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Focus shifts to GST
Indo-Pak trade crucial
Dangerous roads |
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Foreign policy in US polls
‘Domestic Goddess’
washington WHISPERS
london latitude
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Focus shifts to GST
Union
Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has four major challenges ahead: putting the goods and services tax in place, mustering opposition support to get the insurance and pension Bills passed, propping up economic growth and fiscal consolidation. The GST can be a game-changer in replacing India’s complex multiple taxes with a single tax nationwide. He plans to meet the state finance ministers later this month to elicit support for the passage of the GST, which requires a nod from a two-thirds majority in Parliament and ratification by half the states. If passed, the GST could lift GDP growth by 2 percentage points. Since Chidambaram has often been attacked by opposition parties, particularly the BJP, the UPA will have to decide whether he is the right man for canvassing support on crucial issues — the insurance and pension Bills, the Direct Taxes Code and the GST. The coming session of Parliament is set to witness confrontation rather than cooperation. Even though Mamata Banerjee’s threatened no-trust move is not backed by numbers, it would vitiate the work environment in Parliament. It is for the BJP to decide whether it wants to cooperate with the government in promoting the country’s economic interests or play petty politics to deny the Congress any credit for reforms. Keeping in mind the political interests of the Congress and its allies, Chidambaram has defended the food, fertilizer and oil subsidies. This is contrary to the Vijay Kelkar committee’s suggestion to phase out the subsidies. The government plans to contain fiscal deficit by auctioning the cancelled second-generation mobile phone licences, the sale of stakes in government-run enterprises and pruning subsidies and ensuring direct cash transfers. Though the recent reforms and policy measures, which have Sonia Gandhi’s support, have lifted the financial markets, falling growth and rising inflation are areas of concern. The IMF has cut India’s growth forecast to 4.9 per cent for the current year. This should worry not only the UPA but also the opposition parties. Slowing growth would mean higher unemployment and more social unrest. Reforms to push growth should be kept above politics.
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Indo-Pak trade crucial THE current trade volume between India and Pakistan is around $2.5 billion, which can grow manifold if the ties normalise further. Seizure of contraband in goods coming from Pakistan at the scale seen in Amritsar on Monday is definitely a spanner in the positive movement. An astounding 105 kg of heroin and 500 revolver cartridges is a quantity Customs officials say they have not seen in the area earlier. This at once raises a series of red flags. Scale and sophistication of narcotic smugglers; organised and violent crime; separatist and terror activities; compromised security systems, all are areas that immediately need to be reassessed in view of the discovery, with no presumption of innocence on anyone’s part. This is not the first time that drugs or ammunition have come in along with the cement bags in trains from Pakistan. And Indian officials have raised the issue with Pakistan earlier too. Promises are made, procedures are tightened, yet it happens all over again. Pakistan is a country where a large number of ‘state’ and ‘non-state’ actors are at play, besides a huge compliment of criminals and drug dealers. And India duly talks straight to the neighbour on this, telling it to rein in the smugglers at its end. But there are two ends to this story. The contraband lands in India, and is received and peddled further. This requires as elaborate a network as the one that sends it. This network apparently has use for guns too. India thus cannot simply put the blame on Pakistan. Both sides have to take the responsibility of making trade work. There is a huge historical baggage between India and Pakistan that does not allow complete normalisation of ties. International and domestic politics do not allow the leadership many options. Business is the only effective, and yet acceptable, means available to achieve this. Once the scale of trade — and thereby stakes — are high enough, things will tilt in favour of peace on its own. Trade between India and Pakistan is not mere business; it is a tool that can decide how the future shapes up for both. Do not allow complacence in the mere mechanics of border interaction to derail something so crucial.
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Dangerous roads THE recent fatal accident in which a car slammed into a truck laden with iron rods, leading to a number of deaths, again underlines the need to reinforce road safety norms on the highway. Over-laden trucks with iron rods protruding from the back are unfortunately a common sight, and more often than not, these do not even have the mandatory warning flags and red warning lights. In fact, it is not only the trucks that are to blame, tractors are often overloaded with hay or farm produce and let loose on the highways, thereby becoming a major road hazard. All over the nation, trucks, buses, cars, two-wheelers — motorcycles, scooters and bicycles — rickshaws and even bullock carts, all vie for space on the very same black tarmac. Overall, much stress has been laid on improving the road infrastructure, but vital aspects of safety, including providing enforcement staff to ensure that road users follow rules, have not been a priority for the nation which loses an estimated 1.5 lakh persons every year between the ages of 25 and 65. China has more people, the US more vehicles, but India has the highest number of road fatalities in the world. More and more places are being connected with roads, and there is a quantum jump in the number of vehicles that come on the roads every year. The only way to ensure that people drive well and the number of accidents decreases is to step up the enforcement of traffic laws and to increase the prison term and fines for those who commit traffic infractions. Since drunk driving accounts for an abnormally high percentage of fatal accidents, special effort must be made to get such drivers off the road. The feeling of impunity and a strange kind of aggressiveness that some drivers exhibit when they are behind the wheel can only be sorted out by strict enforcement of the law. As for those who overload vehicles, or transport hazardous materials in an inappropriate manner, not only they but also the owners of such vehicles must be punished so that they do not become a menace to others.
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A smile is a curve that sets everything straight. — Phyllis Diller
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Foreign policy in US polls
Foreign
Policy has seldom figured prominently in the US Presidential election campaigns, but some intervening events have pushed it to the forefront this year. Following widespread anti-American protests across the Muslim world over an amateurish anti-Islamic film and the killing of the US Ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, in Benghazi, foreign policy issues have gained some primetime in the ongoing campaign. Although President Obama’s record remains strong on foreign policy and national security, the Republican Party and conservative commentators will leave no stone unturned to prove that the President has run an “apologetic” foreign policy and that he has not been resolute enough in supporting American interests abroad. The ramifications of the Arab Spring are unfolding in quite unforeseen ways. And recent events particularly in Libya and Egypt have also raised the debate on the US foreign and security policy to a high pedestal this election season. Republican candidate Mitt Romney has not let President Obama off the hook, blaming the latter’s administration for offering, in Romney’s words, “a confused, slow and inconsistent response to the terrorist attack in Libya” and for failing to “understand the gravity of the challenges” that America faces in the Middle-East and North Africa. Then there is the Iran issue which came to the spotlight again. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking at the UN General Assembly, urged the world to draw a clear “redline” before Iran amasses enough enriched uranium to make a nuclear bomb. President Obama, speaking at the same forum, told the audience that America “will do what” it “must to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon” and that the time for diplomacy was “not unlimited.” China has, of late, emerged as a major talking point for both parties, with the Romney campaign having constantly accused President Obama of kowtowing before Chinese leaders. The debate over China’s “unfair” trade practices is as much about American industries and workers, as it is about America’s unavoidably uneasy relationship with a rising power. Concerns in Washington about China’s overwhelming superpower ambitions combined with its aggressive assertion of claims in nearby seas and island territories have resulted in America’s rebalancing strategy towards the Asia-Pacific, and efforts at alliance building in the region going beyond traditional allies like Japan, South Korea and Australia to include South-East Asian countries and emerging powers like India. These, in turn, have raised concerns in Beijing. China’s trade practices and the artificially maintained low value of the Yuan have been criticised by both the campaigns. According to a survey done this year by the Pew Research Center, Americans, despite giving generally positive assessments of US-China relations, are clearly concerned about China’s growing economic strength and its impact on the United States. As regards India, numerous analyses of the political climate in Washington say that there is a clear bipartisan support for greater US-India engagement. And the US-India convergence has come about at a time when there is a growing presence of Indian-Americans in US politics. Their increased lobbying power was seen in how the community rallied behind the Indo-US nuclear deal. Reflective of the largely stable nature of the relationship, there is very little anxiety, but rather a calm confidence that Indo-US relationship will be on the upward trend, no matter who wins the November polls. Public perceptions regarding US foreign policy have perennially shifted between interventionism and isolationism, and the latter gaining ground among the American public is quite understandable after the Iraq war and the continuing Afghan conflict that has eaten into the national treasury. But, then again, the very nature of American foreign policy and its geographic reach does not give much of an option to US foreign policymakers. Being the sole great power with system-shaping capabilities, American foreign policy is bound to be expansive, by any standards, even in a contracted form. The difference is this: whereas in the past the focus of US foreign policy debates used to be on Europe and Latin America, it has now shifted to Asia and the Arab region. The moot point is: Is the US finally, in real terms, experiencing what historian Paul Kennedy called the “imperial overstretch”? Though power transitions are not uncommon in world history and debates abound on the relative US decline and China’s rise, the US massively retrenching its activities around the world is not very probable in the near future. Even then, as the US struggles to put its economic house in order and confronts what American author Fareed Zakaria called “the Rise of the Rest”, this election and the ones to follow will continue to raise questions over the global role of the US and its impact on domestic priorities. Given the highly networked world we live in, domestic and foreign policy issues cannot be entirely compartmentalised. Therefore, foreign policy will increasingly become a major trump card for any candidate. Poll after poll has shown that American citizens care more about bread and butter than guns. And in times of visible economic distress, they prefer scaling down American involvement in the rest of the world. Foreign policy issues at the most are seen as intervening factors that may at times tilt the result in someone’s favour. While campaigning, Presidential candidates devote most of their time projecting the image of an economic manager. But once in office, constrained by the power of the US Congress over domestic legislation coupled with the President’s greater prerogative and leeway over foreign policy and national security, the US President wears the Commander-in-Chief suit more often. And precisely as a result of the amount of traction that the President enjoys in the international arena, he carries supreme accountability for foreign policy decisions. Therefore, foreign policy, although not very consequential in winning the Oval Office, is very much a part of the electoral matrix in the US. The American President, after the November polls, will face a string of foreign policy challenges besides trying to steer through domestic storms. And all these will happen in the midst of an economic recession that, in its impact and severity, is only comparable to the great depression in the 1930s. Recovery in a globalised world is, to an extent, dependent on the economic health and markets of Asia, especially China, India and the ASEAN countries. Hence, at election time, American voters are not likely to exclude foreign policy issues from their calculations. And with a presidential debate on foreign policy issues scheduled for later this month, both campaigns are expected to offer more verbal jostling over who best fits the “Commander-in-Chief”
suit. The writer is an Associate Fellow (US Studies) at the Observer Research
Foundation, New Delhi.
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‘Domestic Goddess’ WHILE reading newspapers one morning last month, my wife suddenly leaped into the air. For a while, I felt some evil spirit had entered her body. Our Pomeranian pet, Micky, also went hysterical at her weird spacewalk. By the time she landed, I had almost fainted. After my heartbeats normalised, I asked her for the trigger of her airborne levitation. With glitter in her eyes, she naughtily fluttered the concerned Union Minister’s press statement envisaging salary for all homemakers, payable by their husbands. Wonder-struck at the innovative idea, I could hardly mumble whether she also expected wages in lieu of services rendered by her to maintain the home she herself ruled. Though she did not strip her mind, I could clearly notice the currency notes floating in her eyes. It pushed me into introspection. My wife’s sermons started ringing in my ears: “It is very easy to run an office but very difficult to run a home… You cannot run it even for a day despite being a national awardee.” While the males manoeuvre to pass the buck down the hierarchy, the homemakers themselves have to negotiate recurring challenges, she would explode. I would generally play safe by clinging to my right to silence and wait for the storm to pass over. However, at heart, I have always remained an ardent believer in Obama’s dictum: “Yes, I can.” One fateful morning, as ill-luck would have it, all the events conspired to prompt me to accept the gauntlet thrown by her. I rolled my sleeves as the stage was setting for a grand finale. She was keen to watch how my administrative skills rescued me from the well of woes I had chosen to plunge. My daughter also warned me against venturing into unfamiliar terrain. Though it bruised my spirit initially, I decided not to concede without a fight. The dawn proved rather ominous; the laundry maid was the first to duck because of her fever while another got trapped in rain. The gardener too departed soon thereafter to pursue his daughter’s divorce case. As I shuffled the washing job to the kitchen maid, my wife burst into laughter, ostensibly at the blunder I was tending to commit. We eventually forgot to take milk and cook vegetables while Micky soiled the main entrance since he was not taken for morning ablution in time. Having run out of options, I myself jumped into the fray to salvage the situation. But while dusting, I too committed a faux pas and broke a treasured memento my friend had gifted when we visited him in Switzerland four years ago. Oh, there was total mess: the sink overflowing with unwashed dishes, lunch not readied and washrooms not cleaned. The reason was obvious: the homemaker had abstained for the day. With egg on my face and finding no place to hide, I realised that no amount of money, what to speak of a paltry percentage of husband’s salary, could equal a homemaker’s dedication to her family. While vouchsafing what an American writer, Anne Morrow, said, I appreciated: “Mothers and housewives are the only…great vacation-less class.” But the best compliment came from an eminent Hollywood actress, Roseanne, who commented: “I hate the word housewife; I don’t like the word homemaker either. I want to be called Domestic Goddess.” Are you hearing, fellow-husbands of the
world?
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washington WHISPERS
A
timely study conducted by the National Asian American Survey finds that Indian Americans overwhelmingly support U.S. President Barack Obama and his Democratic Party over challenger Mitt Romney and his Republican Party. Indian Americans showed the strongest support (68 percent) for Obama among the Asian American and Pacific Islander ethnic groups surveyed. Only 5 percent said they would vote for Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts; and 25 percent said they had not made up their mind. Indian Americans also had a higher opinion of Obama than the national average: 88 percent had a favourable opinion of the President, while 30 percent thought highly of Romney. The U.S. average is 51 percent in favour of Obama and 45 percent Romney. An overwhelming majority of Indian Americans (58 percent) also said they support or lean towards the Democratic Party over the Republican Party. In the group, only Filipino and Vietnamese Americans more strongly identified with the Republican Party. These numbers come as no surprise. A Pew Research Centre study in June found that 65 percent of Indian Americans surveyed support or lean toward the Democratic Party, while 18 identified as Republicans. Indian Americans, especially those from the second generation, are now peppered across America's political firmament. Ironically, some of the most high-profile Indian Americans in office are Republicans -- Bobby Jindal and Nikki Haley, who are the governors of Louisiana and South Carolina respectively. Asian Americans are the highest-income, best-educated and fastest-growing racial group in the United States. "Between 2000 and 2010, the Asian American population grew faster than any other racial group, at a rate of 46 percent. They are also an important and growing political constituency, as 600,000 new Asian American voters entered the electorate in 2008 and a similar number is expected to do so in 2012," according to the National Asian American Survey report. Neither Obama nor Romney can afford to ignore the more than 2 million-strong Indian American community. Indian Americans constitute a greater share of the "battleground state" population than their national population shares, according to the survey. The survey identified these battleground states as Ohio, Virginia, Florida, New Hampshire, Iowa, Colorado, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Nevada, and North Carolina. The data was based on a telephone survey of 3,034 adults in the U.S. who identify as Asian American. The interviews were conducted between July 31 and September 19. November 6 is the Election Day.
Hate crimes against Sikhs
Al Qaida's attacks on the United States of America on September 11, 2001, marked a turning point in the lives of Sikhs in America. Most Americans were unable to distinguish between Sikhs and al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, whose turbaned and bearded image was emblazoned across TV screens, newspapers and magazines in the aftermath of the attacks. Sikh Americans have faced a vicious, and at times deadly, backlash as a consequence. The most recent incident took place on August 5, and involved Wade Michael Page, a 40-year-old U.S. Army veteran and white supremacist. Page went on a shooting spree at a gurdwara in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin, suburb of Oak Tree killing six Sikh worshippers, including the gurdwara's president. There has also been a sharp increase in other forms of discrimination such as schoolyard bullying and workplace discrimination. However, the FBI does not track hate crimes against the Sikh community, citing its small size. On Capitol Hill, Democratic Congressman Joe Crowley of New York has championed an effort to press the FBI to document hate crimes against Sikhs. Crowley was the lead author of a letter to the FBI on this matter and last month introduced legislation that, among other things, condemned attacks against Sikhs and once again pressed the FBI. "We must take greater strides in working to prevent crimes against Sikhs. That includes documenting hate crimes against Sikhs, something which had not happened in the past," Crowley said. So far, the FBI's position is unchanged. Crowley intends to persevere. Time’s up
India's two years as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council come to a close at the end of the year. On October 18, the U.N. General Assembly will elect five new non-permanent members to the Security Council. The new members will take up their seats on January 1, 2013, and will serve until December 31, 2014. Besides India, South Africa, Colombia, Germany and Portugal will also depart the council. Rwanda, Bhutan, Cambodia, South Korea, Argentina, Australia, Finland and Luxembourg are vying to fill the soon-to-be-vacated seats. The contest for Asia's one seat will be between three candidates. India has been seeking a permanent seat on a reformed Security Council. On a visit to India in 2010, U.S. President Barack Obama offered support for India's bid. China, one of five veto-wielding members on the council, is a likely obstacle to India's ambitions.
'Genius' economist
Chetty told the Harvard Crimson newspaper that he received the telephone call informing him of the news while having lunch with his mother in downtown Boston. Chetty's work focuses on issues ranging from how sales tax affects shoppers' behaviour to teacher effectiveness. In a study on teacher quality, Chetty and his colleagues found that students who were assigned to talented teachers in elementary school had significantly higher incomes as adults and better future life outcomes. Chetty is an economist whose "rigorous theoretical and empirical studies are informing the design of effective government policy," the MacArthur Foundation says of the 33-year-old who is a professor in the Department of Economics at Harvard University.
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london latitude Connoisseurs
of Scotch whisky, whether in India or abroad, should not be upset by the thrust of a new advertising campaign in which the central character is pictured as sitting down rather than walking jauntily on his feet. This is the famous Striding Man, the red-coated gent with his top hat and cane, who is the ubiquitous symbol of the world’s best-selling whisky that retails upwards of US$12.50. He remains untouched on Johnnie Walker’s many labels, as does the slogan “Keep Walking”, which is identified with personal progress. The original John Walker was a grocer in the town of Kilmarnock in Scotland where he learnt the skills to blend a commercially successful whisky. More than 100 years ago the brand became popular throughout the British Empire and is to this day the drink of choice for millions throughout the English-speaking world. Multinational drinks company Diageo, which currently owns the Johnnie Walker brand, has decided that in its new advertising campaign Johnnie Walker will for the first time take a back seat as part of a “Where Flavour is King’ campaign aimed at markets in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the United States. Diageo meanwhile has confirmed it is in fresh talks to buy a stake in Vijay Mallya’s United Spirits, which owns the Whyte and Mackay Scotch Whisky brand. The two companies held unsuccessful talks back in 2009, but Mallya has recently been under fresh pressure to raise capital for his businesses, including Kingfisher Airline. In London a spokeswoman for Diageo confirmed the two companies were engaged in discussions for Diageo to acquire an interest in United Spirits Limited. “However there is no certainty that these discussions would lead to a transaction.”
Punjabi woman drunk and
abusive on a flight Indians worldwide enjoy their drink and there are some who occasionally will consume more than their average share of the evening tipple. But heavy drinkers among Indian women are few and far between. So eyebrows were raised when a 39-year-old Punjabi woman confessed before a magistrates’ bench that she had been drunk on a seven-hour flight from Dubai to London. Bela Chopra from Derby said in her defence that she was afraid of flying and was short of sleep when she took her seat on the Emirates flight from Dubai. Once she was on board she also stole food from the plates of other passengers and at one point opened a pack of cigarettes as if she was about to start smoking. Prosecutor Nikki Onuma-Elliott told the Uxbridge magistrates, “As the aircraft was taxiing she got out of her seat and said very loudly that she needed to go to the ladies.” When she was told she had to sit down during take off, Chopra started shouting and refused to obey the instructions. Ms Onuma-Elliott added, “She remained abusive, saying she just wanted music. She said: ‘ Just want the f****** music on’.” Concerned members of the crew watched as the argumentative and alcohol-reeking passenger with blood-shot eyes then removed something from her bag. Ms Onuma-Elliott went on, “She took a bottle from her handbag, and poured some gin into a plastic cup, which she consumed quickly. “She started taking food from other people’s plates and also opening a packet of cigarettes. “When she was approached by other people and members of staff, she used the f-word.” The court also heard how Chopra told crew members to “f-off” when they tried to calm her down. As the plane approached London, she shouted, “What the f.. is going on here.” Presiding magistrate Jeremy Lister, commenting on her behaviour, said, “Your behaviour on the aircraft was very distressing to passengers and the crew and it needlessly tied up the resources of the crew.” Chopra is due to be formally sentenced in weeks to come, but is unlikely to be sent to jail. Drunk passengers are usually fined after being given a severe warning.
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The Economist rated him among the world's top young economists. Now it's official. Raj Chetty has been awarded a $500,000 "genius" grant from the MacArthur Foundation.