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Masters, not servants
Power games in Punjab |
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Need for fresh child policy
Musharraf a commando at heart
Bombing and trenches
Expanding India’s maritime footprint
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Masters, not servants
Expecting bureaucrats to “think out of the box” or be bold in decision-making — as the Prime Minister has done — may be a little too much. Most in the country's steel frame like to flow with the current and fall in line, if challenged. Afraid of consequences, they sit on files and delay decisions since that attracts no punishment. Red tape has become the bane of the administration — from top to bottom. The implementation of the Citizens’ Charter has started in some states but here too well-connected IAS officers get away lightly while those below are sometimes held accountable for delays. An interesting point the Prime Minister made on the Civil Services Day on Sunday was that the best of civil officers should be posted in the agriculture sector. Actually, this is hardly an area of priority for officers. Only those sensitive to difficulties faced by villagers may opt for such postings and try to do something to improve their lot. In fact, there is a need to bridge the divide between the bureaucracy and the citizenry, and shake off the colonial legacy. Dr Manmohan Singh also observed that "there is a growing perception, right or wrong, that the moral fibre of civil servants and public servants in general is not as strong as it used to be some decades back and that the civil servants are more likely to succumb to extraneous pressures in their work". This is quite true. Instances of officers being hand in glove with powerful interests inside and outside the system are not rare. There is a relationship of mutual convenience between representatives of people and the bureaucracy. For getting plum posts IAS officers often kowtow to ruling politicians. Quite rare are officers who say "no" to a motivated decision. Anyone who questions political corruption or extravagance is either sidelined or posted out of the state. Political neutrality of the civil servants, for which they once were widely acclaimed, has diminished, if not disappeared altogether. Still, there are honest, public-spirited and efficient officers who keep up public faith in the system.
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Power games in Punjab
TO say that Punjab is likely to face a tough summer on account of power shortage is beginning to sound like a ritual around this time of the year. The misery that the industry, farmers and households face, however, cannot be dismissed as ritual. It is a grim reality, and there is little choice but to face it. Last summer was particularly bad, with shortages and tripping of the grid. This time it might be better on account of an anticipated ‘normal monsoon’, but only marginally. Given a myriad of factors, some state specific (such as power project delays) and others national (non-availability of coal), the promised ‘surplus power’ in Punjab may remain a dream that rubs into the wounds for a few more years. One major factor afflicting the power sector in Punjab is lack of funds. Too much electricity is being given away either free or too cheap. Amidst this gala populism, the Opposition Congress deems it fit to score a few brownie points of its own by demanding lower tariffs. The simple fact is nothing can be had forever without paying for it. Power rates are nowadays determined through a fairly rational process by autonomous regulatory authorities. Unjustified tinkering will only send things off balance. The financial burden of the current power mess in Punjab is not only depriving the state of electricity but also ruining the balance sheet for all other development. This is one reform the Opposition has a moral duty to support — for the state’s sake. Energy is the single most crucial commodity for the survival of any economy, state or community. Make that available and many other ills can be papered over — think oil producing nations. Go short and the best edifice will start crumbling — Punjab. If any government could think beyond the next election, power is the sector it would like to invest in for the best returns — and then actually be able to look beyond the polls with confidence. Let there be light.
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Need for fresh child policy
Implementing policies may be our weakest point, but a fresh beginning is being made by recognising the need for a national child policy. A proper policy to define the rights of children was waiting to be framed to correspond with the changing complexity of our social fabric, resulting from migration, broken families and a phenomenal rise in child trafficking. Unlike the National Child Policy, implemented in 1975, when the prime concerns to be addressed were immunisation, nutrition and the school dropout rate, the National Child Policy-2030 aspires to focus on higher goals of a child’s survival, development and protection, treating any child up to 18 years in age like a person with proper entitlement to rights. Since the survival of the child is going to be a major area of commitment for the schemes and programmes to be launched under the new child policy, it is worthwhile to know the pathetic health and nutrition status of Indian children. About 44 per cent children under the age of 5 are underweight, 72 per cent infants suffer from anaemia, and the infant mortality rate is still as high as 44 (for 1000 children). Indian children fare even worse than the children of Sub-Saharan Africa, which means our children have an increased risk of future diseases, physical retardation and reduced cognitive abilities. The UN estimates that 2.1 million Indian children die every year before reaching the age of 5. Once the government is able to cross this giant hurdle of ensuring their physical survival, there are far more complex issues to be tackled that concern their education, development and protection. The lofty fruits of the Right to Education (RTE) are yet to be comprehended properly, and the Integrated Child Development Scheme, implemented through 1,241,749 operational Aanganwadi centres, though massive in scale, has yet to prove its worth. Till date India does not have data on the number of its street-children, most vulnerable to violence and abuse. Therefore, a fresh child policy is needed.
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This is the most joyful day that ever I saw in my pilgrimage on earth. —Donald Cargill
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Musharraf a commando at heart THE see-saw in the fortunes of Pervez Musharraf, the retired general and army chief and the master of all he surveyed in Pakistan for nine years, is an object of wonder and bewilderment for the outside world. After nearly four years of self-exile shuttling between London and Dubai, was it hubris that brought him home to be disqualified from contesting the first normal elections in the country’s history? Instead of saving Pakistan, which he promised to accomplish, he has found himself in a sub-jail, mercifully his own well-guarded luxurious farm house on Islamabad’s outskirts. We must remember that General Musharraf remains very much a commando at heart, both by training and instinct. But a good commando calculates his risks calmly, and the retired general has shown a characteristic flaw in his make-up in banking upon instinct and impulse to take decisions, as was evident in his Kargil misadventure. He has, of course, immense self-confidence in his own capabilities and, in his extraordinary career he has often succeeded in his overweening, almost braggart ways. The problem in his present predicament is that he totally misread the mood in Pakistan and was so certain of the people waiting to embrace him with open arms after the warts of five years of rule of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) that he refused to read the signs since the first day of his homecoming. The crowds that greeted him on his airport arrival were pitifully small. And as his nomination was rejected from one constituency to the next and even his last attempt was finally dismissed, he flitted from one court to another seeking bail extensions until one judge refused to grant him one and he made a hasty exit in his black plated SUV with his armed escort only to surrender the next day. There in an instant ended his dream of leading his country again, this time as an elected civilian leader. General Musharraf is, of course, facing a string of charges ranging from his initial act in arresting the superior judges to his administration’s responsibility for the shooting death of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. It was apparently his belief that he could keep these charges at bay by seeking snowballing postponement bails while he appeared in shining armour to save his country. Signs of his discomfiture were apparent from his strained appearance as he was hustled into and out of courts. Now that General Musharraf finds himself in a hole, what conclusions can the outside world draw? First, five years of rule of the Asif Ali Zardari government, however wobbly its performance at times, has changed the country’s landscape. Second, although the Army remains a power centre in fields such as nuclear arms, Afghanistan, Kashmir and relations with India, apart from protecting its vast economic interests, it is no longer the sole power. It is also an open secret that the General’s former colleagues, including the present Army chief, General Ashfaque Pervez Kayani, had warmed him not to return home, a wise counsel, he chose to disregard with his habitual stubbornness. The question everyone is asking is, what now? Both the judiciary and the legal fraternity are relishing their opportunity to turn the tables on the former all-powerful ruler. But the picture is complicated by the looming puzzle: how far will the Army allow its former chief to be humiliated? One secret agreement between the Army on the one hand and the superior judiciary and the civilian leadership on the other could be that he be allowed to go in exile again, despite orders preventing him from doing so. Humiliating as General Musharraf’s position is, of greater importance are the consequences of the present drama on Pakistan’s future. The Pakistan People’s Party government completing its full five years in office – a first for the country – was a landmark event. In compliance with law, a transitional government is now in charge until elections are held next month. In the process, the civilian-military relationship has changed in subtle ways. This in itself is something to be welcomed by the people of the country and the outside world. To anyone familiar with its history, the arraignment of a former Army chief and all-powerful ruler in civilian courts would have been unthinkable only a few short years ago. The world will hope that the election next month will further the process, whoever emerges as the winner. For India, the continuing drama is pregnant with possibilities. Although relations between the two countries fluctuate with times, the strengthening of the democratic process in its neighbourhood would be a good omen. There remain many actors, both of the state and non-state varieties, ever eager to put a spanner in the works and India too has its share of cold warriors. But the chances of a more level-headed relationship increase every time the civilian leadership assumes power, even with caveats. In a strange way, General Musharraf’s misfortune could help in removing recent strains in Indo-Pakistani relations. This would be irrespective of the return of the PPP to power or the revival in the fortunes of Nawaz Sharif’s Muslim League. India, therefore, has a vested interest in the completion of a remarkable transition in Pakistan’s history. A major distraction for Pakistan’s civilian and military rulers will be the looming end of the American military phase in neighbouring Afghanistan. The future civilian dispensation will inevitably listen to its Army’s pleas to ensure Pakistan’s dominant role in that country’s affairs, particularly with the aim of sidelining India to the extent possible. And this compulsion could affect the nature of ties between Islamabad and New Delhi. That lies in the lap of the future. For the present, most people in India would wish Pakistanis well as they climb another hillock in their journey to democracy. There is still a mountain to climb, but given the history of the past 65 years, it is a revolutionary
process.
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Bombing and trenches Warfare, over the centuries, has changed from hand-to-hand combat, from bows and arrows to confrontation between armies on the battlefield. The target was always the enemy forces. Rarely did the casualties extend to population not directly involved in war. Not now. Ever since bombings from air became integral to warfare, the civilian population, not directly involved in war, also suffers. In the 1965 war between India and Pakistan, damage to the civilian population and public property was huge. Digging trenches and performing ward duties was a new experience. Ambala Cantonment, the biggest airbase of the North, was the prime target. It was heavily bombed. The Army Hospital was destroyed resulting in the deaths of several soldiers and officers admitted there for treatment. The historic St Paul’s Church, built in 1855 — a landmark not only of Ambala but the entire northern region --- was also destroyed. Its ruins are still standing as reminders of the past grandeur of this gothic building. For me, personally, the bombing of Ambala remains unforgettable. My friend Jaidayal and myself were living in a rented portion of a house. My studies for the IAS examination were badly disrupted. Our landlord made things worse: he would prefer that we stayed out of his house even at night. He guarded his family folks zealously, especially at night when sirens blew alerting people to go for shelter. He took care that his family occupied all trenches dug in his compound. Tenants were strictly prohibited from sharing the trenches with them. Left with no shelter, we could only resort to either falling flat on the ground or crawl under the string charpoys spread out in the compound. Always when the sirens blew, ack-ack guns fired into the sky. The danger thus used to get warded off. But one day — it was, perhaps, after the ceasefire had already been declared — the Pakistan air force, frustrated at losing the war, managed to sneak up to Ambala Cantonment and bombed several places with vengeance. The sirens blew again. Ack-ack guns fired feverishly. All inmates of our neighbourhood ran fearfully for shelter. With deafening noise of bombing, ceaseless firing by ack-ack guns and the cries of people in panic, a complete trauma seized Ambala. There was little time for anyone to discriminate which trench one should jump into singly or in a group or with whom. This time we could manage to jump into the trenches. Lying there with heads down, we waited long for safety signals to be sounded but since electricity supply was badly damaged, no sirens could be blown. We could come out of our covers only with the sunrise, and when we saw the damage done to a nearby house we realised how close we ourselves were to being bombed. But our landlord was noticeably happy because his own house had escaped any damage and, more particularly, his daughters did not jump into the same trench together with his tenants! The damage caused to the Army Hospital, innocent citizens and the church, particularly was widely
condemned.
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Expanding India’s maritime footprint THE tradition of celebrating the Maritime Day of India in April was started in 1964 to mark the day when the first Indian owned ship, SS Loyalty of the Scindia Steam Navigation Company set sail from Bombay for the United Kingdom in 1919. This year marks the 40th Anniversary of the pioneering voyage. Over these past 94 years India has taken tremendous strides in the realms of sea trade and warfare and is a sea power of reckoning. The rugged races of the land locked northern region of the country, imbibed with an intense spirit of adventure and entrepreneurship, have made noteworthy contribution to the tradition of the seafarers since centuries. Besides contributing along the 7,517km of the Indian Coast in varied roles they have ventured out unhesitatingly into uncharted waters to work and inhabit in new lands across the seven seas. The renowned 17th century trader-mariner, Baba Makhan Shah Lobana, in whose memory stands the Baba Makhan Shah Lobana Foundation in Chandigarh, was one of the stalwarts. It is also apt to remember and honour this gallant sailor who traded fearlessly over the Arabian Sea during the same era when the notorious sea pirate Captain Kidd roamed and ravaged the seas from the east coast of Africa to the Indian subcontinent, plundering soft targets. It was during one of Makhan Shah's many voyages that he encountered a furious storm. His fully laden ship creaked and tossed in the heavy treacherous gale. The sail was ripped to taters and the small ship drifted dangerously towards the shore. With disaster imminent and heavy assured loss by nature's fury at sea, he remembered the Sikh Guru, Teg Bahadur, and prayed for a safe passage and pledged the 500 gold mohars (coins) belted around his waist. A miracle followed, the wind subsided and sea calmed down, the ship safely took refuge in the Gujarat port of Surat. The northern region's seafarers pay homage to the seadogs, both men and women who work endlessly year after year in one of the most dangerous professions in the world. Be they fishermen in their small dhows or seasoned sailors on mighty battleships, cargo vessels or tankers, they are always prepared to face the numerous natural and man made rigors of the sea. The word 'seadog', synonymous with adventurous seamen and pirates, originated in the sixteenth century. However today it is oblivious of gender. India's Maritime Doctrine Today its time to revisit and ponder on India's maritime doctrine and India's maritime agenda. In the rapid changing geo-strategic environment with increased emphasis on maritime affairs, India desires to occupy its appropriate place in the global maritime arena. Towards achieving this, India launched a two pronged implementation of its maritime doctrine by the Indian Navy and maritime agenda by the Union Ministry of Shipping. It is focused to expand India's maritime footprint with the futuristic economic and security imperatives in mind. It also aims to stay aligned with growing influence of other nations in international affairs through their sea power along with China. India released its maritime doctrine in 2004 and revised it in 2009 to maintain its temporal relevance. From the earlier inward looking coastal defence centric strategy it has shifted to an aggressive competitive strategy aimed to enhance its strategic presence, pursuing its littoral interests in the Clausewitzian sense -- stretching from the Persian Gulf to the Malacca Straits. The Indian Navy is flexing its muscles by regularly conducting numerous joint exercises with navies of other nations, making port calls in many nations and security patrolling in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). This has had the desired effect and is gradually becoming a force to reckon with. Presence of the Indian Navy in conjunction with international forces has drastically reduced piracy off the coast of Somalia. As per the International Maritime Bureau, a body that monitors crime at sea, piracy attacks worldwide last year were down to 297 in contrast with 439 in 2011. The number of attacks off the Horn of Africa also tumbled from 236 in 2011 to 72 in 2012. The momentum at this stage is reaching a cusp of success in not only controlling piracy but possibly leading to its complete elimination. Presence of the naval forces is forcing the pirates to look for alternatives. The surrender of the feared Somali pirate 'Big Mouth' Mohamed Adbi Hassan, from what he calls 'gang activity' is a major success. He in turn has urged his colleagues to also quit. The romantic image of the pirates created by the media needs a relook as it is in stark contrast to reality. The fear of pirates, to live in inhuman conditions if captured, with the proverbial Sword of Damocles hanging over the captives head, induces angst, anxiety and depression in sailors. The maritime community has heaved a sigh of relief over the recent release of the Indian seafarers held in pirate captivity. The Maritime Agenda The Maritime Agenda-2020 released by the union shipping minister envisages to increase fleet strength under the Indian flag, upgrade existing ports and develop new ports, strengthen cargo handling capacity, develop and install security related real time Kinematic system in sensitive sectors and expedite marine human resources development. Simultaneously multiple intervention is planned to achieve other goals congruent with the economic growth. Top priority is for new ports. The 7,517 kms of Indian coastline has only 13 ports whereas the Hamburg Le Harve Range (in Europe) of 1,000 Kms has 11 ports. This comparison says it all. Indian tonnage in global shipping which stood at 0.19 GRT at Independence, crossed 11 million GRT last year. The plan is to increase this from the present one per cent to five per cent of global tonnage, for which investments of Rs 1.2 lakh crore is earmarked. For infrastructure development of ports to cater for larger vessels and deeper drafts another Rs 3 Lakh crore is in the pipeline. To fulfill its future energy and minerals requirement, India scouts for coal and oil in the mineral rich Africa and other destinations like Australia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Myanmar. As such there is a need for India to invest and own foreign assets for sourcing the same. To help meet this need and reinforce the nation's growing influence in international trade, the Indian Ports Limited (erstwhile Indian Ports Global) has been streamlined to be a special purpose vehicle for investment and become a dedicated company to compete with international giants like Dubai Port International, Singapore's PSA International and Maersk. Besides this, a host of Indian private sector companies led by the Tatas, Essar, Adani, JSW and Jindal Steel have already ventured onto foreign shores to set up ports. Human Resource Development As a part of the maritime agenda, human resource development contemplates to increase the global strength in the maritime industry of officers from the present five per cent to nine per cent and of seamen from 7.5 per cent to nine per cent. To achieve this, the National Policy on Skill Development has shifted from the traditional government institutionalised model of skill development and vocational training to one that lays emphasis on private training sector led initiative. As such a number of marine training institutions have mushroomed in the country. It is important that these institutions take cognition of the diverse characteristics and valuation requirements in the international market, no longer can the training institutions focus only on the financial imperatives of the institutional profit margins. They have to shift gear from the present thrift dominant value for money to the future quality, immaterial of the cost. They have to deliver high quality training and create the marine manpower which strives to excel and compete world-wide following the adage, top bucks for top quality. The burden of responsibility is not only on the maritime institutions but equally, if not more, on the marine manpower to sustain this initiative. The institutions have to be dynamic. They must upgrade with the latest equipment and faculty to produce quality manpower. Today the international community exercises its choice to take the best from the available pool of multi-ethnic resources from the major players like India, China and Philippines. The marine manpower on the other hand is responsible to train conscientiously and be knowledgeable of current and future technologies. They cannot remain buoyed on the past success of Indian mariners and have to take head on the pressure being generated by the far east marine force. Trends world-wide are indicating a eastward tilt in recruitment. The annual matrix mix of international employment will vividly give credence to institutional as well as mariners' commitment. Based on this the winnowing of perfidious institutions must be exercised through a regulator. With the current down turn in the world economy and the slow down in the world's major industrial nations dragging on, the subsequent pressures on the freight and charter rates, the subdued effect on movement of goods and the pressures on profit margins is making ship owners take a hard look at manpower. The maritime doctrine and maritime agenda must be pursued vigorously. While the Indian Navy addresses the maritime security doctrine, the Union Shipping Ministry must make adequate budgetary allocation to expedite upgradation of existing ports with modern infrastructures, develop modern ports and remove hurdles to enable speedier growth of private shipping. National institutions like the Indian Marine Institution and National Maritime Foundation must play the role of strategic think tanks for the maritime sector. All these steps will give a clear signal that the nation is committed to meet its interests and take its rightful place by expanding its maritime footprint. The writer is serving with the merchant navy for the past 45 years and has been a captain since 1978
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