The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Coveted honour
National Film Awards remain relevant

There is little doubt that Bollywood continues to cast its vice-like grip on the collective consciousness of India. So deep is its imprint on the popular culture and the media that often one tends to forget that this is not the only cinema that is being produced in India. Thankfully, the prestigious National Awards are a reassuring reminder of the significance of cinema other than Bollywood. Be it the coveted Dada Saheb Phalke Award conferred on the doyen of Tamil cinema K Balachander at the 58th National Film Awards function in New Delhi recently or the Best Film and the Best Actor Award, national awards salute good quality cinema from the length and breadth of the country.

While Bollywood continues to be the toast of innumerable cine awards held at most exotic locations in the world, nothing can match the sheen and prestige of the National Awards. Unlike other film awards (the list of which has been growing like the proverbial beanstalk in the last few years) that often come under the circle of circumspection with rumours rife about awards being bought and sold, National Awards are perceived as fair. Once in a while there are murmurs about National Awards too, but for the film fraternity they remain the ultimate benchmark and the litmus test of cinematic talent.

What is more heartening about National Awards is that these are all encompassing. Besides the usual best film, direction, actor and actress category, it even has an award for the Best Book on Cinema. While non- feature films too find space; even mainstream Hindi cinema is not ignored. In recent times Bollywood’s presence in the National Awards can be felt not only in the Best Hindi Film award and Best Wholesome Entertainer of the year category but also several other categories. National awards jury has, of late, recognised the changing face of Hindi cinema. Bollywood had emerged a clear winner at the 57th National Film awards, but this year it did not pick up an impressive haul. Nevertheless, winners, irrespective of whether they are from Bollywood or the powerful cinema from southern states, have every reason to believe the best have won.

Clouds of uncertainty
A blow to online services

A stray ray of real-world problems cut through the cloud of expectations, as two of the largest computer online service providers suffered from outages that led to thousands of customers not being able to access the services and their data which had been saved online. Archrivals Google and Microsoft were both on the same embarrassing boat of having to explain to their irate customers why the services were down, even though they both scrambled to fix the issues and had resolved the problems within a short span of time.

While uptime is paramount in the case of cloud services, it is a fact that every online service suffers from some downtime at some point. However, in order to lure in customers and become a viable alternative to desktop computing, every cloud service promises to ensure that the consumers would have 24/7 access to the service and that their data would be both safe and secure. Whenever they fail to do so, the allure of having data that can be accessed wherever there is an Internet service, of reduced costs because of using free online storage, as well as having access to powerful remote servers for computing needs, etc, vanishes, well, into a cloud.

In the utopian world of computer evangelists, everything would be perfect — universal ultra-high speed 24/7 Internet access, impenetrable online security and hugely powerful servers doing the bidding of their masters who access them through computing devices. However, this cloud of hope gets blown off by gusts of wind that bring in news about security breaches, outages and the like. Few would doubt that the future is in cloud computing, yet prudence demands that computer users worldwide plan for interruptions in their online computing, much as they would do so for problems with their devices of local networks, even as they demand for better services from online providers.

Thought for the Day

Life is like an onion: you peel off layer after layer and then you find there is nothing in it. — James Gibbons Huneker

ARTICLE

Curbing inflation
Monetary policy alone can't help
by S. S. Johl

Although India is recording quite a high GDP growth rate, the sustained high level of inflation is washing off all the gains. The monetary policy, in principle, assumes an intended growth rate and rate of inflation and, based on these variables, decides the money supply in the market so that at given range of inflation, growth rate targets are achieved without any investment constraint. This balance at the macro level is guided by the principle: Money supply in the market divided by the volume of goods and services available is equal to the market price. Therefore, to control the price rise or the rate of price rise (inflation), the monetary policy aims at money supply in the market through an increase or decrease in the repo and reverse repo rates — the interest rates at which the Reserve Bank of India lends to the banks and pays interest on the deposits that banks make or have to make with the RBI.

This way the money supply in the market is controlled to curb inflation and, in the case of stable and lower level of inflation, to promote investment both in the private and public sectors. Sometimes, to facilitate government borrowings at a low rate from the market, money supply is increased through manipulating the Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR), cash reserve ratio (CRR), repo and reverse repo instruments.

These manipulations have both direct and indirect influences on the money supply, investments, savings, inflation and growth of the economy. For instance, tightening of money supply through any of these instruments or their combination that is intended to put some check on the price rise, also at the same time adversely affects investments due to dearer credit on which the industrial as well as services sectors subsist.

Agricultural credit is a different issue which is administered directly under the priority sector lending. No doubt, the demand for goods and services also goes down due to costlier consumption credit, which may have a sobering effect on prices, yet this reduction in demand also affects investment expansion due to the inventory build-up. At the same time, savings would increase due to more attractive interest rates on deposits. Thus, with the chain effect of squeeze in money supply in the market due to higher costs of credit, higher deposit rates, intended to have a direct effect on controlling the price rise, also reduce investments and adversely affect production and build-up of inventories. This leads to shedding off of labour employment, reducing the purchasing power in the market.

Thus, while controlling inflation through these monetary instruments, the policy stance adversely affects the GDP growth rate in the economy. In principle, therefore, squeezing money supply in the market to control inflation does not go well with the efforts to improve the growth rate. It is in the situation of stable prices or declining inflation rates that the growth rate is expected to pick up through cheaper credit, higher demand, expanding employment and competitive exports. The monetary policy presents the picture of a double-edged weapon that needs to be used very carefully, because inflation control through the instruments of monetary policy does not go well with the investment climate under all circumstances.

Another aspect of monetary policy is that it controls money supply only partially. In an economy like India where, according to various informed estimates and guesstimates, between 30 and 50 per cent money supply is floating around in the black market, the RBIs policies do not prove to be effective as expected. For instance, in Punjab, the picture is not very different in other states and places in the country; the immovable properties, including land, houses, shops and other structures, do not get registered in transfer deed at values more than 30 per cent. More than 70 per cent of the transaction money is passed on in black in the form of cash bundles. This money moves on to further transactions as such.

No one can buy or sell his properties in white money in total. In fact, white money has become an untouchable commodity and the honest buyers and sellers are at a loss to understand what to do. This situation not only stymies the effect of macro-level instruments of monetary policy followed by the RBI, it also affects the inflationary trends independently by itself. This black money is concentrated in the hands of a very small percentage of the population of the country, who call the shots on the values of the properties and prices in the market irrespective of the RBI's monetary policy RBI.

Then there is the question of price rise at the micro level in respect of individual commodities, for which government price policies for major commodities are directly responsible. How come the policy makers expect the prices to mellow down when the minimum support prices of foodgrains are raised season after season without any possibility of reversal anytime in the future? Here the demand and supply situation does not hold any ground for market clearance. Again, a repeated increase in fuel prices, LPG, etc as well as agricultural and industrial inputs has a direct impact on the price rise. Then linking of government and semi-government employees' salaries with the price index and its influence on the private sector salaries and wages has a cascading effect on the market prices.

Added to that is the behaviour of the retail market, where small vendors are small and they subsist on higher margins with a low volume of business. Even if the supplies in the market increase, they do not lower their retail prices. Corporates, too, have failed in the retail market in the sense that could not provide any relief to the consumers or peg up the prices of farmers' produce. It is, therefore, essential that in order to discipline the souring inflation and improving the growth rate, the policy needs to be designed on multiple aspects so that inflation is controlled without adversely affecting the growth rate of the economy. In the given circumstances, monetary policy alone cannot deliver the desired results.n

The writer, a former Vice-Chancellor of Punjabi University, Patiala, is a well-known economist.

MIDDLE

Rukmini weds Raymond
by Raji P. Shrivastava

How are you, Ruki ?"

"Hi Appa, nice to see you on Facebook … can I ask you something ?"

"Shoot, Ruki."

"Amma gave me the usual lecture last night…'Ruki, you are 26, not getting any younger, you've finished your PhD, now decide soon..., etc'

"Go on."

"We're such a traditional family — you sent me to Bharatanatyam and violin classes, Ashwin to the Chitraveena tutor…I love our culture. But Appa, I don't think I can return to Chennai. My application for the post-doctoral programme has been accepted by the university. The work is great, the place is lovely."

"That's settled then! Just check out the biodata we sent you; we liked Parthasarathy, the molecular biologist at Stanford."

"Appa, this is a kind of awkward thing. I've met someone I like. I didn't dare tell you about him during Ashwin's engagement."

"Hope he is a nice Iyer boy, brilliant and vegetarian."

"Not really…his name is Ray…"

"A Bengali ? Ruki, I'm poleaxed, but I'll survive:"

"Please Appa, don't joke. His name is Raymond, he's an American. We worked together on a project two years ago. He teaches here now."

"You didn't tell us, Ruki."

"I wanted to finish my PhD first. He's just proposed. I've been in agony ever since, wanting to say 'Yes' but terrified of your reaction."

"Ruki, it's a bit of a shock, but more so for you, I can see."

"Why, Appa ?"

"Because we've known this for some time. Your Raymond called me last week and asked for our permission to marry you. Told me all about himself, his family, his research in anthropology. Said he'd been reading up on the Iyers and their customs ever since he fell in love with you."

"Appa, I'm stunned, he hasn't told me !"

"Are you keen to marry this guy, Ruki ?"

"Yes, Appa, he's gentle, caring and supportive of my goals."

"He's also promised to be a vegetarian when in Chennai."

"Seriously Appa, are you okay with it ?"

"We're fine, Ruki. Your mother has been in a whirl ever since Ray called — visiting temples, consulting astrologers, checking out venues… I just dropped her off at Nalli's for some serious shopping."

"Appa, I was so anxious — you're both wonderful !"

"I think you are worried in vain, Ruki. All you need to do is get here with your bridegroom."

"Appa, I can't believe this."

"But understand this. We trust you. He has our blessings. Religion and race are immaterial if he loves you and treats you right. But if he gives you trouble…"

"I understand, Appa. I'm confident he won't give me trouble. But if he does, I won't burden you, because this is my decision."

"Wait a minute, Ruki, you got me all wrong. I was going to say, if he gives you trouble, you know whom to call. "

"Who ?"

"Your Appa, who else ! I'll be on the first flight out of here before you can say idli sambar !"

"You're fantastic, Appa! Thank you ! Got to sign off, can't wait to tell Ray !"

OPED DIPLOMACY

India's obsession with Pakistan has often cast a cloud on relations with other neighbours. That is why the 'Big Brother' going more than half way to address the concerns of Bangladesh is a positive step in the right direction
STAKES IN THE WELL-BEING OF NEIGHBOURS
Ashok Tuteja

Despite Dr Manmohan Singh's assurance that he was committed to the Teesta river deal sooner rather than later, the Sheikh Hasina government is still under siege in Bangladesh for allegedly conceding too much to India without getting anything worthwhile in return. The all-pervasive suspicion in Dhaka is that the deal will never come to be signed.

IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO: BSF Patroling Indo-B’Desh border near Siliguri. Smuggling and illegal immigration remain contentious bilateral issues.

Prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh with Sheikh Hasina during his visit to Dhaka last week.—AFP

The Teesta failure brought so much pressure on Sheikh Hasina that her government wriggled out of the Feni water sharing accord and signing a 'letter of intent' containing Dhaka's consent to let India use Chittagong and Mongla ports to carry goods through the Bangladesh territory to its north-eastern states.

However, in the midst of the action-packed drama over the Teesta issue, the two countries did sign a landmark accord to end their border feud. The accord paves the way for settlement of the land boundary issue, including the undemarcated areas, territories under adverse possession and exchange of enclaves. But the land accord has already triggered protests in Assam. Still many believe that the land swap deal, in fact, could be a trend-setter for resolving border disputes between India and other countries in the region, like Pakistan and Nepal.

Another significant accord, whose significance was lost in the din over the Teesta controversy, is on the exchange of television programmes. Under the agreement, Doordarshan and Bangladesh Television agreed on telecast of TV programmes, recognising the value of television channels as a means to promote cultural exchange and dissemination of information. This could well be a precursor to a similar agreement with Pakistan.

Extradition

But an extradition treaty between the two countries still appears to be a distant dream, given Dhaka's reservations about such a pact. Bangladesh is of the view that that any such treaty must include other SAARC nations. The issue has been hanging fire for years despite New Delhi's anxiety to conclude the agreement without any further loss of time. However, Bangladesh still appears reluctant on extraditing top ULFA insurgent Anup Chetia, who has served his sentence in the country after being arrested on the charge of entering the neighbouring country without valid documents in 1997.

Despite a steady improvement in ties, the relationship is still dogged by a sense of mistrust and neglect. Bangladesh feels that India's 'big brother' attitude is the bane of all problems.

People in Bangladesh duly recognise the role of India in the birth of their country in 1971 but wonder why the relationship went sour within a few years. The general impression is that India is so obsessed with Pakistan that Bangladesh and other regional countries get marginalised.

What apparently adds to their frustration is the constant charge by India about the illegal movement of people from Bangladesh to India. The illegal immigrants from Bangladesh are not confined to the Northeast any longer but spread across the length and breadth of India. They are now on the voters' lists and hold ration cards. Point this out to a Bangladeshi and he retorts, "So what, there are a lot of Indian products and goods being smuggled across the border and, in return, you get (our) people.''

Dividends

The yawning trade gap has been another major issue between the two countries. The perception in Dhaka has been that while Bangladesh has been, on both official and non official accounts, a major market for Indian products, India has devised a number of non-tariff barriers that have stood in the way of mutually beneficial trade.

Therefore, Prime Minister Singh's announcement to remove all 46 textile lines which are of interest to Bangladesh from India's 'negative list' for least developed countries (LDCs), thereby reducing the applicable duty rate to zero, was appreciated across Bangladesh.

But the impression in both New Delhi and Dhaka still is that the follow up after the summit-level meetings between the two countries is extremely poor and disappointing. Expectations that frequently arise out of these summits then lead to disappointments and, if anything, further accentuation of the mistrust and suspicion on both sides.

Indian officials say they have tried very hard but were not getting the desired results with Bangladesh. Part of this has something to do with the rather fractured politics of Bangladesh where political parties are always at each other's throat due to an extremely frustrating relationship between Sheikh Hasina and Begum Khaleda Zia. Unlike India, the political psychology in Bangladesh is that 'winner takes it all' and 'God help the loser'.

China’s shadow

There are also elements in Bangladesh who feel that the relationship with India has not paid dividends and it is time that Dhaka reaps the benefit of friendship with China. No surprises that China is building bridges and ports and has become the number one trading partner of Bangladesh.

Beijing is believed to have proposed to help Bangladesh build a deep-sea port in Chittagong and exchange data about the Brahmaputra that flows from Tibet to Bangladesh through India. China has also promised assistance in installing Bangladesh's first space satellite. Of course, China's deep forays in Bangladesh do not serve New Delhi's strategic interests.

The growing fundamentalism in Bangladesh too can cause problems for India. Indian officials, however, dismiss the apprehension that Bangladesh could go Pakistan's way, given the rise of Islamic ideology. They point to the fact that Bangladesh has an active civil society, mass-based political system and a strong sense of national identity among the people.

While returning from Dhaka, the Indian Prime Minister described his visit to Bangladesh as a 'sentimental' journey. He recalled that soon after the liberation of Bangladesh, he was asked by Indira Gandhi to go to Dhaka to work out a programme of economic cooperation between the two countries. Even Bangladeshi leaders greatly admire the contribution made by Singh in putting the India-Bangladesh economic engagement on the fast track. However, much more needs to be done to give content and meaning to the bilateral relationship.

It's time for the leaderships in both India and Bangladesh to think a little out of the box to move forward and set aside the baggage of the past. India, being the largest country in the Continent, will have to take the lead.

SMALL IRRITANT BUT A BIG PAIN
Man Mohan

As many as 51,590 people for 64 years have been living without any 'citizenship' along the 4,156 km India-Bangladesh border in each other's 'chitmohals' (enclaves). It is the longest boundary that India shares with any neighbour. The boundary of India's five states - West Bengal, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Assam and Tripura - run along Bangladesh.

Following the signing of a historic pact during Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh's Dhaka visit, these people will now be free to choose the country of their choice, irrespective of their location.

The enclaves were a legacy of the past, result of disputes between two regional kings - the Raja of Cooch Behar and the Nawab of Rangpur. According to a western academic, Brendan R. Whyte, the enclaves were the "result of peace treaties in 1711 and 1713 between the kingdom of Cooch Behar and the Mughal Empire." That was before the days of East India Company rule and before the British Raj.

Conditions in the enclaves, with neither country owning up responsibility, are invariably bad. Roads are conspicuous by their absence. There is no electricity, schools or dispensaries. They speak the same language and eat the same food as other people living along the border. But politicians in Dhaka, New Delhi or Kolkata left them to fend for themselves. As both countries took little interest in the welfare of these enclaves, crime is rampant. To go to their respective countries, people have to produce an identity card, and bribe the guards too.

Gift and gain

In this historic 'deal' Bangladesh has, however, gained more territory. Bangladesh has been given 111 Indian enclaves spread over 70 square kms while India has now acquired 51 Bangladeshi enclaves spread on 28 square kms.

Many in India have dubbed the enclave swapping as 'gifting land' to Bangladesh, which they believe is equivalent to the size of a large number of cricket stadiums. It has evoked anger in Assam as the state will lose a portion of its territory in this barter deal.

Meghalaya is happy as it has gained 240 acres of land from Bangladesh. In return, Meghalaya has to concede 41 acres of land to Bangladesh. Most of the Bangladeshi enclaves are in Cooch Behar district of West Bengal.

A census carried out in all the enclaves, conducted a month back, has shown that there are 51,590 people living there. About 31,000 people live in the Indian enclaves in Bangladesh.

The exercise will now require massive relocation of the people living in these enclaves. They will be given a choice of relocating themselves to the country of their choice or accept the citizenship of the land where they are living now. In case of relocation, they will be given an alternate piece of land. Each country will give its own compensation formula.

Much to the discomfort of Islamabad, New Delhi and Dhaka have come closer to each other in recent years. During his recent trip to Dhaka, Pranab Mukherjee signed a $1-billion loan agreement. India will lend the amount - the biggest it has offered to any foreign country - at a 1.75 per cent rate of interest with a repayment period of 20 years, including a grace period of five years.

On Dhaka's request, India has waived import duties on more than 50 items from Bangladesh, which include 46 textile tariff lines. Dhaka had asked for 61 items to be added to the duty-free list of over 4,000 categories of products. Most of these products are in the ready made garments sector, where Bangladesh enjoys a labour cost advantage. However, it is not expected to affect the balance of trade as Indian exports at $3.37 billion worth of goods annually are 10 times that of Bangladesh's sales to India pegged at just $358 million yearly.