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Spare Parliament
Mahatma’s memorabilia |
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Maimed and scarred
Pivoting towards Asia
Republic Day: Then and now
Making them partners in growth
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Spare Parliament
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day after taking charge as BJP president, Rajnath Singh was in the thick of a fight against Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde’s remark that RSS and BJP camps train terrorists. This was a serious charge which naturally upset the nation’s main opposition party and its newly elected chief. The party organised protests on Thursday to demand the resignation of the Home Minister. Quoting inquiries by the National Investigation Agency, media reports have pointed out persons involved in terrorist activities having links with certain functionaries of the Parivar. While both the BJP and its ideological parent, the RSS, should come clean on this, the Home Minister must either place the facts in the public domain or withdraw the charge. The Congress has clarified reports carrying the Home Minister’s references to “saffron terror” or “Hindu terror”, saying the party believes terrorism has no religion. It has virtually disowned Shinde’s reported comments. The matter should have ended there. Even if the BJP wants to make it an issue, it is within its rights to do so in a democracy. However, the BJP’s threat that if Shinde is not sacked, the party would “create such a situation in both Houses of Parliament that the Prime Minister would be forced to remove the Home Minister” is stretching things too far. If what Shinde said has hurt “national prestige” — as Rajnath Singh put it — then the BJP’s plan to disrupt Parliament, once again, is also against national interest. The crucial Budget session of Parliament begins next month and the two Houses have important work to do. The BJP cannot hold Parliament to ransom over one issue or the other. Those who believed that Rajnath Singh would provide a more mature leadership than his predecessor, Nitin Gadkari, might be a tad disappointed. After being relieved of his party post, Gadkari came into his own at Nagpur on Thursday. He threatened the tax officials probing charges of financial impropriety against him with dire consequences once the BJP came to power in 2014. He has proved that the party has done the right thing by dropping him.
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Mahatma’s memorabilia
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letter written by Mahatma Gandhi, his spectacles, other objects of personal use all have come under the hammer at premier auction houses in London and elsewhere. The latest instance is that of a letter that the Mahatma wrote it in 1943 while he was imprisoned at the Aga Khan Palace in Pune. In the letter, which is addressed to the Additional Secretary, Government of India, Mahatma calls for his and his followers’ release. The typewritten letter is yet another piece of precious heritage that will go to the highest bidder. Indeed, it takes a lot of money to acquire a tangible piece of heritage connected to the Mahatma. Various items connected to him have gone for large sums of money and thus there is a thriving market for Mahatma’s memorabilia. Some tributes to the Mahatma have also been notably expensive, like the fountain pen dedicated to him, which was priced at Rs 2.74 lakh before it was withdrawn by the manufacturer. In this materialistic thrust, what is priceless is being ignored. The Mahatma’s philosophy, his teachings and his writing contains knowledge and interpretation that is truly invaluable. It is also easily approachable, since the Publication Division of the Government of India has printed “The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi” in 100 volumes and priced the entire set at a token Rs 1,600. Mahatma Gandhi is there for all those who seek him, through his thoughts as well as via some tangible objects which are related to him. The Mahatma shaped the course of history not only in this country but in various parts of the world also where his writing influenced people as diverse as Martin Luther King Jr in the US and Nelson Mandela in South Africa. Even today, world leaders quote his writings and acknowledge his influence. It is, indeed, gratifying that what really matters to the world is his thought, the intangible legacy he has left behind, that can be accessed by anyone interested in it, one for which no auction is necessary since it is freely available.
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Maimed and scarred
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the many crimes against women in India, acid attack is yet another virulent form of growing violence against the fair sex. Indeed, there can be little dispute with Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Arjan Kumar Sikri’s observation that an acid attack is worse than murder. The court’s directive to the Punjab government to frame a proper policy that would ensure free treatment, grant of compensation and rehabilitation of acid attack victims too cannot be questioned. Indeed, it is the responsibility of the government to help victims pick up threads of their life after such an attack, and states like Karnataka that has a corpus fund at its disposal to provide relief to victims have shown the way. Acid attack like other gender specific violence too has roots in our patriarchal system, embedded in the vicious desire of men to control women’s lives. Over-the-counter availability of acid provides men with misguided intent an insidious tool to seek ‘revenge’. Many beautiful lives have been devastated, disfigured and maimed both psychologically and physically, often by jilted lovers. Undeniably, the victims, most of whom have to undergo expensive treatment and reconstructive surgery, do need monetary help to get on with their life. However, the trauma of women like Sonali Mukherjee, seeking both money and justice for the past nine years, underlines that apart from putting a framework in place to help victims, laws must be made stringent. Sadly, more often than not, the perpetrators of crime are not dealt with as severely as their crimes warrant even after they condemn young, hapless women to a life of eternal misery. It is indeed ironic that when the Delhi gang rape victim had galvanised the whole country into outrage and led to a nationwide demand for a stronger rape law, an acid attack victim’s plight in the ward down the same corridor of the hospital almost went unnoticed. It’s not only heinous crimes like rape but equally abominable ones like acid attacks that call for deterrent punishment.
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The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain. — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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Pivoting towards Asia A
shorthand description of the common objectives but contrasting styles of American and Australian foreign policies would be to note that what the United States does today the Australians will do tomorrow, but in an exaggerated manner. The American and Australian responses to India’s nuclear tests in 1998 might be recollected. The United States was greatly miffed with India and took the lead in widening the sanctions against India’s civilian nuclear programme. But Australia went further to break off its relations with India and expelling Indian officers doing courses in Australia’s military educational institutions. Australia’s behaviour is entirely explicable. During the Cold War its dependence on the United States was complete. It joined all the anti-eastern bloc military alliances promoted by Washington. They included ANZUS (Australia, New Zealand and United States) that continued between 1952 and 1986. Also, SEATO (Southeast Asia Treaty Organisation) comprising Australia, France, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the United States, which functioned between 1954 and 1977. Both these Treaties were designed to provide for mutual defence of the signatories. And ANZUS and SEATO were unequivocally focused against China and the former Soviet Union. Proceeding further, Australia has been unapologetic about its dependence on the United States. But there are nuanced differences in how this dependency relationship is perceived by its western and eastern regions. Briefly, the populous western and southern states have a Pacific orientation, and are more greatly inclined towards the United States. But eastern Australia looks expectantly towards Asia. Canberra is constantly balancing these domestic imperatives in framing its foreign policy. The rise of China, alongside the decline of American power, but renewed aggressiveness by both countries in seeking their national security has necessitated rethinking in Australia’s worldview and foreign policy. Indeed, its White Paper (2012) was, significantly, titled “Australia in the Asian Century”. It appreciates Asia’s remarkable growth, and the inevitability of its becoming the world’s largest producer and consumer of goods and services. It is also the most populous region, and will soon be home to the majority of the world’s middle class. The Asian century is Australia’s opportunity. The need for minerals and energy will be the most visible concomitant of Asia’s rise, and speaks for Australia’s strength. The White Paper highlights five key areas for pursuit by Australia. Briefly, they include building on its skills and education, innovation, infrastructure, tax and regulatory reform; developing scientific and technical excellence, adaptability and resilience, and a deeper understanding of Asian cultures and languages; Australian firms developing new business models and new mindsets to connect with Asian markets; supporting sustainable security in the region by strengthening bilateral cooperation through existing regional mechanisms; and strengthening Australia’s broad social, cultural, political and economic relations across Asia. Despite the return of President Obama to the White House, neo-conservative opinion across the political spectrum believes that a clash between a non-democratic China and a democratic United States is inevitable. These sentiments are fully reciprocated by Chinese “triumphalists”, who believe that conflict is inherent in US-China relations. Kissinger, for instance, is convinced that Sino-American relations are competitive, essentially zero-sum, a “marathon contest” and the “duel of the century. The only alternative to total success is humiliating failure. If China in the 21st century cannot become the world’s number one, cannot become the top power, then inevitably it will become a straggler that is cast aside.” In these circumstances, the US ‘pivot’ towards Asia has been euphemistically construed as a ‘rebalancing’ of US global interests with the emphasis on Asia. On the other hand, there are intimations of the growing potential of China and India to rival and overtake the United States. Unsurprisingly, the new American focus on Asia has caused a huge ferment in Australia’s foreign policy establishment. President Obama’s November 2011 speech in Perth informed that the United States had negotiated an agreement with Australia to station 2500 US Marines in Darwin, and was planning a further expansion of the American presence in the region, including the positioning of military aircraft in northern Australia. He had also declared in the Australian Parliament that “Every nation will chart its own course. Yet it is also true that certain rights are universal, among them freedom of speech, freedom of the Press, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, and the freedom of citizens to choose their own leaders. This is the future we seek in the Asia Pacific — security, prosperity and dignity for all…” Sans the rhetoric, the reference to universal rights definitely has China in its cross-hairs. The East Asian region remains undefined, but includes the Asia-Pacific hinterland and extends into the Bay of Bengal. Realistically evaluated, however, US pre-eminence in Asia is not feasible but Chinese pre-eminence enthuses nobody; hence a viable solution suggested is a concert of powers in the Asia-Pacific. This perfect solution is unfortunately a-historical. The annals of history are replete with examples of established and rising powers contending, but not living peacefully, with each other. China and the United States might, therefore, co-exist and co-evolve in future, cooperating where possible, and undertaking damage control when conflict becomes unavoidable. For Australia, however, assembling a concert of allies, including South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and the Southeast Asian nations, makes eminent sense. The inclusion of India in this assemblage would brilliantly serve the interests of the American pivot and Australia’s Asia policy. This train of logic explains Australia having turned decisively towards India with business and trade delegations and high-level visits tripping over each other on their way to New Delhi. Several Australian think-tanks are following suit to establish academic linkages with India. Remarkably, the last Australian High Commissioner to New Delhi, Peter Varghese, has become its first Indian origin head of the Foreign Ministry. India also needs to re-think its anaemic commitment to non-alignment to robustly discern where its best national interests lie. A good point to start would be deciding whether a rising China and a rising India can ally? Or, only co-exist and co-evolve in the Washington-Beijing
mould?
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Republic Day: Then and now Ever since we attained freedom from the colonial hegemony, we have been commemorating the day with patriotic fervour and fanfare, year after year. This year, too, Republic Day was celebrated with never-before enthusiasm. A host of rituals, including paying of glowing tributes to our forefathers for rare fetes of their chivalry, marked the day, though we have failed to liberate ourselves ideologically and morally. A peep into the past reveals that the spirit of ‘azadi’ ignited by our forefathers has lost its relevance in the present milieu. The sacrosanct occasion has been reduced to a mere ritual, for the country is riddled with rampant corruption, robberies, murders, acid attacks, gang-rapes and other heinous crimes. I, too, like countless of my countrymen, have been witnessing Republic Day celebrations. But the one dating back to the year 1966 is deeply etched in my memory. It was a bone-chilling January morning. My mother, an early bird, woke me up at peep-o-day, humming a sweet nothing into my ear, “Ramesh, utho beta, aaj azadi ka din hai…”, her face aglow with patriotism I tip-toed to the compound of my house and heard shrill voices emanating from our sleepy locality. “People must be getting ready for the big day”, I mused. The morning chores quickly over, I zoomed off to my school. The day proved twice lucky for me — no school bag hassles and that my mother had given me a rupee, then a hefty sum, for sweets! I covered the one-km-long hilly stretch in lesser time than usual. By 10’O clock, our school ground was full to capacity. All roads seemingly led to the function venue, with the young and the old drawing in droves to be a part of the celebrations. I was gung-ho to see my nonagenarian granny amid the sea of humanity, along with other members of the family in attendance. With the stage secretary announcing the arrival of the chief guest — the Chief Minister — we craned our necks to have a clearer view of him and stood up to greet him, shouting slogans: “Long live the CM!” He reciprocated the gesture with equal warmth amid the din of clapping and sloganeering. An impressive variety programme by the school children was followed by the presentation of a vote of thanks by the principal. A brief, well-meaning address by the chief guest marked the end of the programme. The CM then surged straight to the ground and animatedly mingled with people out there. During the free-wheeling interaction, he listened to their grievances and assured them of all help from him as their leader. He was then given a warm send-off. Those glorious traditions are now passé. Do our leaders today have this much time for public interaction? Can they roam about in such gatherings, without the gun-toting guards? Do they practice what they preach? Aren’t they mired head over heels in scams and scandals? Can they ask others to be astute while they themselves are used to a flamboyant and flashy lifestyle? The answer is an emphatic “no”. Then why this
mumbo-jumbo?
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Making them partners in growth Overseas
Indians have to play a greater role not only in helping India sustain a 7 to 8 per cent annual growth but also help it wield the role of a global power after securing a permanent seat in the UN Security Council. The message was given loud and clear not only by leaders of India but also of countries with a substantial population of Indians at the recent Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) in Kochi. Mauritius, for example, has more than half of its population of Indian origin and contributes more than 30 per cent of India’s Foreign Direct Investment besides supporting the demand for a permanent seat for India in the Security Council. Mauritius has been a committed supporter of India at all international forums.
Act as bridges
The President of Mauritius, Rajkeswur Purryag, exhorted overseas Indians to act as bridges between the countries of their present abode and their ancestral land to help project this great nation as a global power. A similar message was give by the first woman of Indian origin to become the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago at the 2012 PBD.
The overseas Indian community, credited with producing several Nobel laureates, including Hargobind Khurana, besides world-class scientists, doctors, engineers, academicians, parliamentarians, businessmen, captains of industry and sportsmen, has created a niche for itself that commands global respect and honour. It is this elite group that is being called upon to augment India’s quest to be a global knowledge leader. In the US overseas Indians reportedly have the highest per capita income among all expatriates. In 2011 when Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia commented that the Indian government was reaching out to overseas Indians by organising the Pravasi Bharti Divas every year “not because we need your money” but to let them discover what is going on in the country of their origin. His comments had generated an unsavory controversy. Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalavar Ravi supported Montek Singh, saying that only 1.3 per cent of the total FDI came from overseas Indians.
No investments
Montek Singh Ahluwalia’s mantra to overseas Indians to buy a holiday package for their children to come and visit India and see things happening here appears to have been forgotten. “Be partners in the country’s growth” is the new slogan that reverberated the venue of the 2013 PBD in Kochi. Though the overseas Indian community may not be investing in infrastructure development or industry, its remittances back home form a substantial potion of the Gross Domestic Product. Last year it was estimated at over 4.5 per cent. Realising the potential the overseas Indian community has in global recession that has brought down India’s annual growth rate from 8 per cent in 2010 to 6.5 per cent in 2011 and further down to 5.5 per cent in the current fiscal, President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union minister Vyalavar Ravi made a fervent appeal to the overseas Indian community in general and affluent members of the Indian diaspora in particular to invest in India so as to accelerate the growth of the Indian economy that had slowed down in the past two years.
Inward remittances
Intriguingly, the inward remittances touched a new high of $63.7 billion in the last fiscal; the Foreign Direct Investment was only $46.8 billion during the corresponding period. Nearly 55 per cent of the overseas remittances went to Kerala. In fact, Kerala has perhaps the highest percentage of NRIs among its overseas community while Punjab has the lowest. Of 2.8 million Keralites overseas, 2.3 million are in the Gulf and are all Indian passport holders. It is why the Kerala Government is now planning to grant them voting rights not only in local bodies but also in panchayats. India has pushed China to the second place in remittances from overseas. This year India’s treasury from remittances is richer by $5.8 billion than the projected figure. This has been primarily due to a weak rupee and robust economic activity in the Gulf This inflow has come very handy for India as it had been struggling to attract capital inflows to bridge the high current account deficit that is likely to reach 3 per cent of the GDP. Kerala, one of major beneficiaries of overseas remittances, got more than Rs 45,600 crore in the last fiscal that accounted for nearly 23 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product. The same may not be true of Punjab, another state with a large overseas community. While Kerala has 2.8 million people overseas, Punjab has nearly 2 million.
Air connectivity
While Kerala has three major operational international airports in Cochin, Thiruvanthapuram and Kozhikode, Punjab has just one at Amritsar. Even remittances from overseas to Punjab are nowhere close to Kerala. Punjab’s second international airport – Shaheed Bhagat Singh airport at Mohali – is scheduled for commissioning in 2014 or 2015. Even though Chandigarh airport was granted the status of international airport in October 2010, no international operations have yet been permitted from the renovated and upgraded terminal in the last 15 months. Huge investment made to upgrade facilities, including a larger apron and a bigger taxing area, more specious departure and arrival lounges, however, has remained productive only to a limited level. Now Kerala has taken up aggressively its demand for starting its own airline, Air Kerala, to facilitate the to and fro travel of overseas Keralites. Air India is opposing the proposal on various technical grounds, including that no agency or state government could start an airline without the minimum prescribed requirements – minimum of five years of domestic experience and also the possession of a specific number of aircraft for starting international operations. Punjab, however, has no such plan. Its overseas community continues to grapple with different sets of problems, including immovable property disputes, fraud marriages and insecurity of their investments back home. Punjabis, however, have several distinctions to their credit. Getting assimilated into the mainstream politics of their countries of domicile and without losing their distinct identity, they have achieved laudable success. Their new role as political leaders can help foster better bilateral ties, business partnerships and sharing of advanced technologies with India. The issues that continue to agitate the overseas Indians in general and NRIs in particular include change of status of those who decide to return home and settle down. The withdrawal of NRI status makes them liable for taxation on the savings they bring back by working overseas. They want this income/savings to remain exempt from taxation. And Kerala has been the worst affected by the withdrawal of NRI status. Both Kerala and Punjab have the problem of their people facing police cases and prosecution abroad. Both states want the Indian missions in the United Arab Emirates in particular and other countries of the Arab world in general to be more proactive in extending legal assistance. There are hundreds who are languishing in various jails in the Gulf even after completing their sentences. The overseas Indians also want the Union Government and the state governments to treat their wards on a par with local students. The NRIs have to pay at times more than double the fee than their fellow Indian students. Many NRIs, especially those unskilled and semi-skilled, maintain that they really struggle hard and could not be compared with rich and affluent overseas Indians. Further, the sword of uncertainty continues to hang over the beneficiary students as states and universities keep making policy changes frequently.
Their contribution
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