The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Ferret out the truth
Justice Yadav under CBI scanner

Chief Justice of India Justice S.H. Kapadia’s sanction to the CBI to probe Justice Nirmal Yadav’s alleged involvement in the Solan land scam has not come a day too soon. As the cash-at-door case is believed to be linked to the Solan land deal, the CJI’s decision is a blow to Justice Yadav, who was transferred from the Punjab and Haryana High Court to the Uttarakhand High Court after being relieved of court work for an year. The case had rocked the nation after a packet of Rs 15 lakh was wrongly delivered to the official residence of Justice Nirmaljit Kaur of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Chandigarh on August 13, 2008, apparently as a bribe for the land deal. Later, it was alleged that the money was meant for Justice Nirmal Yadav. The case had several twists and turns. Justice Yadav got some relief after her transfer to Nainital, former Attorney General Milon Banerjee’s clean chit to her, and former CJI Justice K.G. Balakrishnan’s refusal to sanction her prosecution.

Now that Chief Justice Kapadia has cleared the decks for the CBI probe, the country’s premier investigating agency should try its best to ferret out the truth behind the scam. As the cash-at-door scandal has sullied the reputation of the higher judiciary, the CBI should get to the roots of the malaise and find out the possibility of a linkage between the cash bag and the land deal as also Justice Nirmal Yadav’s alleged involvement. Indeed, the CBI, in course of its earlier investigation, reportedly came across a land deal and her property details. It is said that she, her brother and relatives own a plot measuring 11.1 bighas in Solan district of Himachal Pradesh.

There is no bar on Justice Nirmal Yadav to own land anywhere in the country. However, if there is a linkage between the cash-at-door scam and the land deal in question, she is liable for prosecution in accordance with the law. Judges should act as exemplary role models in society and if they themselves are found to be corrupt and involved in murky land deals, the people’s faith and confidence in the judiciary will get eroded. The CBI has a duty to probe the case in a free and fair manner, bring the guilty to book expeditiously and to purge the judiciary of the malcontents.

Blair bares
A clever attempt to sell

Politicians seldom bare all in their autobiographies. It would have been unrealistic, therefore, to expect the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair to reveal everything related to his 10-year long stay at 10, Downing Street. But by all available accounts, his autobiography, somewhat unimaginatively titled ‘A Journey’, provides sufficiently intimate details, including his reliance on alcohol as ‘prop’, on his own sex life and extra-marital affairs of his fellow politicians, spiced up with enough indiscreet comments to sell well. Blair claims to have written the book himself and ‘in long hand’ and cannot be faulted for restraint. He candidly describes the British queen as ‘haughty’, late princess Diana as a ‘manipulator’ and former US President Bill Clinton as ‘not so very different from most men’. The unkindest cut, however, is reserved for his friend-turned-foe and successor, Gordon Brown, who was ‘difficult’ and ‘maddening’ with ‘zero Emotional Intelligence’.

Politicians, it is said, are people who fell a tree and then mount the stump to deliver a speech on conservation. An even more uncharitable view, held for long, is that politicians are people who lay down your lives for their country. Blair reinforces the stereotype when he writes, “ Politicians are obliged from time to time to conceal the full truth, to bend it and even distort it.” His own version of why he went along with the invasion of Iraq would, therefore, be taken with a pinch of salt. He admits that he had not anticipated the nightmare that would unfold in Iraq but still maintains that he has no regret for the ‘honourable, strategic decision’. He is ‘desperately sorry’ for the lives lost in Iraq but continues to defend the decision. Worse, he then goes on record to suggest that the West cannot afford to take a risk on Iran and should prepare to bomb the country’s nuclear installations.

Of particular interest to India is the chapter on how Blair brokered peace in Northern Ireland. “ No peace process can succeed without grip. Someone has to take charge and maintain it, day after day, even if it takes many years,” he writes, noting that in the Middle-East there were too many gaps and too many people involved for a sustained dialogue. While the book has been criticised as an attempt to re-write history seen on the rear-view mirror, one wishes more Indian politicians would take the cue and jump on the bandwagon and with more candour than displayed by either Jaswant Singh or Somnath Chatterjee.

Thought for the Day

A country is a piece of land surrounded on all sides by boundaries, usually unnatural. — Joseph Heller

ARTICLE

India’s nuclear vision
The big challenges ahead
by O.P. Sabherwal

The Indian nuclear scene has acquired a new look. The nuclear programme has been enlarged many times over in a short span after the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group lifted sanctions on India’s nuclear interaction with the world.

What speaks out is the target of 20,000 MWe by 2020. This target - once considered tough - has now been pushed up to 30,000 / 40,000 Mwe, about double the original target. The target by 2030 has been pitched at 63000 MWe, which is about 35 per cent of the present total power capacity of the country, projecting nuclear power as the largest ingredient.

Are the targets achievable? The enlarged 2020 target is achievable if one takes into account the 30,000 MWe advanced light water reactors planned to be imported from leading nuclear powers in the next decade and a half. Add to that an accelerated indigenous construction of 700 MWe pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWRs), mapped out by the NPCIL, and the chain of 500 MW Fast Breeders that are to follow the prototype 500 MW FBR - now under construction at Kalpakkam under the aegis of BHAVINI.

These projections pose formidable challenges no doubt - both for the light water reactors to be set up in collaboration with France, Russia, the United States and Japan, and in building a chain of indigenous PHWRs and FBRs. It is the capability built by the Indian nuclear establishment over the entire gamut of nuclear technology through five decades — a chain of R&D centres, nuclear infrastructure and 20 operating nuclear power reactors — that gives the promise that the challenges will be met.

The scenario on the ground shows vibrant activity. The NPCIL is pushing ahead with the construction of a fresh chain of indigenously built PHWRs. After having upgraded reactor design from 220 MWe to 540 MWe at Tarapur 3 and 4 reactors, the upcoming build-up is of 700 MWe reactors.

Construction has been launched of four 700 MWe reactors at two sites where some of the best PHWRs in the world have been built by the Indian nuclear establishment - Kakrapar in Gujarat and Rawatbhata in Rajasthan. Here, the construction of Kakrapar 3 and 4 and Rajasthan 7 and 8 has been launched. Together, these four reactors will add 2800 MWe of nuclear power to the present 4780 MWe. The target year of the four reactors is 2015.

Sites have also been cleared for the construction of four indigenous 700 MWe PHWRs at Kumharia in Haryana, and two 700 MWe PHWRs at Bargi in Madhya Pradesh. While the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) has approved of the two sites, and environmental clearance has been forthcoming, the government has still to process the setting up of these reactors for financial allocation. It is likely that the construction of the Kumharia power project may be launched in 2012 and reactor construction at Bargi may commence a year later.

As for fast breeders, BHAVINI is planning within the target year 2020 construction of two more 500 MW FBRs, based on the experience of the prototype fast breeder at Kalpakkam. In totality, the indigenous programme is sure to add well over 10,000 MWe nuclear capacity to the power grid by 2020. A daunting feat, but one that the Indian nuclear scientists are without doubt capable of achieving.

For inducting advanced light water reactors from major nuclear powers, the NPCIL is in the process of setting up five nuclear energy parks, each with the capacity of building up to 10000 MWe power generation. By 2030, about 30 to 40 GWe would be built at these nuclear parks from advanced light water reactors.

These nuclear energy parks are to be at the following places: Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu, where two Russian VVER reactors, with a capacity of 1000 MWe each, are already in an advanced stage of construction. Kudankulam 1 and 2 will be commissioned early next year. “Technical specifications and price negotiations for (Kudankulam) unit 3 and 4 are in the final stages....By December, we will sign a contract with Russia,” says the NPCIL chairperson and MD, Mr S.K. Jain. There is place at Kudankulam for two more pairs of Russian VVERs, taking the total capacity of Russian VVERs to 6000 MWe.

Jaitapur in Maharashtra: Preliminary work at this nuclear park is likely to commence shortly, meant for French company Areva’s EPR reactors (European Pressurised Water Reactors), each reactor generating 1600 MWe capacity. Environmental approval has been given for the proposed nuclear units. For the present, negotiations with Areva are focused on the construction of two EPR reactors, capable of generating 3200 MWe. Environmental approval has been given for the proposed nuclear units.

Kovvada in Andhra Pradesh is to host US technology reactors, possibly GE-Hitachi ABWR or ESBWR boiling water reactors. These are among the most advanced 1400 MWe reactors. The NPCIL has initiated pre-project work here, and environmental clearance for nuclear power generation has been given.

Mithi Virdi (or Chayamithi Virdi) in Gujarat is to host US technology (possibly Westinghouse AP1000 reactors. Here, too, pre-project activities have been initiated, and environmental clearance for nuclear power generation obtained.

Haripur in West Bengal is to host overflow of Russian VVER-1200 MWe units. There is, however, resistance from local political parties and an agitation of sorts is putting in doubt the future of this nuclear park.

After a break of three decades Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd (AECL) has displayed keenness for nuclear technology cooperation with India. Besides interaction on PHWR technology — Canada and India hold this in common — Canada has also held preliminary discussions regarding the sale of two ACR-1000 reactors of pressurised heavy water design.

In August 2009, the NPCIL signed agreements with the Korea Electric Power Co. (KEPCO) to study the prospects of building Korean APR-1400 reactors in India. A nuclear cooperation agreement between India and South Korea is, however, yet to be signed.

As things stand, discussions between India’s nuclear establishment for advanced light water reactors are at varying stages with Russia, France, the US, Japan and others such as South Korea and Canada. Russia and France are in the forefront, with US technology leaders GE-Hitachi and Westinghouse close on their heels. Hectic and eventful negotiations are billed in 2010 and early next year to give a final shape to India’s induction of these advanced reactors. These discussions are complex for they will focus not only on the price but also the design of the reactors in the backdrop of a global surge in nuclear energy and development of advanced reactor designs, with ever-improving safety features.

Meanwhile, two other major developments are to be noted. First, the US and India have agreed on procedures for reprocessing spent nuclear fuel from US technology reactors. Second, prospects of a massive enlargement of the Indian nuclear industry - in the private sector mostly but also companies such as BHEL and the NTPC in the public sector - to meet the needs of the big thrust in Indian nuclear capacity development are taking shape. Inter-company agreements are being shaped between Indian companies and foreign nuclear giants, opening the prospects of Indian private sector participation in imported reactors in a significant way.

There are challenging tasks ahead for India. First, absorbing the new light water reactor technology that advanced reactors from France, Russia and the United States will bring. Second, there is need to give a big push to the indigenously built PHWRs and Fast Breeders. Third challenge lies in enlarging India’s nuclear industry in a big way - indispensable to meet both indigenous construction as well as the build-up of foreign light water reactors.

Indeed, India’s nuclear programme is to be the torch-bearer of the country’s advance as a global economic power in the decades ahead.

MIDDLE

Not welcome at home
by Tejinder Singh Sodhi

I was born in Kashmir and spent my adolescence and youth here. I can never imagine a home away from the valley. Whenever away, I always wanted to return to my valley.

I feel safe in Kashmir. Ghulam Hassan, Abdul Jabbar and so on are not just Muslim names for me. They are my childhood friends, my neighbours, the people who stood by me during various ups and downs of life.

I witnessed the peak days of militancy when I saw militants walking on the road openly carrying weapons. I am witness to the time when the emotions were charged, but I was never harmed. I saw the exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits from the valley. I had sympathy for them as they left everything they had but I was never harmed.

But for the past few weeks things have changed. Some miscreants chopped the hair of one of my community member. One of the places of my worship was attacked, but again the same Ghulam Hassan and Abdul Jabbar came to my rescue and shoed away the culprits and warned them of severe consequences.

Now some anonymous letters were dropped at my house and my place of worship asking me to embrace Islam or leave the valley, come out to pelt stone or leave the valley otherwise I would be subjected to severe consequences.

The leaders of my community were assured by the separatist leaders that they want me to live in the valley and don’t want me to leave the way the Kashmiri Pandits did, but sometimes I do wonder: do I need permission from separatists to live in my own house?

For the first time in the past two decades of turmoil in the valley, my parents are worried about my safety. Whenever I go out to work, my mother calls me many times to know whether I was safe and when I would return home.

While travelling in a public vehicle I feel insecure. Though everyone says that the people who are threatening me are only a handful of miscreants, but now I look on everyone with an eye of suspicion. Because of that handful of miscreants I now doubt even Ghulam Hassan and Abdul Jabbar.

For centuries I have been living in peace with the majority community I am a member of the minority Sikh community and due to those handful of miscreants I won’t leave my house but I know that 35 members of my community were gunned down when Bill Clinton arrived in India and now Barack Obama is scheduled to come. Will it be the final nail in the coffin for the exodus of my community?

I know my valley. Every time an innocent is killed here the perpetrator of the crime is always a miscreant. I know and have faith that the majority community always stands with me, but these are the handful of miscreants who have the potential to harm me and miscreants don’t belong to a community and they don’t have any secular feelings that are the basic ethos of my Kashmir. Still …

OPED NEIGHBOURS

How China emerged as new economic giant
Three decades of economic reforms have changed the entire socio-economic landscape of China. Now, China is one of the most important engines of economic growth in the world. It is the world's fourth largest exporter
B. R. Deepak

In 1991 when I visited China for the first time, I could witness a total but gradual transformation of the Mao-era planned economy of China to Deng's socialist market economy. Deng Xiaoping, the man who personally experienced the excesses and mistakes of the 1960s and 1970s, foresaw that only reform and opening to the outside world could save the country and help it recover the immense ground it had lost. This notion was conceptualised during the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China by way of adopting the policy of "reform and open door" in 1978. Since then China has undergone a profound transformation never seen before. In a short span of 32 years, China's GDP increased from $147.3 billion in 1978 to about $5 trillion in 2010, becoming the second largest economy in the world after the United States. The number of rural poor has dwindled from some 250 million to 15 million. The overall national strength of China has increased remarkably and the texture of life of its people improved steadily.

How did this happen? China initiated reforms in three stages. During the first stage (between 1978 and early 1980s), rural reforms were initiated that involved the decollectivisation of agriculture, the opening up of the country to foreign investment, and allowing the entrepreneurs to establish private business. During the second stage (between mid-1980s and 1990s) China initiated privatisation of the state-owned enterprises, liberalisation of prices and decentralisation of state control.

During the third stage (between early 1990s and mid-2000) large-scale privatisation got intensified. Most of the state enterprises, except for a few large monopolies such as those in banking, oil and telecom sectors, were liquidated and their assets sold to private investors.

During the early years of this decade, China further reduced various tariff barriers and regulations, initiated reforms in the banking sector and social welfare, joined the World Trade Organisation, and in 2006 abolished altogether agricultural tax and levies, which to a large extent stabilised the countryside and enhanced peasants' income.

How did China manage to experiment the model of socialist market economy? Though the pace of economic reforms as well as economic growth was feverish, China initially experimented with the model in a few Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and then gradually replicated them in the other parts of the country. During the first phase of the economic reforms, when China carried out agricultural reforms, it simultaneously established four SEZs in the form of Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Xiamen and Shantou for foreign investment that were relatively free of the bureaucratic regulations and government intervention. Once these regions became engines of growth, China created Pudong in Shanghai and Hainan province as two more SEZs in 1990. Between 1980 and 2009, the average annual growth rate of the gross domestic product (GDP) of Shenzhen was around 25 per cent. In 2009, Shenzhen's per capita GDP ranked first in the country at more than $8,619 compared to the national average of about $3900.

It would not be wrong to assert that China's industrial structure is, in fact, the reflection of Shenzhen's industrial structure, which has transformed from a traditional industry to a hi-tech industry, from small-scale to large-scale, and from assembling and processing to independent manufacturing. Certain sectors such as telecommunications, computer hardware and electronics account for over two-thirds of the total industrial output in Shenzhen. Huawei and ZTE, the telecom giants of China, could be regarded as the two of the most successful brand names the Shenzhen SEZ could have produced.

Even after three decades, Shenzhen remains one of the most attractive destinations for foreign investment. Over 100 companies from the Fortune 500 have invested in Shenzhen. Various factors have contributed to the success of reforms in China and especially Shenzhen. Being the first SEZ, Shenzhen was seen as an experiment for nationwide comprehensive reforms. First and foremost, its geographical proximity to Hong Kong and logistical advantages weighed heavily in favour of Shenzhen. Secondly, in order to enhance its competitiveness, Shenzhen enjoyed exceedingly liberal economic policies — for example, by way of initiating a differential corporate tax system, foreign enterprises paid much less tax than domestic enterprises. This was one of the reasons why Shenzhen was able to attract unprecedented foreign direct investment (FDI) in such a short time. Thirdly, the competitiveness of the industry was further enhanced by an easy access to finances by enterprises. Even today if the figures are to be believed, Shenzhen has the maximum number of venture capitalists in China.

Finally, the administrative efficiency and efficacy for comprehensive nationwide reforms was also tested in this SEZ. The government ensured single-window clearance for all the foreign-funded as well as domestic enterprises as regards registration and other business procedures. This not only simplified the business processes but also made the system transparent and weeded out corruption at various levels.

There are divergent viewpoints as regards the success of China's economic reforms. However, everyone subscribes to the viewpoint that China is the largest country to have sustained the fastest ever economic growth from liberalisation and globalisation in the shortest time. It would have been impossible for China to realize the desired goals of opening and reforms, had it not decentralised the state authority, and allowed provinces to experiment with various ways to privatise the state-owned enterprises and invigorate the economy. Although we may not attribute all the reforms and opening up to Deng Xiaoping, he is the person who put his stamp of approval on it.

The other viewpoint which is in vogue is that after the success of the SEZs, the provincial leaders competed for FDI and high economic growth, for the economic success story of their provinces catapulted them to higher political positions. Yet the economic reforms in China have their flipside too; for, despite the elimination of extreme poverty, the Chinese growth story has increased rural-urban economic disparity. The challenge thrown up by the increasing social imbalance has rendered millions of rural people disgruntled and disappointed, and have bred various social problems. During my own field investigation in An Hui and other provinces in 2007 while being a fellow at the Rural Development Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, it was evident that the agricultural foundation in China was fragile, farmers’ income was low, and the development of the countryside lagged far behind that of the cities.

Finally, three decades of economic reforms have changed the entire socio-economic landscape of China. Now, China is one of the most important engines of economic growth in the world. It is the world's fourth largest exporter, trading extensively with the European Union, the United States and Japan. It is due to the robust economic growth that even during the days of financial meltdown the world over, China managed to pump in billions of dollars to augment domestic demand. Though growth has created some imbalances, these are unlikely to hinder the overall developmemt in China. Nevertheless, an asymmetry between the economic reforms and political reforms may lead to conflict, and become a hurdle in further deepening of the economic reforms.

The writer is Associate Professor, Centre of Chinese and Southeast Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Window on Pakistan
No respite from terrorist attacks
Syed Nooruzzaman

Terrorists in Pakistan seem to be the least bothered about the country being in serious trouble owing to the devastating floods. They dealt a crippling blow to Lahore on Wednesday by killing 37 Shias participating in a procession taken out to mark the martyrdom of Hazrat Ali, one of the four great caliphs of Islam. A well-known anti-Shia terrorist outfit called the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi al-Alami and the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan have claimed responsibility for the suicide bomb attack.

Some time back terrorists struck at a religious shrine popular among the Sunnis of the Barelvi school, Data Darbar, taking a large number of lives. They tried to justify their heinous act by saying that those who visited the shrine indulged in "shirk", not permitted by Islam as they understood it. As Daily Times commented, "calling them (the terrorists) human beings is a disgrace to mankind".

Wednesday's incident in particular is bound to sharpen the Shia-Sunni divide in Pakistan. One cannot rule out a similar attack on Sunnis by some pro-Shia extremist outfit. There is no dearth of such organisations in Pakistan.

Pakistan's sectarian problem has different hues. The country has been suffering from Shia-Sunni, Muhajir-non-Muhajir, Devbandi-Barelvi and Ahmedi-non-Ahmedi divides for a long time. And there is no solution in sight even today.

It is strange that Wednesday's incident occurred despite intelligence officials having warned the police in advance that there was the likelihood of a suicide bomb attack when Youm-e-Ali procession would be taken out by Shias. The police, however, failed to take any preventive step.

According to The News, there is need for "emergency action to prevent a further distortion of values and ideals in Pakistan. This is more difficult today than would have been the case, say, 10 or 15 years ago, when the cancer of sectarianism first took root. It has now grown to assume the form of a giant monster. Groups such as the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi are understood to have developed links with the Taliban, whose guidance may have enabled these sectarian outfits to develop new strategies and tactics. The result is more death and an expansion in the disquiet that runs through our society."

Lahore not safe on Fridays

Anyone planning to visit Lahore must remember that the cultural capital of Pakistan should be avoided on Fridays. According to media reports, intelligence agencies have described the metropolis as the most sensitive place, particularly when it is a Friday. Most mosques are full of people who go there for prayers together. Terrorists find it easier to strike on such occasions. However, there is no advisory that people should avoid overcrowded mosques. There are other occasions also when large crowds can be seen.

Intelligence officials have criticised the police of Punjab province for not doing enough to save human lives. Police functioning shows a lack of proper planning and an urge to do whatever is possible to prevent terrorist attacks.

Flood relief: unfair to minorities

Some people fail to see beyond castes and communities even during a major crisis. Reports have been received about the discriminatory treatment meted out to flood victims belonging to minority communities in Hyderabad. Dawn wrote a strong editorial on this inhuman behaviour of some people associated with the distribution of aid. The editorial evoked good response from the paper's readers, who condemned the aid organisers.

One letter writer said that the administration should "deal with such a situation with an iron hand, and those found lax should be taken to task". In his opinion, "the discriminatory attitude shown to minorities is not only uncivilised and immoral, but it is also against the very ethos of Islam. According to the Holy Quran and Sunnah, no discrimination is to be shown when it comes to helping people in distress."