O P I N I O N S

guest column
Only a beginning, real reforms lie ahead
The most important single measure of reform would be the rapid introduction of Goods and Services Tax in place of the plethora of Central and state taxes.
KM Chandrasekhar
The recent measures in respect of petroleum products and the decision to allow FDI in multi-brand retail have been characterised as the resurgence of reform. At best, they can only be considered harbingers of reform and a transformation in the resolve of the government to deal with economic issues and the slowing down of the economy.

fifty fifty
The raping monsters among us
It is shocking to see the pathetic condition of young men in Haryana, who have no other form of recreation than to torture and oppress the already marginalised.
Kishwar Desai
Even after 65 years, India has not grown up. It still does not show any respect towards women, and the three recent rape cases in Haryana make one wonder, once again, how secure are Indian women today?

ground zero
Vajpayee’s ultimate cold warrior
Mishra has been described as a ‘hybrid between Chanakya and Henry Kissinger’ — a man with a ‘steel stomach’, with the ability to strip through the rhetoric and focus on key issues.
raj chengappa
When I spoke to Brajesh Mishra last month, he was as usual brusque and precise in his answers. He never suffered fools or foolish questions and could be intimidating to those unfamiliar with his manner. Despite his failing health, his memory remained razor sharp. I had checked with him whether during the 1999 Kargil War, Pakistan had conveyed a nuclear threat to deter India from launching a full-scale war. Mishra said India had no evidence that Pakistan would carry out a first strike but confirmed that India had kept its nuclear weapons in a state of readiness, just in case. He then disconnected the phone.

guest column
Only a beginning, real reforms lie ahead
The most important single measure of reform would be the rapid introduction of Goods and Services Tax in place of the plethora of Central and state taxes.
KM Chandrasekhar

A tight monetary policy could result in reduced demand, which would translate to lower production and increased unemployment.

The recent measures in respect of petroleum products and the decision to allow FDI in multi-brand retail have been characterised as the resurgence of reform. At best, they can only be considered harbingers of reform and a transformation in the resolve of the government to deal with economic issues and the slowing down of the economy. Reduction in subsidy on diesel and LPG touches only the fringe of the problem of drain on the exchequer arising from the high import prices. Likewise, FDI in multi-brand retail has not been accepted by many states and its impact is likely to be limited in the short run. It will take years before the stated objective of shortening the supply chain and creating rural infrastructure is achieved. However, they are first steps, albeit baby steps, which have had a positive signalling effect on the economy.

The government now needs to look at further measures that could bolster confidence still more. The most important single measure of reform, in my view, would be the rapid introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) in place of the plethora of Central and state taxes on manufacture and sale at multiple points in existence at present. This is a measure that would benefit trade and industry as it would create an atmosphere of stability and predictability in indirect taxation. It would improve the fiscal situation since linkages would be established at all levels from manufacture or import to ultimate sale to the consumer through a system of input credits which will be administered through an integrated electronic process. It will sharply reduce the scope for corruption in the indirect tax structure on account of integration of information.

I understand that the main constraint in the introduction of GST is the feeling among some states that they may lose revenue. I think that it is necessary for the Government of India to boldly take the plunge and agree to compensate losses, if any, suffered by states in a phased manner, as was done when VAT was introduced a few years ago. In fact, no state may lose as services would come within the ambit of the states, which would begin to get larger shares of the service tax. The Ministry of Finance and the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers must make a determined effort to break the impasse.

It is necessary also for the RBI and the Ministry of Finance to find solutions to the conundrum of growth versus inflation. Increasingly, monetary policy is used as the only tool to fight inflation. A tight monetary policy would aim at restricting purchasing power, resulting in reduced effective demand, which, in turn, would translate in practice to lower production and increased unemployment. Of course, if people have less money to spend, prices would come down, but is this the objective that we are striving to achieve? The structural inflation problem would essentially have to be handled over the medium to long term through increases in productivity. In the short term, the only solution lies in strengthening the formal and non-formal public distribution system with a joint effort by the states and the Centre.

The issue of allocation of natural resources has now found resolution through the recent Supreme Court reply to the presidential reference on 2G spectrum. If “common good” is to be considered as the guiding principle and fairness and transparency are to be built into any allocation policy, the government today has the opportunity to formulate policies for allocation not necessarily linked to the principle of revenue maximisation. This will remove a great deal of uncertainty that prevails in the political and administrative machinery and allow us to go forward quickly and with a sense of purpose.

There has been much talk about administrative paralysis in recent times. Underlying this debate is the belief that administration is centered in Delhi and the hands of a clutch of political figures and administrators. The fact is that enormous strides in administrative reform and innovation have been achieved in all parts of the country at lower levels. Now is the time to disseminate information on best practices and encourage their adoption in all parts of the country. Now is also the time to make performance the centre piece of administration and to devise systems that would promote performance rather than seniority or proximity to political power. The Performance Management and Evaluation System, already introduced in the Centre and some states, could deliver results with stronger political support and the simultaneous introduction of better performance appraisal systems.

Finally, a country as large as India, which has adopted the democratic form of governance, cannot function efficiently without a much higher degree of decentralisation. With the 12th Five-Year Plan on the anvil and the 14th Finance Commission awaiting appointment, this is again the best time to ensure increased decentralisation and delegation of power and authority, which will lead to faster decision making everywhere.

The writer is Vice-Chairman, Kerala State Planning Board

fifty fifty
The raping monsters among us
It is shocking to see the pathetic condition of young men in Haryana, who have no other form of recreation than to torture and oppress the already marginalised.
Kishwar Desai

Will arrests change the psyche responsible for the horrific crimes against women?

Even after 65 years, India has not grown up. It still does not show any respect towards women, and the three recent rape cases in Haryana make one wonder, once again, how secure are Indian women today?

Whilst it is tough enough to be a woman in modern India, it is probably the worst thing in the world to be a Dalit woman in a village, living far too close for comfort to the upper castes. The problem gets exacerbated in a tradition-bound, patriarchal state like Haryana, where they are frequently abandoned by the police and politicians. Indeed, even the men in their family feel threatened. Despite the special laws which have been created for the protection of the Dalits, nothing seems to deter the misguided and cruel men who want to molest or rape these marginalised women. And even the spotlight of the media does not speed up the excruciatingly slow wheels of justice. Recently, in the first reported rape in which the traumatised young woman said nothing for 10 days, fearing reprisal — while MMS clips were doing the rounds in her village and elsewhere — makes one wonder on whose side the state government is. There is no greater proof of poor governance than the police taking ages to register a case, and conduct the investigation, even in a case like this where the evidence must have been easily available.

This was after a rape which took place in a small community. Thanks to the MMS, the criminals would have been easily identifiable as well. Everyone must have known their identities and yet the sheer reluctance to track down the culprits till the father of the victim killed himself is shameful. But we have heard no apologies from anyone. And when within a few days a second case of a gang rape emerged in which a young child had witnessed her mother being brutally molested — there was no alacrity demonstrated by the police or the politicians. Neither was there a healing or soothing touch extended towards this distraught family.

As always, the state of Haryana lived up to its reputation of being cruel and callous towards its women. This is the state where the gender ratio is appalling, and machismo rules. It is also where khap panchayats are free to pass all kinds of retrograde pronouncements. And yet, nothing ever changes, because the patriarchal stranglehold of the upper castes and the Jat community appears to be far too strong. One can only hope the next time the electorate will have better choices, but who can they turn to?

What is even more astonishing is that the high-profile Dalit woman politician from a neighbouring state has made no extraordinary effort to champion the cause of the two Dalit victims. Former UP Chief Minister Mayawati might be a Dalit icon, but she has done little to push for gender justice. Why do Indian women politicians demonstrate an almost macho attitude towards women victims? Even the newly anointed Chief Minister for West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, the darling of the “bhadralok”, was not very sympathetic towards a rape victim in Kolkata. Similarly, the Chief Minister of Delhi, Sheila Dikshit, had admitted sometime back that it was difficult to provide security for women at night, and suggested they stay at home after certain hours. Thus the implication is that unless you are surrounded by gun-toting security guards (as most women politicians are) there is no security for Indian women today, regardless of caste or class.

Years ago, when Phoolan Devi was gang-raped — again a lower-caste woman oppressed by the upper castes — she decided to pick up the gun and take revenge. It was a short, brutal and difficult life, celebrated in cinema and literature, but one wonders whether anything has really changed in India since then. As long as we continue to live in a divisive society where human beings are judged and treated according to their caste, and where real social reform hasn’t taken place, rape will continue to be used as a weapon of oppression. States such as Haryana must introspect and bring about a social revolution, before violence becomes a mindless way of life. I am shocked at not only the treatment of the two victims by the state but also the pathetic condition of the young men from Haryana, who are so misguided and uneducated that they have no other form of recreation than to torture and oppress those who are already marginalised. Who is going to teach them values, or kindness?

These sorry specimens seem to have learnt nothing good from their families or society. It is about time we woke up to the monsters among us, and tried to change their horrific mindset.

ground zero
Vajpayee’s ultimate cold warrior
Mishra has been described as a ‘hybrid between Chanakya and Henry Kissinger’ — a man with a ‘steel stomach’, with the ability to strip through the rhetoric and focus on key issues.
raj chengappa

A file photo of Brajesh Mishra with then Prime Minister AB Vajpayee. Tribune photo: Mukesh Aggarwal

When I spoke to Brajesh Mishra last month, he was as usual brusque and precise in his answers. He never suffered fools or foolish questions and could be intimidating to those unfamiliar with his manner. Despite his failing health, his memory remained razor sharp. I had checked with him whether during the 1999 Kargil War, Pakistan had conveyed a nuclear threat to deter India from launching a full-scale war. Mishra said India had no evidence that Pakistan would carry out a first strike but confirmed that India had kept its nuclear weapons in a state of readiness, just in case. He then disconnected the phone.

Mishra, who died on Friday, just a day short of completing 84 years, was India’s first National Security Adviser and Principal Secretary to Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee from 1998 to 2004. Just 50 feet of red carpet separated his room from that of Vajpayee in South Block and whenever the Prime Minister was there, Mishra was at hand. The degree of influence he wielded with Vajpayee and his closeness to him drew comparisons with the relationship the legendary PN Haksar had with Mrs Indira Gandhi during her first tenure as Prime Minister.

A Jawaharlal Nehru University professor once described Mishra as a “hybrid between Chanakya and Henry Kissinger”. He was known as a man with a “steel stomach”, with the ability to strip through the rhetoric and focus on key issues. The immense power he wielded with the twin posts and his access to Vajpayee saw him face severe criticism.

In an article I wrote for India Today in 2000 I had termed him as a ‘supercrat’ and talked of how increasingly he was looked upon as a “control freak” and “a lone ranger.” I also mentioned that Vajpayee’s Mr Troubleshooter, with his background as a former Indian Foreign Service officer, was out of depth in economic matters and it was beginning to tell on the efficacy of the Prime Minister on domestic policy issues.

I met Mishra soon after the article was published. He was visibly upset. But all he did was to point his index finger to his forehead and wiggle it to indicate that he thought his critics were “pagal”. His supporters pointed out that the attack on Mishra’s style of functioning was part of a proxy battle to get at the Prime Minister. It was apparent that Vajpayee trusted him intrinsically and resisted all pressure to move him out or clip his wings.

That sort of trust and respect was hard earned. Mishra’s finest hour was during the 1998 Pokharan tests, where he played a large part in convincing Vajpayee to go ahead with the explosions early in his tenure. The timing of the tests not only caught the world by surprise but also many of Vajpayee’s Cabinet colleagues. Mishra was part of the inner circle that knew when. So secret were the timings that Vajpayee briefed his Cabinet colleagues, including LK Advani, only a day before the tests.

Mishra’s assessment to Vajpayee, that if India played its business and political cards well it would weather the international storm over the nuclear tests in six months, proved to largely correct. Mishra had predicted that Pakistan would go ahead with its own tests and end up facing serious economic consequences. That the US would clamp sanctions on India, but he was confident the Indian economy was resilient enough to withstand the sanctions. That Russia, though uncomfortable with the tests, would back India. But his advice to Vajpayee to target China in a letter that the Prime Minister wrote to then US President Bill Clinton soon after the tests proved to be embarrassing when it was leaked.

After the tests, Mishra continued to play a key role in the decision-making process. At the height of the Kargil conflict he met his US counterpart, Sandy Berger, and reportedly delivered a message from Vajpayee to Clinton. Mishra remained tight-lipped about what he really communicated, but it is believed that Vajpayee had indicated to Clinton that India was readying itself for a full-scale war with Pakistan if the US was unable to convince Pakistan to withdraw from the heights.

I do have a personal story of Mishra that would demonstrate the clout that he wielded as Vajpayee’s Man Friday. I remember that when I had obtained exclusive pictures of the 1998 Pokharan tests, including that of key Indian atomic scientists and APJ Abdul Kalam disguised in army fatigues at the test site, it was Mishra who took the decision to allow me to publish them. As far as I know, he took it without consulting the Prime Minister — such was the confidence he enjoyed. I never did thank him. I am doing so now.

raj@tribunemail.com