, operational and coordinating responsibilities. We need a synergised Centre-state strategy and doctrine to deal with the different aspects of the Maoist insurgency. This should cover the earlier mentioned internal security-related reforms as well as policies on accelerated economic development and social justice in the affected
areas. The writer is a former Army Chief.
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Regret slips THOSE were the days when one received a cheque as remuneration for a published piece along with a clipping of it. But there were infamous regret slips too. A kind of good gesture from the editors for your creative effort was also the token of their advice and intention to tone up and try again. Their “acknowledgement” was generally taken by you a little shyly in right earnest, but most of the times with a pinch of salt, for it did pinch you a bit and almost rubbed salt into your injured self (acquired) respect! Before the advent of the system of sending messages by email or through the fax and telex machines, the regret slips were sent unlike these days, when you keep guessing for the fate of your “creation”. They gave a mixed feeling of grief and joy to me. Grief, for my piece was declared “killed”, and joy, for it came with an acknowledgement from none other than the editor himself. And, generally, as the masthead impression of that particular newspaper was there on the regret slip, it gave an enhanced joy of receiving something from an august office. At least your name was there on the envelope, and you could boast that it had a cheque in it, if not a clipping of your printed piece with your byline. No one would know the reality of the receipt of a disheartening and disquieting regret slip. But the regret slip got the pride of place in at least my scheme of things. I gazed at it with adulation, for here was proof that my piece had been at least touched by the editor himself, the (str)etched out impression of his blue or red pencil notwithstanding. I held all the regret slips as the most sacrosanct documents, almost like Bhoj-Patras — holy leaves of an epic. I have known nobler souls who acquired and boasted of the collections of regret slips. They kept telling others about their “passion” for writing, but they never mentioned what they felt when “heartless” editors ruthlessly cleared their files of articles, unmindful of the writers’ emotions. I could make out from the way the regret slip was either pinned or stapled or even folded with my “failed missile” if at all it got the desired treatment. In that case, I would send it to some other newspaper, and sometimes this led to the write-up appearing in the paper’s columns, giving me a thrill of sorts. Once in a while I felt like getting mad when I received my articles back — which had the editor’s punches marked here and there in the first and second paragraphs — with a big ‘R’ scribbled in a corner and rounded off, trying to make me realise that it was a piece beyond repair. This kind of a slip plus the rejected piece always haunted me if I chose to preserve them, which I did, but with a feeling that “I was a gone case — will never grow to become a writer like so and so!” All said and done, the regret slips were good indicators that you were not getting cheques, not too soon. Or
never!
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Caste cacophony
THE population census 2011 might have a head-count based on an individual’s caste. During the discussion on the Bill, Parliament witnessed some ugly scenes involving proponents and opponents of the caste-based census. To an informed and objective observer, the antics in Parliament and the media splash, TV debates included, appear nothing but a hyped cacophony! The opponents of the caste census want to project themselves as modern, enlightened and liberal citizens of the 21st century. In their eyes the caste system is an anachronism of the past, a divisive issue better not to be mentioned and talked about. But will it disappear just by not mentioning? It is a naïve and simplistic assumption not reflective of the realities on the ground. Its advocates suffer from an ostrich syndrome and betray hypocrisy. The caste system is kicking and alive. It manifests differently now; it has evolved. The burning of huts of Dalits, raping of Dalit women, parading them naked, refusing them entry into temples, barring them from drawing water from the common well of the village and shooting them down for asking higher wages still make headlines in the media, but much less frequently than earlier. But these extreme cases which will make any liberal individual hang his/her head with shame do occur. The annual report of the Parliamentary Committee on atrocities on the SCs/STs has been submitting information, year after year, listing thousands of cases of atrocities. But none of the leading newspapers carry this. TV channels don’t debate it either. Apparently, it isn’t sexy enough! Just by dropping his/her caste from the name doesn’t make an individual more enlightened and free from prejudices. I have come across many persons who used their castes with their names but they were quite broad-minded and liberal. On the other hand, I know several eminent persons who never used their castes with their names, but they are rabidly casteist. The fact is, the caste feelings germinate and breed in mind. The supporters of the caste census claim that it will help target more effectively those who need affirmative action. Quarter of a century back Rajiv Gandhi claimed that only 15 paise of every rupee sanctioned by the government for schemes meant for the poor reached them, the rest was eaten up on the way. His son Rahul Gandhi claimed last year that now hardly 10 paise of a rupee reached the poor. Is it happening because of the absence of a caste census? So long as we have millions of corrupt officials, even the best schemes/measures won’t produce the desired results, caste census or no caste census. In 1995 before taking over as India’s Ambassador to Libya, while on a 10-day Bharat Darshan, I paid a courtesy call on the Governor in Chennai. I wished the Governor and told him my name and added that I would soon be leaving for Triploi, capital of Libya, to serve as the Ambassador India. He mumbled: “I am sorry; I couldn’t catch your name!” So I repeated my name this time rather slowly and loudly. “But what is your full name,” the Governor asked. “This is all I have for this life”, I replied curtly. He relapsed in to silence. He showed no curiosity about Libya as a country, its mercurial leader Col Qaddafi, India’s relations with it etc. His disinterest was palpable. He seemed to be wrestling with something profoundly serious. “OK, if this is your full name, what is your caste?” he eventually blurted out. So, this was what was bothering him! He was looking for the most relevant info before he could initiate a polite conversation. That Governor, later on, rose to become the Vice President of India! And he never used his caste with his name. Incidentally, he was once branded as a Young Turk! He was a politician so we can excuse him. But are bureaucrats any better? Certainly not! In 1979 when I was serving in Hong Kong as the First Secretary (Trade & Commerce), the Additional Secretary (Admn)in the MEA visited Hong Kong leading a team of Foreign Service Inspectors. When we met, after exchanging pleasantries, he asked me, “So Surinder, are you a Mathur? I shook my head in the negative. Sharma? Nopp! May be Agarwal? No, sir! While his curiosity was increasing, I was getting irritated. So when he asked if I might be a Gupta, I couldn’t control. I told him sarcastically, “Sir you are the Head of the Admn in the Ministry, PA Sec comes under you; they have a whole dossier on me. On your return, please ask them to put it up to you; it has all the info about me which you are looking for”. This caste-conscious officer later on became the Foreign Secretary and ended his career as the Governor! He too never used his caste with his name. When the Vice President of India visited the UK in 1988, I organised an interview with Kailash Budhwar, Head of the Hindi Service of the BBC’s world Service with over 43 million listeners in South Asia, Mauritius, Fiji, Surinam, South Africa and Africa and the Gulf countries. Just before Budhwar arrived at his suite in the hotel, the Vice President asked, “Tell me, what is this Budhwar?” I told him, he is a highly respected journalist from India who has been working for the BBC for 28 years. He is quite balanced and unbiased in his comments. “No, no. I didn’t mean that,” the VVIP interrupted. To complete my introduction, I added that Budhwar originally hailed from Punjab in India. This too didn’t satisfy the VP. “Not this! Well, are Budhwars Khatris or Jats?” “I have no clue, sir! I have never tried to find out. He is a good friend and a good journalist. A few years later, the VP became the President of India! Incidentally, he had obtained his Master’s degree from Cambridge University in the
UK! The writer is a former Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs
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Canada fuels global warming AT a time when climate change is increasingly accepted as the world’s most critical environment problem, it is tragic that some of the world’s richest countries, their multinational corporations and banks are going ahead with pumping billions into tar sands development.
Called the world’s biggest industrial project, the mining and refining of tar sands in a stretch of 14,0000 sq. km (equivalent of the area of England) in Alberta province of Canada has the potential of accelerating climate change beyond the much-feared ‘tipping point’. In the case of tar sands, the extraction process emits 3 to 5 times more carbon dioxide compared to conventional oil. Tar sands are sticky deposits of bitumen mixed with sand and clay. The biggest exploitation of tar sands has so far taken place in Canada where this have caused the world’s second largest destruction of forests and endangered the life of indigenous people. Deeper deposits can only be mined by injecting massive amounts of steam for melting bitumen. Sometimes 6 to 12 barrels of steam may be required to melt just 1 barrel of bitumen. One fifth of Canada’s natural gas is being grabbed by these giant steam plants. Annually 40 megatonnes of greenhouse gases are released by this exploitation of sand tars in Alberta. The associated problems of waste generation and water pollution are massive. Despite these huge environmental costs, big oil multinationals and banks have pumped in up to 86 billion dollars during the last decade for this project, while an additional investment of 125 billion dollars is expected. The reason why heavy environmental costs are being ignored is that Canada can now claim to have the second largest oil reserves in the world (next only to Saudi Arabia) and has already become the biggest oil supplier to the USA. Tar sands in Alberta already yield 1.3 million barrels of oil a day and this can go up to 3 to 5 million barrels by 2020. Even though tar sands oil is more costly in economic as well as environmental terms, its availability next door to the biggest consumer (USA) is being regarded as a big reason to justify heavy investments. But environmentalists are understandably worried at its higher capacity for pollution and global warming. They also fear that the availability of more oil means the USA may slow down the drive for new, renewable, environmentally safer sources of energy. The environmental concerns will increase as tar sands projects and somewhat similar tar shale projects (called ‘the rocks that burn’) come up in other parts of the world. An upcoming tar shale exploitation in Jordan, for instance, has faced increasing criticism as it’ll require huge amounts of water in a water scarce area. As tar sand oil is less clean and of low quality, refineries have to be upgraded to process it. A refinery in Indiana (USA) which is being upgraded to take in tar sands oil is facing opposition by local people who argue that refining the low quality oil will substantially increase pollution risks to local people. The new or upgraded refinery will emit 21 per cent more microscopic particulates, 20 per cent more sulphur dioxide and 25 per cent more lead, plus as much extra CO2 as a coal power station. But this is nothing compared to the pollution levels to which the indigenous population of Alberta (Canada) living in tar sands areas has been exposed. Their life which had always been close to the lap of nature has been badly ravaged and threatened. The tailings ponds of waste in this area are so poisonous that 1600 ducks died instantly after landing
accidently on one of these ponds. After a long wait the voice of these indigenous people is now being heard at least to some extent. They have said that for them this is a question of survival as their life pattern just can’t survive, this onslaught of tar sands exploitation. The wider environmental movement is also gearing up to challenge the growth and expansion of tar sands exploitation so that the cleaner paths of renewable energy can get more attention and support.
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Chatterati Delhi-ites were really amused when at a rally in the Ramlila Grounds Gadkari fainted due to a heat stroke. Fortunately for him, Advani’s Z-category security men were around who carried Gadkari to Advani’s car which was the nearest and gave a cold towel and water. Now in May, Gadkari is in Europe. Officiating in his place is Anant Kumar who has always been active as a mediator in the warring groups of the BJP and the Sangh. Advani, in the meantime, is all set to get his old favourites back. Jaswant Singh and Uma Bharti are likely to rejoin the party. Gadkari too wants the parivaar all around him. Soren in Jharkhand ditched them. Top leaders who wanted a berth in the Rajya Sabha like Venkaiah, Rudy and Tarun Vijay were having sleepless nights while Gadkari was cooling himself away from reality.
Women behind successful men The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law duo Barbara and Laura Bush are authors too. They both came out with their books while their husbands were the Presidents of America. Hillary Clinton wrote a book when Bill Clinton was the President. And how can our Prime Minister’s wife be left behind? Manmohan Singh’s wife, Gursharan Kaur, is writing a book and author-cum-columnist Khushwant Singh is helping her. So, hopefully, it will not be a boring book. Will she spill any beans, one wonders. The Prime Minister at a press conference recently claimed that he is advised by not one but two women, Sonia Gandhi and Gursharan Kaur. May be that can be a contribution to his success in running a successful coalition government. The Prime Minister’s daughter Upinder, a scholar in her own right, has authored books like “Ancient Delhi”. Another daughter, Daman, has written a book titled “The Last Frontier: People and Forests in Mizoram” and a novel titled “Nine by Nine”.
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THE BJP is going through a real tough time. This party was supposed to be the main opposition to the ruling coalition. But unfortunately for the nation, it has been a complete flop show. The new president, Nitin Gadkari, has still not got used to the heat of either politics or the mercury rising in the capital. 
It is said, “Behind a man’s success is always a woman”. This is a phenomenon with leaders and successful men all over the world. Former Prime Minister Tony Blair of the UK always claimed that his wife Cherie, a successful lawyer, was his best adviser and critic. In fact, she also came out with a critical book about him and his fellow politicians.