|
|
|
|
|
Sonia’s clarion call
Close shave |
|
|
|
Unsafe shelter homes Child abuse must be tackled fast Rape is, without doubt, an unpardonable crime. The recent deplorable incidents that have come to light at the shelter homes in Gurgaon, however, are doubly reprehensible. In one case the caretaker in-charge not only reportedly committed the heinous act but also had the gall to film it and threaten the victims.
Improving ties with Myanmar
‘Yahoo’ on wheels
When the going gets tough…
Lucymemsahib and SAP
|
Sonia’s clarion call
Congress
president Sonia Gandhi’s stern message to party leaders and cadres that infighting and indiscipline would not be tolerated and that they must present a united face has come not a day too soon. Mrs Gandhi appropriately chose the forum of the Congress Parliamentary Party to voice her disapproval of the way the party was going. The essence of her message was that the overall disappointing results in the recent assembly elections for the Congress must propel the party to learn the right lessons and take remedial measures before it is too late. Being the undisputed leader that she is, Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s tough talk is bound to have some effect on partymen. But a sense of over-confidence and a degree of arrogance among leaders has become a bane for the party in recent years. As the report of the A.K. Antony-led group on reasons for the debacle in the assembly elections opined, party leaders must desist from foisting their kith and kin as candidates. Not only does that demoralize cadres but it compromises the chances of the party to win the elections. Though Mrs Gandhi did not specifically mention the kith and kin aspect, she came down hard especially on the Congress defeat in Punjab and Goa. It is indeed a fact that in Punjab, the party was sitting pretty a few weeks before the elections hoping to capitalize on the misrule of the Akali-BJP government, but poor choice of candidates and infighting within the party led its hopes to crash. In Goa, it was primarily infighting that brought the party down. But Mrs Gandhi’s ‘satisfaction’ with the fact that the party’s vote share had increased in Uttar Pradesh and that it was seen as a serious player for the first time in 22 years was misplaced and avoidable. The cadres in U.P. need to be nudged out of their complacency. With just two years left for the Lok Sabha elections and some more state elections only months away, it is indeed time for the party to pull up its socks. Mrs Gandhi’s impassioned plea to tighten discipline and aggressively project the party’s achievements, and the Antony panel’s stress on eschewing the practice of foisting the kith and kin of party leaders need to be duly heeded.
|
|
Close shave
Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda is lucky in so far that he survived a helicopter crash on Wednesday. While it is too early to comment on the possible causes of the crash, early reports indicate that the pilots skilfully crash-landed the helicopter at an airport in Ranchi after it developed mechanical problems. The passengers and the crew were injured, but all are out of danger and progressing satisfactorily. Only last year, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu and four others were killed in a helicopter crash. There have been other incidents with higher number of deaths, including the 2011 crash in Assam in which 18 of the 23 persons on board died. Earlier, in 2009, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, YSR Reddy, and everyone aboard the helicopter he was travelling in were killed when it crashed against a mountain. With the number of helicopter accidents rising to unacceptable levels, over 10 in the past few years, many fingers will point towards the Director-General of Civil Aviation, the body that is s responsible for implementing, controlling, and supervising airworthiness standards, safety operations and crew training. Various investigations into individual crashes have zeroed in on both maintenance issues as well as pilot error. There is some merit in the argument that both helicopters and pilots are stretched to the limit, and when that happens, something has to give away. It has also been noticed that the high-profile passengers sometimes pressurise the crew to fly the plane against their better professional judgement. They would well remember the fate of senior political leaders like Haryana ministers OP Jindal and Surendra Singh; Lok Sabha Speaker GMC Balayogi Congress leader Madhavrao Scindia and others who lost their lives in air crashes. The close shave at Ranchi should make the DGCA redouble its efforts to monitor private airlines, especially those running charter flights. There is little doubt that it has not proved itself adequate in tackling the challenge of ensuring safety of aircraft that operate in India. |
|
|
Unsafe shelter homes
Rape is, without doubt, an unpardonable crime. The recent deplorable incidents that have come to light at the shelter homes in Gurgaon, however, are doubly reprehensible. In one case the caretaker in-charge not only reportedly committed the heinous act but also had the gall to film it and threaten the victims. In yet another incident in Gurgaon, the son of the shelter home’s owner allegedly involved in the rape of inmates even passed the HIV infection to the young girls. Worse still, these girls, rescued and shifted to a shelter home in Rohtak, have now gone missing. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has rightly sought an explanation on the status of child protection from the three principal secretaries of Haryana. Shelter homes are meant to protect the destitute. Yet in recent times often protection has become a ruse for sexual exploitation. More and more shelter homes have become associated with sexual crimes. The rape of a 16-year-old mentally challenged girl at Nari Niketan, Chandigarh, pointed out how the hapless are abused without compunction. As the country is witnessing a dramatic rise in child abuse cases, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Bill 2011, once it becomes a law, is expected to act as a deterrent. The Bill that also proposes life term for sexual offences against children is a step in the right direction. However, the real problem in India is not the absence of laws but its tardy implementation. Undeniably the Bill has been armed with enough teeth and takes cognizance of crimes within the four walls of homes too. But with an abysmal conviction rate in rape cases, what India needs is speedy justice more than anything else. In this regard the Allahabad High Court’s observation to wind up cases of sexual abuse against children at state-run homes within one month must be paid heed to. The state governments would also do well by keeping a proper record of child protection homes and monitor them diligently. Child abuse is a grave crime that can neither be condoned nor ignored.
|
|
|
Silence is one of the hardest arguments to refute. —Josh Billings
|
Improving ties with Myanmar
IN the early 1990s, when Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao declared India's 'Look East' policy, he must have been conscious that India could not exploit the full potential of this policy without opening the frozen land bridge to and through Myanmar. Myanmar has a land border with five countries in South and Southeast Asia, straddles busy shipping lanes in the Bay of Bengal, and is rich in minerals, oil and gas reserves. It shares a 1600-km-long porus land border with India's northeastern states. Several insurgent groups from these states had been using ethnic and terrain shelter in Myanmar. Its long years of military rule and isolation, with China as the only economic and defence hardware partner, had given Beijing a huge strategic advantage. That notwithstanding, it was crucial for curbing militancy and economic development of India's northeastern states as well as for land connectivity with the rest of Southeast Asia. Narasimha Rao sent Ambassador J N Dixit to Myanmar in 1993. That visit was helpful but did not create the necessary thaw between the two countries. In 1999, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra realised that despite the frozen political dialogue, armies on both sides were maintaining low-level border contacts. With Ambassador Shyam Saran in Myanmar, they decided to utilise military diplomacy. After working out some details in New Delhi and Yangon, on January 5, 2000, I took a secret flight from Imphal to Mandalay where I was received ceremonially by Gen Maung Aye, Vice-Chairman and Deputy C-in-C, Myanmar Defence Forces, along with a large contingent of his Cabinet colleagues. We spent two days interacting informally and visiting nearby civil and military institutions. Thereafter, Maung Aye and his ministerial delegation followed me to Shillong Air Force Station to meet our ministerial delegation headed by the late Murasoli Maran and Kumaramangalam. Over the next two days, while our delegations were engaged in working out details of infrastructure projects to be undertaken by India in Myanmar, Maung Aye and I (staying in the same bungalow) discussed the scope for further cooperation and how to deny cross-border sanctuaries to insurgents. Before his departure, I gave him a map marked with Indian insurgents' camps in Northwest Myanmar and requested him to have them raided. A fortnight later, the Myanmar Army carried out these raids. We achieved significant operational success in the raids and when these insurgents attempted to re-enter India. I visited Myanmar again in July 2000 at the invitation of Maung Aye. This time the hosts gave us full opportunity to travel and meet officials and people in different parts of Myanmar. I met Chairman General Than Shwe and other leaders. Our cooperation by this time had extended well beyond insurgents' cross-border activities. It included mutually beneficial infrastructure projects, offer of seats in Indian technical institutions, participation in naval Exercise Milan in the Bay of Bengal, border trade and several other diplomatic issues. On my return, I apprised Prime Minister Vajpayee that notwithstanding national or international popularity, the Myanmar military regime is likely to remain in the saddle for many years. China had gained marked influence, particularly in North and Northeast Myanmar. Unless we make efforts, this will extend to the west of the Irrawady River and in the south. The Myanmar government was keen to improve relations with India in the fields of economic development and technology, which ought to be reciprocated. During the last 12 years, despite criticism from several domestic and Western quarters, Indo-Myanmar relations have travelled a long way. A steady stream of high-level visits from both sides has enhanced the dialogue and created mutually beneficial opportunities. India is involved in a host of infrastructure and energy projects in Myanmar. It has built the 160-km-long Tamu-Kalewa-Kalemyoa road across the Manipur border and is building a 1200 MW hydel project on the Chindwin river. Besides, it has provided high-speed data link to many cities. Indian firms are working to develop Myanmar's railway network, including the supply of coaches and locos. Indian companies have acquired a 20 per cent stake in an oil block off the Rakhine coast. The Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport Project and the Rhi-Tiddim projects (on the anvil), when completed, can transform India's North-East and bordering region. Last year, India and Myanmar signed a number of agreements and MoUs for the upgradation of Yangon Children's Hospital and Sittwe General Hospital and a programme of cooperation in science and technology. India has extended lines of credit worth $300 million for the development of railways, transport, power transmission lines, oil refinery, and OFC link and announced the extension of a new concessional facility of $500 million line of credit for specific projects. It will set up an Advanced Centre for Agricultural Research and Education in Yezin, a Rice Bio Park in Naypyidaw (new capital of Myanmar), an Information Technology Institute in Mandalay, and an Industrial Training Centre at Myingyan. Myanmar has agreed to encourage further investments by Indian companies, both public and private, in its oil and natural gas sectors. Both countries have set a target of doubling bilateral trade to $3 billion by 2015. Meanwhile, there have been important political developments in Myanmar in the last two years. President Thein Sein's nominally civilian government has replaced military rule and carried out a number of reforms like the release of political prisoners and relaxation of media restrictions. It has suspended China-backed $3.6 billion Myitsone dam hydel power project in Kachin State. After the recent by-elections, pro-democracy leader Suu Kyi and her party leaders have joined Parliament, although that continues to be dominated by the military. This shift is an assertion of India's policy of engaging the military government of Myanmar. Now, when leaders from the US, the UK, France and Australia are making a beeline for Naypyidaw and inclined to lift sanctions imposed by them earlier, India has an advantage and a huge opportunity to move into high gear dynamics of its regional and 'Look East' policy. This month, when Dr Manmohan Singh travels to Myanmar to participate in the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), he needs to encourage President Thein Sein's vision of a new Myanmar. He should look into the following areas to enhance our relations with Myanmar and for regional economic prosperity: Declare India's support to Myanmar on the lifting of sanctions and getting it full international acceptability. Increase investment in Myanmar's economic and social projects in the form of grants and soft loans. This can be utilised to build infrastructure in Myanmar like the Dawei Special Industrial Zone on Myanmar's south-western coast and enhancing connectivity among India, Myanmar and Thailand. A high-level mechanism of officials can be set up to focus on greater connectivity and India's usual problem of inefficient project implementation. Enhance people-to-people contacts through liberalisation of educational and cultural cooperation, development of border areas and tourism infrastructure. Upgrade security relations between the two countries through strategic dialogues, border management and enhanced cooperation in aerospace and maritime security. Establishing a Joint Economic Commission to take a comprehensive view of bilateral economic relationship, a forum comprising businessmen on both sides can be set up to increase Indian investments in minerals, energy and agriculture sectors in Myanmar. Share the experience in strengthening democratic and multi-ethnic institutions in Myanmar as we are doing in
Afghanistan.
The writer is a former Chief of
|
|||
‘Yahoo’ on wheels
The first time I heard music on wheels was on a rickshaw ride through the old city of Patiala, where I grew up in the sixties. The Japanese transistor had just invaded our mind space, and it was very hep to carry it wherever you went. On a trip to the narrow, congested bazaar of the old, walled city, while doing one's shopping, one could also listen to Binaca Geet Mala or Vizzi's lazy drawl of the cricket commentary. But I heard the car radio for the first time on a visit to Canada more than two decades ago. On a road trip to the Niagara Falls in a luxurious car we swished past autumn maple forests, crystalline Canadian lakes — all savoured to the accompaniment of exquisite jazz played by the radio, interspersed with the deep, baritone voice of the radio jockey. The car radio was an incessant driving companion, a non-stop chatterer which gave valuable traffic tips, weather news, narrated jokes, and even played ‘agony aunt’ — but transmitted great music all the same. Back home, we were still saddled with our trunk-sized Murphy or Phillips radios, perched like leviathans on big table tops. But ever since the FM radio channels opened up in India, the car rides have never been the same. Sitting in the air-conditioned cocoon of the metallic shell, the best way to shut out all the road rage, endless waiting at the multitude of red lights, murderous drivers in their SUV beasts, is to tune in to the FM radio! On my way to golf, if it's a sleepy afternoon, I prefer the melodious and languorous Vividh Bharati with their programme of 'Sunehreh Geet' — golden oldies, where Mohammed Rafi comes alive play-backing for Shammi Kapoor with a ‘Yahoo’, or Mukesh with his soulful, nasal voice brings back nostalgia of the Raj Kapoor era. I also love numbers by Kishore Kumar reminiscent of the Dev Anand-Madhubala black and white era magic. On the way back home, if I have played well and scored a ‘birdie’, my preferred radio companion is the local, spicy FM channel which has a sweet, sultry sounding ‘RJ’ playing less of songs but imparting plenty of advice on improving love life, dating, upcoming Valentine's Day and on the birthdays of Shah Rukh Khans and the 'sho sho shweeeet' chocolate boys like Shahid Kapoor! The breezy, zingy, youthful mood is infectious. And if the game has been bad, it's over to health-advice programmes with phone-in questions to the experts. While the good doctor holds forth on high blood pressure, I feel like asking him for a cure for ‘hooking’ the drive shot into the rough! Between the music and non-stop jabbering of the radio, suddenly I realise I have reached home. The radio has been my not-so-silent faithful companion. No wonder, recently when my wife and I headed for a hill resort to celebrate our anniversary, she had only one request. “Keep the car
radio off!”
|
|||
When the going gets tough… WHENEVER politics in Pakistan hits choppy waters conspiracy theorists come into their own, clarity becomes a victim, all of us struggle to find the truth and get obsessed with the 'nuance'.
But who'd blame our tribe? How are we expected to provide lucidity to a discourse when many of us have contributed to the chaotic scenario staring us in the face? Whether our role was spurred by competitive pressures or ideological considerations is immaterial quite frankly. If you are struggling to make sense of a single word so far, my future as an analyst, as a soothsayer, is as secure as that of the chief of army staff. I am embarrassed to concede there was the temptation to say the elected prime minister. But by the time this appears in print, who knows, the detailed verdict may be out giving short shrift to my analysis. That would spell disaster for my career as someone whose 'reliable and respected' insight allows some readers to help understand complex issues and the writer to pay the bills. Does this mean, I can afford to hold my piece (yeah, yeah I know the spelling) till the final verdict or till the first tank appears on Islamabad's famed Constitution Avenue, aptly termed Eighth Amendment Avenue all through the years the sacred document was all but superseded by it? Definitely not! It isn't without reason that 'when the going gets tough, the tough get going' remains my favourite guiding principle. Which analyst worth their salt would shy away from analysis on the mere pretext that they are confused too and can't make head or tail of the situation? Lamest of lame excuses, you'd say. For one who is always partial to things psychedelic, the current backdrop is an incentive rather than the opposite. Let's start with Gen Kayani's address to a large open-air audience in the GHQ grounds. The occasion was a remembrance for our fallen soldiers. The general's speech was 'nuanced', given the political situation. So nuanced that one side of the political divide latched on to his recommendation for 'equal justice to all' while the other gleefully embraced his view that 'all organs (institutions) of the state should respect the constitution' and stay within its bounds. It's a hint of the times, perhaps, that apart from a lonely editorial in this paper, nobody really asked if the constitution allows the army chief to make political statements. Nobody suggested, at some point in time, it would help greatly if he focused on the 'mistakes, shortcomings' of his own institution. We aren't talking of minor transgressions here, overt as well as covert, or the most serious, the subversion of the constitution. We only need him to focus on the second line of defence his organ of the state has chosen and what that's done to our society, sanity and security. And if he is trying to rein in this galloping monster no matter how slowly, as many of his supporters say, then we can only applaud and welcome that. We know how committed some of his predecessors were to this insane ideology of hate. In a week which we saw scenes bordering on the suicidal in the National Assembly, reviving fears of, well, the known, the Supreme Court short order holding the country's chief executive guilty of contempt continued to provide grist to the analysts' mill whatever their preferred medium. They were as diverse in their reading (one has to be polite and civil, doesn't one?) of the situation as the politicians. Perhaps spooked by perceived PTI inroads into PML-N's bastion of Punjab and succumbing finally to hardliners Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and younger brother Shahbaz, Nawaz Sharif decided to go on the front foot in announcing he was seeking the prime minister's ouster by any means possible. In contrast, the great Khan's cricketing instinct prevailed. He decided to wait for the detailed verdict and play the ball on merit. Having been a feared fast bowler and having faced equally fiery ones, perhaps he knows best how a bouncer can imperil a batsman going prematurely on to the front foot. But his detractors would say, without proof of course, his caution has more to do with the retirement of ISI chief Shuja Pasha and hence the lack of decisive counsel. This would predictably lead to cries of derision in every shade of the language from his fanatical supporters. Talking of attempts to get on to the front foot, the government came up with its own effort. A resolution reposing confidence was passed in different sittings of the two Houses of parliament. But this supposed triumph was soured too. Another resolution passed to express support for the creation of a separate province in southern Punjab was apparently moved in the National Assembly without consulting the ANP allies and, by the evening, their senior spokesman Zahid Khan was saying his party hadn't voted for it. If all this doesn't leave you confused try this. All through the initial days of the memogate controversy, we saw press photographs, footage of meetings between our civilian and military-intelligence heads looking exceedingly grim, to say the least. Then we saw apex-level consultation on restarting relations with the US. In the footage, the President was apparently cracking a joke which brought a muted smile to the army chief's lips (I am told he doesn't laugh). The sight of a laughing Rehman Malik wasn't surprising as his loyalty to his leader would so warrant. The Prime Minister also smiles frequently. But yes, the broadest, widest grin adorned the face of the otherwise serious, moustached, even fierce-looking, new chief of the ISI. Now how significantly nuanced is the ISI chief's reaction to the PPP leader's joke? Please let me know if you figure it out. I promise to do the same if I have any luck. As long, of course, as we don't tell each other the smile is the precursor to the proverbial last laugh.s The writer is a former editor of Dawn. By arrangement with Dawn, Islamabad
 |
|
Lucymemsahib and SAP OVER the years, billions of dollars in foreign aid have been poured into Pakistan's social sector. Nevertheless, literacy remains stubbornly below 50 per cent, and life expectancy at birth is at 66 years, 164th lowest in the world. So why this abysmal and sustained failure by successive Pakistani governments and international donors in solving these perennial problems? After all, other similarly placed countries have made great strides in both critical areas. Sri Lanka, to name one, has long had a literacy rate of over 90 per cent, and life expectancy there is above 75. One reason is our prodigious birth rate: Pakistan's population has grown around six times since Partition, climbing exponentially from around 32 million in 1947 to close to 190 million now. But planned parenthood is another issue the donor community as well as a few Pakistani governments have tried to address, to little avail. Despite the fact that none of our religious texts bans family planning, many of our reactionary politicians have opposed such programmes tooth and nail. Much literature has been produced by social scientists to explain these failures, but few writers, to my knowledge at least, have succeeded in getting to the heart of the matter. It has taken a medical doctor to produce a nuanced understanding of the dynamics of social-sector programmes, and the reasons why they have been such dismal failures. In her book, ‘So Much Aid, So Little Development’, Dr Samia Waheed Altaf has delved deeply into her personal experience based on years working for the Pakistan government, as well as for donor agencies. Thus, she has been able to give readers an insight into the inner working of both bureaucracies. And as a medical practitioner, she has observed at firsthand the poorly designed programmes that foreign 'experts' push. As her template, Dr Altaf uses our Social Action Programme or SAP (does anybody remember that ill-fated attempt at poverty alleviation?). But her book is not just another academic exercise: rather, it's a lucid, sardonic look at why things are in such a mess. At the centre of the book is 'Lucymemsahib', a composite 'development expert' based on other well-meaning foreigners who travel the world, trying to devise and implement programmes in societies where they don't speak the language, and don't understand the customs. In my many years as a civil servant, I have observed the interaction between various government departments and donor agencies at close quarters. For our government, grants and loans from overseas represent a much-needed boost to our foreign-exchange reserves. Thus, these inflows are courted and welcomed, irrespective of the nature of the projects. For donors, there is normally a budget for sectors and countries, so there is pressure on agency bureaucrats to disburse these funds before they lapse. Usually, they are judged not by the end result of long-gestation projects, but by their efficiency in doing the paperwork, and signing agreements. Thus, neither Pakistani civil servants nor their foreign counterparts are accountable for where the money went, and whether it did what it was supposed to in terms of impact. The first thing written into a project proposal is transport for the team leader and his staff. Next comes foreign training and visits to the headquarters of the donor agency for meetings and discussions. A big chunk of the budget goes towards the salaries and allowances of foreign experts who can easily command a consultancy fee of $2,000 a day. What's left is then divided up between local staff. One problem Dr Altaf highlights is what happens when medical technicians are trained to work in, say, maternal and child health centres of provincial governments. Because there is no clearly defined career path for them, they mostly go abroad or work for themselves. In the rural areas, they can easily get away with styling themselves as doctors. In her book, Dr Altaf skewers the many bureaucrats she comes across in Pakistan, and recounts hilarious encounters and discussions. Poor Lucymemsahib misses much of what's going on around her, maintaining a constantly bewildered air while delegating the actual work to her associate, Dr Altaf. Here is one project director instructing his staff on his priorities for a new social-sector project: "Vehicles, make sure you put in vehicles. Four-wheel-drives, vans, jeeps, pickups, even motorcycles and scooters. You never know what the project might need." One underling points out that POL (petrol, oil, lubricants) might be a problem because running costs and maintenance have to be covered by provincial governments. A colleague suggests a way around: these people are old hands at working the system. Although Dr Altaf uses wit liberally throughout her book, her anger over what's wrong with the whole international aid racket bursts out now and then. Here, she vents her rage with the so-called development experts who flit around the world, dispensing half-baked nostrums: "You call yourself an expert, you go halfway around the world at enormous financial cost to the country you are sent out to help. (World Bank experts do not come cheap. All the cost of their technical input, including premium air travel, five-star hotel accommodations, any other related expenses, are part of the loan to the developing country.) You give expert advice to national governments on a sensitive and crucial technical issue that has far-reaching economic consequences. You know your advice will be taken seriously, and you know very well that it is half-baked…" Due to the gender-oriented projects on which Dr Altaf has worked in Pakistan, she has dealt with many professional women in offices and in the field. Almost invariably, she finds that their effectiveness is reduced because of the male-dominated environment in which they work. Her view of Pakistani male civil servants, with their patronising attitude towards women (unless they are, like Lucymemsahib, foreigners), is severely jaundiced. When SAP was finally shut down in 2003, there were few tangible results from this costly exercise. Generations of Pakistanis will have to repay the loans obtained from sundry countries and institutions whose 'experts' profited mightily from the ill-fated programme. Given the fact that Pakistani resources met 80 per cent of SAP's huge costs, citizens have the right to demand a proper accounting. Who did the money help, apart from those directly involved with the programme? What, if any, lessons were learned? I'm sure Lucymemsahib and her tribe won't care for the answers, but Dr Samia Altaf does. By arrangement with Dawn
The writer is the author of "Fatal Faultlines: Pakistan, Islam and the West". By arrangement with Dawn, Islamabad.
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
