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Heavy taxes on oil
Give them opportunities |
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UP’s crime record
Changing power balance in E. Asia
My fast after breakfast
TrustLaw listed Afghanistan, Congo, Pakistan, India and Somalia as the world's five most dangerous countries for women. Can they really be placed on the same page? The abused, mutilated women from the war- ravaged zones, the oppressed women of Talibanised societies and the women of India are all writing different scripts and are not comparable.
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Heavy taxes on oil
By
absorbing a Rs 49,000 crore revenue loss due to tax cuts on petroleum products, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee might have gained the moral high ground to ask states to make similar sacrifices but most states are in dire financial straits due to poor governance and mismanagement. Corruption, red tape and lack of reforms have dented their economic performance. Poor governance deprives states like Punjab a proper share of Central funds. As a result, their capacity for helping people in distress is limited. Delhi and Haryana have the financial muscle and political will to soften the blow of oil price hikes on people, but others like Punjab, Himachal and Uttarakhand can do something on a relatively limited level. Their poor financial condition comes in the way. The stiff hike in the prices of diesel, kerosene and LPG brings the focus back on the unreasonably high taxes on oil. Without taxes, the price of petrol would be almost half of the present market rate. If BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi’s reported figures are to be believed, the government collected Rs 1,35,000 crore in taxes from the petroleum sector last year while paying a total subsidy of Rs 40,430 crore. If the share of state taxes, which comes to Rs 55,000 crore, is separated, the Centre still got Rs 40,000 crore from this sector. Of course, the government collects taxes to run its affairs and pay subsidies to the poor. But the question is: should the diesel prices be raised at a time when inflation is so high and growth is slowing? The whole economy runs on diesel. Instead of taking the easy tax route, there are other ways of raising resources. Wasteful expenditure can be cut. All-pervasive corruption raises the costs for all. Inefficient governments raise taxes to cover up their failures and drive people to protests and tax evasion. A well-governed state has its priorities right. It uses taxes to bring balance in society –taking away a bit from the well-off to help the needy.
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Give them opportunities
Every
year over 50,000 officers and jawans, who are relatively young, retire from the armed forces. They still have much to give to the nation, and the Defence Minister, Mr A K Antony, has rightly focused on the need to re-employ these jawans. While the government has, over the years, tried out various ways in which ex-servicemen can be re-employed, they remain largely on paper and as a result of that the nation loses the services of a trained, disciplined workforce. Ex-servicemen have hands-on work experience in about 300 trades, according to the Minister, and they need to be properly utilised. There has been much talk about vertical induction of ex-servicemen into the para-military forces. This is an obvious solution that would benefit many ex-servicemen, and at the same time provide a much-needed boost to the para-military forces whose resources, both men and material, are stretched tremendously. However, progress on this front has been slow. The Defence Minister’s plea brings much hope, but it remains to be seen how effective it will be. It is unfair to expect the government alone to take care of the problem. The private sector, too, should make space for these skilled individuals and utilise their experience. At the same time, much more needs to be done in providing retiring men and officers the requisite training and education to equip them for civilian life. The armed forces have a long and proud tradition of serving the nation, and it is only fitting that men who are retired when they are still young and far more fit than their civilian counterparts should be looked after not only by being provided pension and other benefits but also by being gainfully employed. The Defence Minister should go beyond the statement and ensure his Cabinet colleagues’ cooperation in securing re-employment avenues for ex-serviceman, both in paramilitary forces and otherwise.
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UP’s crime record
The
Bahujan Samaj Party government in UP, headed by Ms Mayawati, is facing flak for the sharp deterioration in the law and order situation in the politically most important state of the country. Opposition parties particularly cite an alarming rise in the number of rape cases. The Congress organised a state-wide “Nyaya March” on Monday to highlight the point that the state government was unable to control the crime situation effectively. Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party has been trying to use the opportunity to tell the people that the Mayawati government has completely failed on the law and order front. This is what was said about the Mulayam Singh government, too, which influenced voters to favour Ms Mayawati’s paty in the 2007 assembly elections. Though the Chief Minister has been defending her rule, saying that the crime situation in UP is not as bad as it was during Mr Mulayam Singh’s rule, she is showing signs of nervousness with no end to the rise in the incidents of crime, particularly those against the fair sex. She has warned the officials concerned that they will be punished severely for any laxity on their part. Her prompt action in suspending two police officers of Lucknow who tried to falsely implicate a TV journalist in a criminal case should be seen against this backdrop. She has divided the state in three zones and asked the zonal chiefs to regularly keep her abreast of the law and order situation in their respective areas. Clearly, she has started handing the crime problem on a war footing. Interestingly, the National Crime Records Bureau’s figures show that UP’s crime control record is better than many major states, including Delhi. But the available statistics relates to the situation till 2009. Besides this, people in general do not form their opinion on such figures. They go by what is carried in the newspapers and TV channels everyday. The Mayawati government has lost its image of being tough with criminals. This may get reflected in the 2012 assembly elections if the situation remains unchanged by that time.
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Life is the sum of all your choices. — Albert Camus
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Changing power balance in E. Asia
Maritime
disputes in the South China Sea are once again hitting the headlines. Vietnam and China are at odds over a recent incident between a Vietnamese survey ship and Chinese patrol boats in waters off the southern coast of Vietnam, and the Philippines is protesting China's recent unloading of building materials on Amy Douglas Bank, an area claimed by the Philippines. This is a repeat of last year when China’s aggressive behaviour in the South China Sea caused a lot of rancour in the region and beyond. What the present disputes underline, however, is that the geopolitical competition between China and the US is in full swing. The Obama Administration tried to pursue a policy of cooperative strategic engagement vis-à-vis China. It attempted to construct a cooperative partnership under the assumption that China wants to operate within the international order given that the US and China share same threats and interests, including terrorism, economic instability and nuclear proliferation. As was suggested by Hillary Clinton, the multi-polar world would be a multi-partner world where the US could use its unique global role to foster cooperation among major powers for collective benefits. China was key to this worldview. The Obama Administration went all out to woo Beijing - Obama refused to meet the Dalai Lama, did not raise the issue of human rights while visiting China last year, postponed the decision to sell arms to Taiwan and downgraded India in America’s strategic calculus. But China read it as a symbol of US decline and saw it an opportunity to assert itself as never before. The regional allies of the US became nervous and urged the US to restore its traditional leadership in the region. This changing Sino-US dynamic is palpable on the issue of expansive claims in the South China Sea and America’s response to the challenge. The US has undertaken military exercises with South Korea to underline commitments and has even offered to mediate on disputes in the South China Sea, much to Beijing’s irritation. Beijing has claimed that the bulk of the South China Sea constitutes Chinese territorial waters, defining it as a “core national interest,” a phrase previously used in reference to Tibet and Taiwan. This came as a shock to regional states such as the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan who also have territorial claims in the sea. This sea passage is too important to be controlled by a single country and that too by one that is located far away from these waters. Hillary Clinton responded that the US was willing to help in mediating conflicting claims in the South China Sea, thereby drawing clear red lines for China. The US-South Korea joint air and naval exercises also irritated Beijing though they were meant as a show of resolve in response to North Korea’s sinking of a South Korean naval vessel. The Chinese protested against the exercises describing them as being provocative, especially about the possible presence of US aircraft carrier in the Yellow Sea, directly off their coast. The US went ahead with the exercises but confined it to the waters west of Japan. China has made strident claims to virtually the entire South China Sea in recent years. This has resulted in the detention of hundreds of Vietnamese fishermen, the harassment of US and other navies and threats to international oil giants aimed at ending their exploration deals with Hanoi. After being on the sidelines of the South China Sea dispute for the past two decades, the US has now decided to change its posture to reassure its allies in the region that China’s growing regional dominance would not go unchallenged. The dispute in South China Sea is not merely about resources, it is also central to China’s ambitions for a blue water navy able to operate away from its shores. The South China Sea has also suddenly assumed significance arguably because of the SSBN base China has chosen to build in Hainan to the south, partly enveloped by the Vietnamese coast. The choice of Hainan is poor, but no alternative exists as other places are hemmed in by islands. So, China's chief maritime nuclear base is also what is for now her southern-most point. It wants the waters around clear so that, among other things, no one can track China’s subs. Last year there were reports of confrontations involving the Malaysian Navy, the Indonesian Navy and the Vietnamese Navy each separately with the PLA Navy. It was in April 2011 that a flotilla of 10 ships of the Chinese Navy's East Sea Fleet conducted exercises that involved passage through international waters between the main island of Okinawa and Miyakojima Island. During these exercises, two Chinese Navy helicopters came within about 90 meters of a Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) destroyer of Japan watching over the exercises. There was an outcry in the Japanese media over this dangerous act. More significantly, some three weeks before the April incident, six ships of the Chinese Navy's North Sea Fleet based in Qingdao, Shandong province, passed through the waters between the Okinawa and Miyakojima islands, headed to the Bashi Channel between Taiwan and the Philippines, and went on to operate in the South China Sea. By purposely deploying the North Sea Fleet, China was demonstrating its great interest in this sea area. Japan's dispatch of large SDF transport vessels to participate fully in the humanitarian aid operation "Pacific Partnership" led by the US early this year was meant as a response to China's moves. This is happening even as South Korea is re-evaluating its ties with China. Seoul is disillusioned with Beijing’s shielding of North Korea from the global outrage over the Cheonan incident when North torpedoed the 88-meter-long warship, the Cheonan, killing 46 South Korean sailors last year in March. China even watered down a presidential statement from the UN Security Council condemning the attack in which North Korea was not even identified as the culprit. As a result, no punishment was meted out. China would like to extend its territorial waters, which usually run to 12 miles, to include the entire exclusive economic zone, which extends 200 miles. China is challenging the fundamental principle of free navigation. All maritime powers, including India, have a national interest in the freedom of navigation, open access to Asia’s maritime commons and respect for international law in the South China Sea. But India should also be aware of the changing balance of power dynamic between the US and China, and fashion its foreign policy accordingly.n The writer teaches at King’s College, London.
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My fast after breakfast In this season of fasts, I too observed a day-long fast. But unlike Anna Hazare who observed his fast at Rajghat in Delhi, I did not choose Gandhi Park in Dehra Dun where a statue of Gandhiji is also installed. Instead I preferred the familiar surroundings of my home. The day of fast began as usual with a cup of morning tea and a piece of banana. After performing my morning chores and rituals, I had my regular breakfast. Being a karmayogi, I did not abandon my daily routine and scrupulously did writing and newspaper reading. I also watched news channels to break the monotony of reading and writing. I also answered telephone calls from friends and made sure to casually tell them that I was fasting that day. There were expected gasps of surprise and disbelief from them. There were questions galore. One asked, what is your demand? Is this fast in support of Baba Ramdev’s or Anna Hazare’s fast? “No, not at all. I have no demands; I just want to cleanse my soul of any impurities,” I told them. What time will you break your fast? Eight p.m., I said. Two of them threatened to come in the evening. During the day, I had my usual siesta and woke up quite refreshed and light. “Why don’t you have a mango?” my wife asked solicitously. “No mango, shango. Don’t forget that I am on a fast”, I told my wife firmly. As the fast-breaking time of 8 p.m. approached, my wife asked me if I would sip some juice. “Why should I drink juice after keeping a day-long fast?” Two of my friends arrived as if on a cue. One carried a bottle of “Blender’s Pride” and the other a bottle of chilled champagne. The wife was horrified. “What, whisky for breaking fast. Are you crazy?” The friends however, pacified her saying that “it is not every day that Mr Kanwar keeps fast. His is a unique fast and should also have a unique liquid to break it.” As the champagne bottle opened with a bang, my face was drenched with the sparkling wine. I licked the drops that had fallen on my lips. The other friend poured the rest of the liquid into three glasses and offered orange juice to my wife and said “cheers to your breaking the fast”. We then sat down in the living room and helped ourselves to a few drinks. After an hour, we three friends were quite high to the horror of my wife. “If this is your way of fasting, you are much better off without it,” she said by way of a
reprimand.
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TrustLaw listed Afghanistan, Congo, Pakistan, India and Somalia as the world's five most dangerous countries for women. Can they really be placed on the same page? The abused, mutilated women from the war- ravaged zones, the oppressed women of Talibanised societies and the women of India are all writing different scripts and are not comparable.
The
intent as well as the methodology adopted by Thomson Reuters Foundation to declare that India ranks 4th after Afghanistan, Congo and Pakistan as the most dangerous countries in the world for women, is highly suspect. They handpicked 213 researchers and asked them to rate countries where women are most endangered. The livelihood of such "development experts" depends on finding gruesome realities in third- world countries, to prove that these former colonies of Europe still need the help of the West to become "civilized." They are trained to prepare, what Gandhi once famously described as a 'drain inspector's report.' Their job is to show how horrible the life is in these countries, so that they remain in business of proposing solutions to the problems of us wretched third world women, men
and children.
In a BBC discussion to which I was invited, the promoter of this Report admitted that India's high rating on women's misery graph is to do with the fact that India has a free press, which allows regular reporting and discussion on human rights abuses. Media reviews have shaped their perceptions, she stressed. That is what explains why authoritarian states like China or Saudi Arabia don't figure in at the top because they tightly control their media. This amounts to penalizing India for being a vibrant democracy! As I mentioned in my BBC interview, I do accept and acknowledge that declining sex- ratio in our society is one of the biggest challenges facing Indian society. This issue needs to be addressed seriously. But if sex ratio is the litmus test, then, China should figure much higher in that list of "most dangerous places for women on earth." If crippling forms of restrictions on women's mobility were to be the yardstick, Saudi Arabia would qualify to be close to the very top. But it does not because China and Saudi Arabia do not allow westerners to mess around with their problems, nor do they allow free access to data on human rights abuses. For those who earn their living by "poverty and atrocity mongering", normal life does not exist in countries like India. For example, if I have to carry out a research on the state of marriage in the US or any other society, I would have to take into account the entire range of marriages-from the normal, mundane, boring and abusive marriages as well as genuinely happy and ecstatic partnerships. If my source of information comes only from battered women's homes in the US or the accounts of divorced women, people are bound to say, I am hopelessly jaundiced in my view. But, these so called experts get away by presenting us precisely such a view for India where every man is an oppressive patriarch and every woman a hapless victim of atrocities. As far as violence against women is concerned, statistics show that the rate of wife or sexual partner's murder per 100.000 persons is higher in the US than in India. But since wife murder is mistakenly presented as an oriental crime and called "dowry murder" it looks as though India is unique in wife abuse. Similarly, if one were to use the consumption of pornography as one of the litmus tests for judging the status of women in any society -which in my view is a sure shot indicator of demeaning women in the most hideous manner--- most western countries would show up more poorly than many of the Third world countries. In the BBC interview the representative of the Foundation argued that pornography cannot be equated with feticide because latter amounts to murder. If feticide is murder, and we are termed as female hating society because Indian families abort unborn girls, then, by the same logic, western countries could well be described as child hating societies because the general abortion rate even among teenagers is very high. Western feminists present right to abortion as a sacred right of women over their bodies. By that logic sex selective abortion can well be viewed as the right of a woman to decide the gender of her child. I personally strongly disapprove of sex selective abortions because they have a very disastrous effect on society both in the short and long run. But morally I do not see it any different from abortion of any foetus-male or female. Another indicator chosen by these development experts is that over 44% of females in India are married before the age of 18. There is another way of looking at this issue: In the US the number of unwed, teenage mothers who are abandoned by their boyfriends is very high as is the incidence of teenage abortions. Most of us in India would consider it far safer to be married in our late teens than to end up as single mothers in teens! It is time that the West gave up on its pretence at "civilizing" the rest of us "underdeveloped" people and set its own house in order. I am happy no one in India is paying much attention to this absurd report. It was meant as an act of provocation to garner attention. It would be foolish to waste our time and energy over such a sensation mongering survey. Madhu Purnima Kishwar is Professor at Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, and Founder Editor, Manushi Journal
A few unpalatable facts * According to 2011 census, the country's sex ratio of girls to boys at age 6 was plummeted to - 914 girls for every 1,000 boys, down from a ratio of 927 to 1,000 boys in 2001. * Data compiled for 2008 by the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) showed that there were 8,172 dowry deaths in the country, and for the same year, there were 81,344 cases of cruelty towards women by husbands and relatives. The actual numbers are probably much higher since many cases go unreported, or are reported as suicide. * According to National Crime Records Bureau statistics, more than 53 rape cases are recorded everyday. In 2009, a total of 21,397 rape cases were reported countrywide. Given the fact, that for one reported case of rape, about 70 cases go unreported.
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