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Maoist challenge
Time to be pragmatic
Growing ties with Japan |
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Unending menace of Naxalism
Hiding garbage
CANADA CALLING
Looking at long-term relationships
THE TRIBUNE VISA WINDOW
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Maoist challenge
THE Maoist attack in the jungles of Chhattisgarh on Saturday was a most heinous and dastardly act committed in cold blood, and therefore very effective as a terror tactic. It also served to give the Maoists a sense of ‘success’ in having killed the founder of the Salwa Judum, the counter-Maoist movement that earned much opprobrium for employing the same inhumane tactics. It also served to give the Maoists the satisfaction of having killed the founder of the Salwa Judum, the counter-Maoist movement that earned much opprobrium for employing the same inhumane tactics as used by the Maoists. That the state Congress chief and his son were also among the 27 dead is what, however, delivered the larger message. The Maoists were taking on any and every ideology that represented democracy, and were not scared of raising the stakes in the battle against the State to any level. That is what the State has to now ensure does not happen — it does not have the option of losing, and time is of the essence too. To begin with, all the agencies involved have to overcome communication gaps they have been long struggling with. A synergy will immediately multiply the combined strength of the existing assets deployed against the insurgency. Very often the differences in perception and operational procedures are more out of territorial feuds than practical. This is at the level of the heads of the various agencies as well as the political leaderships in the state and at the Centre. Wartime has to put a lid on such bickering. It is our lives and national security we are fighting for. A review of where the anti-Maoist operation is headed since the last major escalation of the effort is called for at the highest level of the security establishment in New Delhi, including the Army and the Air Force. Coming up with security and military responses to such exigencies may seem uncomplicated when compared to finding a ‘solution’ to the problem itself. The entire movement is believed to have been born out of deprivation the tribal and other communities in the jungles have borne for ages. But as the years pass by, vested interests will develop among the leadership to keep a struggle going regardless of any change in circumstances. That has to be exposed through mass awareness programmes, which have also to be backed by genuine development, lest we end up looking like the US in Afghanistan in our own backyard.
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Time to be pragmatic THE Punjab government has approved a crop diversification plan whose success largely hinges on Central aid — minimum support price for alternative crops, subsidy on seeds, cold storage chains, funds for research and tax relief for poultry, dairy and piggery. It is asking for Rs 7,500 crore help from the Centre, which has committed only Rs 200 crore in the current budget. The reality is both governments are in serious financial trouble and in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections the UPA at the Centre will have other priorities. Which combination of parties forms the next government at the Centre and what will be its approach towards Punjab’s plan are in the realm of uncertainty. The plan talks of shifting 12 lakh hectares of land from paddy to crops whose yield, procurement and returns are uncertain. You can take a horse to water, but cannot force it to drink it. Farmers have their own common-sense approach to work. They will not stop growing paddy as long as the returns are higher than other crops and marketing is assured. To help them stay with paddy, the government subsidises power, water and even “transplanters”. Politicians vie with one another every year to demand a higher MSP for paddy. Perhaps, the failure of the Congress government’s attempt at diversification can be studied to avoid making the same mistakes. To be a commercial success, agriculture has to be demand-driven. Cereals rot in godowns while vegetable prices have sky-rocketed. Farmers should grow what the market demands and what gives them maximum profits. The government can help them by managing water resources and providing infrastructure like cold store chains, road connectivity and large markets through private investment or private-public partnerships. The government, it seems, is willing to amend the law to allow direct purchases from farmers. However, it has disregarded the benefits of the Central policy on FDI in retail because by embracing it, the ruling Akali Dal could endanger its political marriage with the
BJP.
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Growing ties with Japan
Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh, now on a three-day visit to Japan, and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe have one big advantage while negotiating for enhancing cooperation in different areas between their two countries. They do not have to waste time to understand each other’s body chemistry before coming to the issues which call for their attention. They have met earlier when Abe was the Prime Minister for a brief period till September 2007. He came out with a supplementary investment programme of $100 billion as he assumed office for the second time last year. Japan is looking for major investment opportunities and India’s infrastructure sector is one area where Tokyo can pump in any amount of funds it can spare. Japan’s involvement in India’s infrastructure development will be beneficial for both countries. Dr Manmohan Singh should concentrate more on attracting Japanese investment in this area than any other sector. India needs to modernise its seaports, create a big network of dedicated freight corridors, upgrade its railway network, expand and improve roads in different parts of the country, etc. This is required to speed up economic growth in the country. These need huge investments which should be very attractive for the Japanese private sector. Japan has to be engaged in the nuclear energy sector also because the Japanese remain as sensitive as ever to any country’s nuclear energy programme. Their conservative approach got strengthened with the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011. However, Tokyo did not oppose the historic Indo-US nuclear deal which led to India getting freed from all kinds of fetters to do nuclear business with any country. Dr Manmohan Singh needs to invite the Japanese private sector to invest in India’s nuclear energy generation programme too, as this is one way to meet the growing power demand in India. India can help Japan as it embarks on building a modern military capable of protecting Japan’s interests independently. The new Japanese leadership is not interested in remaining dependent on the US for this purpose. Japan is feeling uneasy with the fast growing size and capability of China’s military machine and economy. Greater cooperation in both areas between India and Japan may lead to the enhancing of Japan’s confidence vis-à-vis a resurgent China.
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Flowers grow out of dark moments. — Corita Kent
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Unending menace of Naxalism
Finally, the Congress party is speaking in one voice. After sending mixed signals in the fight against Naxalism for years, the Congress has now been forced to come to terms with the reality that many had identified long back — the Maoists are fighting a war to the finish with the Indian State. And unless the Indian State can credibly demonstrate its ability to stand up to the threat being posed by the Naxalites, it is by no means certain that the Maoists will lose. The Maoists are not only targeting the nation's security forces but are also going after innocent civilians and the political class. For some time now we have been hearing the government talking of Naxalism and Maoism in grave terms, labelling them as the greatest internal security threat facing the nation. Yet the policy response has not been up to the mark. It has been full of sound and fury signifying nothing. The United Progressive Alliance government in its first term failed to see the Naxalite threat for what it was — one of the most significant challenges facing India today. As a result, its response was a mixture of denial accommodation and neglect. With the Left parties as coalition partners and an ineffective Shivraj Patil as the Home Minister, the government ended up worsening an already serious situation, giving ample opportunities to the Naxalites to demonstrate their might across an ever expanding swathe of territory called the “Red Corridor”. In the absence of leadership from New Delhi, the states decided to chart their own courses and their approaches ranged from offering amnesty to the raising of armed militias like the Salwa Judum. Realising that the situation has got out of control, the UPA government in its second term had no option but to take the threat head on as the then Home Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, admitted in Parliament that the national security threat posed by the Maoists had been underestimated for the last few years. He launched Operation Green Hunt, the 100,000-troop-strong counter-offensive against the Maoists launched though it did not work as per the expectations of its planners. Chidambaram's detractors were more interested in neutralising the Home Minister than in confronting the Maoists. Mr Digvijay Singh not only publicly questioned Mr Chidambaram's approach in tackling Naxalism but also attacked him for not knowing the terrain of the area. He openly demanded a rethink of the government's strategy of fighting Naxalism and accused Mr Chidambaram of “intellectual arrogance.” And his own remedy refused to move away from banalities: “We have to win over the people of the area…” One wonders where Mr Digvijay Singh is now when his party colleagues are labelling the Naxalite attack on Congress party workers a “holocaust”. The conventional wisdom on tackling Naxalism, much prevalent amidst the Indian liberal intelligentsia, suggests that this is a mere socio-economic problem. And only if we can provide jobs to the disaffected youth and win their hearts and minds, can we prevent Maoism from spreading. This assumption is the basis for the developmental package that the government has announced for the Naxal-infested areas where significant development aid is now being channelled in the hope that this will help in alleviating the perception of alienation from the national mainstream. It is true that good governance and economic growth have simply passed over certain parts of India, and the Naxalites thrive in this developmental and governance vacuum, often supplanting the state's legitimacy. And as the state's authority has eroded, the Maoists have moved in to fill this vacuum by erecting parallel structures of governance. According to some estimates, the Maoist movement has nearly 40,000 permanent members and 100,000 additional militia members spread across 22 of India's 35 states and territories. They have established their own regimes that dispense justice, extort taxes and provide security. The insurgency of the Naxals is funded by extortion to the tune of Rs14 billion each year. Development, however, is never the goal of such movements. It is all about power. A multi-pronged strategy is needed to tackle Naxalism and one of the planks will have to be to ensure that the developmental aid trickles down to those at the very bottom of the nation's socio-economic ladder. But this should not mean that the military defeat of the Maoists should be put on the back-burner. For far too long there has been a complacent attitude towards fighting these forces. There has been an absurd sentimentality about the Maoists' leftist pretensions. The argument went that these are idealistic, well-intentioned people who have gone awry, but soon they will recognise the benefits of participatory democracy and start engaging with the nation's electoral process. The Congress party remains ambivalent about defeating Maoism and we keep hearing clichés suggesting that development is the only way to tackle the menace of Naxalism. Only a dimwit would argue that development should not be a part of the solution, but development can only take place once the Maoists have been militarily neutralised. There can be no credible development programme when civilians and security personnel are getting killed day in and day out. The Maoists have no interest in development nor do those politicians who only talk about development to score partisan points. The tacit alliance of the Maoists with some political parties needs to be exposed. There is no substitute for good governance. After failing to provide corruption-free governance for decades, sections of the political class have the gall to shed crocodile tears for those who have found it difficult to enjoy the fruits of India's economic development. The politicians who have been ruling the states where Naxalism is thriving are as culpable in the present travesty as those who are wielding the gun without any compunction. Sections of the Indian intelligentsia continue to buy the arguments of the Maoists about the grievances that motivate the Maoist rank and file. This has led them to equate illegitimate Maoists actions with the actions of the legitimate state. The indiscriminate nature of their killings and the brutality of their methods should be enough to convince anyone who chooses to see that the real aim of the Maoists is to establish a totalitarian state. For years, Naxals have been killing security personnel and civilians continuously and consistently with a ruthlessness that is unprecedented, but the Indian State has tended to look the other way while celebrity activists have tended to justify these acts on all sorts of moral grounds. The Maoist insurgency is a blatantly illegal and no-holds-barred war against the Indian State, against the idea and existence of democracy, and that includes the poor tribals and farmers for whose cause the Maoists claim to fight. It is not only ignorant but also extremely dangerous to romanticise the Naxal cause. The main task of great urgency before the government today, therefore, is a military defeat of the anti-democratic Naxal forces. New Delhi needs to re-establish its authority, creating conditions for pursuing an inclusive political process and developmental
agenda. The writer teaches at King’s College, London.
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Hiding garbage Just
the other day I was passing through a narrow street. Suddenly I felt showers over me. How come rain during the worst ever draught in the region! I looked upwards. Not even a patch of cloud. My goodness! It was garbage mixed water that had soaked me all over. Two female hands were still holding the bucket that had been emptied from the balcony of the house. Passersby had a hearty laugh at my cost. As for me, wiping my face, I travelled back in time. An incident impeccably etched on my mind swam before my eyes. The primary school in our village in the late 1950s — a dilapidated building — windows sans window-panes. Blessed with a free flow of extremely hot as well as chilly winds of North India. I went down memory lane. The event of events in the history of a school — the annual inspection was to take place. Replete with commotion, the school was buzzing with activity. A cleaning campaign was at full swing. We were asked to buy new “takhtis” (wooden boards) and slates (steel/grey stone slabs for writing) for the occasion. The teacher himself mended our rustic pens. Beautiful paper charts decorated the walls of the classrooms. The D day arrived. Last minute finishing touches to cleaning were going on. Having swept the room, I put garbage in a paper bag. I was about to go out to throw the same when the teacher checked me. “Inspector Sahib has already reached the school premises.” A harrowing time for me. As if I was suspended in the air. Cold chill ran down my spine. At last, he asked me to leave the paper bag in the far end of the room. An immense relief to me. No other option for him too. Added to it a few boys scattered paper bits making a mess of cleanliness. The teacher slapped them badly and ordered to hide the rubbish instantly underneath the torn-out jute mats. Accompanied by the headmaster, the school Inspector entered the room the very next moment. As if the stars didn’t favour us, his sharp eyes fell on the paper bag in the far off corner. Hardy’s irony of fate! Isn’t it? Of all the boys, he asked me only to pick it. The class teacher was all sweat while the headmaster looked sideways. This episode being over, the school Inspector asked us to say tables. Another action-packed drama! Paper bits hid underneath the jute mats peeped out when the boys got up to say tables or point out a particular hill or a port in the map. This didn’t escape the penetrating eyes of the school Inspector. I still relive the sense of guilt and shame I felt. His satirical words still ring in my ears. “You have mastered well the art of hiding garbage, children.” Earlier, we hid our garbage. After freedom proudly do we display it here and there, in fact, everywhere. Wish we had not turned our “Mahan Bharat” into a “Mahan
Dustbin”.
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CANADA CALLING
after
a rather prolonged winter this year, it is summer time here again. As outdoor activities resume, there are galas, there are awards evenings, there are night parties, there are barbecues, there are religious parades, etc. We just saw one of the biggest Baisakhi parades here as the number of attendees keep swelling by the year. Bollywood stars, filmmakers and singers too are flocking back to Canada to woo Indo-Canadian audiences. In fact, our very own Garam Dharam kicked off the Bollywood season here recently when he landed in Toronto with his sons Sunny, Bobby, besides the leading ladies of Yamla Pagla Deewana 2 to promote the film. It is not unusual these days to see Bollywood filmmakers come to Toronto or Vancouver or New York to promote their films to NRI audiences before the release of the film. Bollywood films now open the same day in India, Canada, the US and elsewhere. Since NRI audiences account for a huge chunk of their boxoffice earnings these days, filmmakers from Bollywood come here to create a buzz about their movies to rake in as many dollars as possible. Not surprisingly, many theatres in Vancouver, Toronto and other cities show only Bollywood films. In his typical style, Dharmendra pitched his film to the Indo-Canadians telling them that this film offers much more fun and entertainment than the previous Yamla Pagla Deewana movie. He also mentioned that they were now working on their next film Cheers. The man from Sahnewal, who started his journey in films more than 50 years ago, said he was not going to say goodbye to Bollywood any time soon. Toronto also played host to the second Punjabi International Film Festival (PIFF) recently. More than a dozen films were screened for Punjabi audiences in the suburb towns of Brampton and Mississauga. Indeed, Bollywood and balle-balle times are back with the advent of summer in Canada.
Political fortunes of
Indo-Canadians dip But no, it is not balle-balle times for Indo-Canadians as for politics is concerned. In the May 14 elections in British Columbia, the number of Indo-Canadian MLAs was reduced from six to three. Two sitting MLAs — former solicitor-general Kash (Kashmir) Heed and Dave Hayer didn't contest the elections, and two other sitting MLAs — Harry Lali and Jagrup Brar — lost. Briefly, Jagrup Brar is a former Indian basketball player and Dave Hayer is the son of the famous Indo-Canadian journalist Tara Singh Hayer, who was gunned down for his outspoken views against pro-Khalistani elements. Only two MLAs —Raj Chouhan and Harry Bains — retained their seats. And Amrik Virk, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officer, joined them as the third MLA by winning a seat in the Punjabi-dominated city of Surrey. Thus, in the new 85-member Assembly in British Columbia, where Punjabis landed more than 100 years ago and where they now make up about 5 per cent of the total population of about 4.5 million - there will be only three Indo-Canadian MLAs this time. While Amrik Virk belongs to the ruling Liberal Party, Raj Chouhan and Harry Bains belong to the opposition New Democratic Party (NDP). Since almost every ministry in British Columbia since the 1990s had at least one Indo-Canadian minister, Amrik Virk, a cop with about 25 years of law-and-order experience, is likely to be appointed the new solicitor-general. As the political fortunes of the million-strong Indo-Canadian community dipped in the province of British Columbia, their only cabinet minister — Harinder Takhar — in Ontario also quit citing health reasons. No one knows exactly why 61-year-old Takhar suddenly put in his papers on May 8 as minister for government services, though he will stay on as an MPP ( member of provincial parliament). Even as he bows out of politics, Takhar will always be remembered as the first Indo-Canadian minister in Ontario’s history.
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Looking at long-term relationships people-to-people
relationships are well-illustrated through visa and immigration trends: India was the third largest source country for immigration to Canada in 2012, with 28,889 permanent residents admitted — 15 per cent increase since 2004; Canada issued a record 1,30,000 visitor visas to Indian applicants in 2012 — 58 per cent increase since 2004; and, 13,000 study permits in 2012 represent an increase of 530 per cent since 2004. In 2012, India was the second highest source country for successful Canadian Experience Class applicants - a path to permanent residency for international student graduates. Also in the past two years, Canada started issuing 10-year multiple-entry visas and in 2012, we introduced the parent and grandparent super visa, which is valid for up to 10 years and allows parents and grandparents to come to Canada for up to 24 months at a time. Another window on people-to-people relations, one that is reflected in economic activity, is overseas remittances. In 2012, according to the World Bank, India received $70 billion in remittances from all foreign countries — that is based on what we know from traceable bank data. If you include the "bank wallas" and other informal financial systems (which are not supported by governments), the number grows substantially — many Punjabi friends say, "Double that — at least!". Compared to the annual budget of a state like Punjab (Can $14 billion), the $70 billion doesn't look so small or insignificant. In 2012, we celebrated Canada Day on July 1 in Chandigarh by highlighting the contributions of Indo-Canadians to NW of India — hospitals, schools, water systems, sports-complexes, etc. (all of which generate considerable economic activity). We received so many entries last year that we are repeating the exercise this Canada Day. One way to measure the on-the-ground impact of visits is to look at the trends in the number of Canadian companies active in this market. When we do this, we find that in 2011, we had 250 companies active in India. Today, you see more than 600 Canadian businesses engaged in the Indian market. More than double the number of Canadian companies engaged with India is a clear indication of potential and commitment. And, we are not without our successes like BlackBerry, McCain and Bombardier. I was riding the subway in Delhi last autumn and saw a woman carrying a bag of McCain's frozen potatoes with her groceries while she checking messages on her BlackBerry. In the background was the Bombardier logo on the subway car and I could only dream that she was on her way to an IMAX film — I say ‘dream’ because Canada's IMAX has only come to Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Mumbai and Kolkata so far. There are also numbers hidden in trade statistics that tell another aspect of the trade story. For instance, when you look at trade that passes through third-countries between Canada and India, you get another snapshot of our trading relationship and its potential. Several times a week, I hear Punjab Chief Minister or Deputy CM flying over my residence in a helicopter, often in a Bell Helicopter, very possibly built in the Mirabel, Quebec factory where Bell has produced 3,500 helicopters. These helicopters arrive under Bell Textron, Texas logo and, therefore, do not appear on Canada-India trade statistics. There are more than 150 such helicopters operating in India today, and more on the way. The same is true of aircraft engines produced by Pratt & Whitney Canada. Over their 80 years of operation, they have produced 75,000 engines, of which 49,000 are still in operation on more than 28,000 aircraft in 200 countries. There are about 630 in operation in India which arrived under Boeing, Bombardier and Airbus logos. Finally, visits result in development of agreements that lead directly to enhanced commercial relationships and relationships, in general. We have recently completed the Administrative Agreement to the Nuclear Cooperation Agreement (NCA). Once the NCA comes into force, it will allow us to begin shipping uranium, some of the world's purest, in the coming months. There is also potential for Canada to become an important and secure source of affordable liquefied natural gas (LNG) for India from eastern Canada. On the education front, we now have more than 300 academic linkages between Canadian and Indian institutions, and these numbers continue to grow. Canada is already an important partner in this country's efforts to meet its food security needs: up to 40 per cent of India's imported pulses come from Canada — if you like dal, you may well be eating some pulses from Saskatchewan; and, 20 per cent of the potash imported to India comes from Canada. Canadian companies are also playing an increasingly important role in helping to improve India's crop and animal productivity, and to reduce food loss through food storage, distribution and processing solutions. As a country famous for its extreme climatic conditions, Canada's interest in continuous innovation of food storage, distribution and processing is more than ideal curiosity, rather, it is a necessity of our geography. From where I sit, it is hard to pass a day in India without using, eating or riding in/on something with a link to Canada. Over my three years in Chandigarh, I can attest to the fact that Canada has been and will continue to be engaged in efforts to bring our trade relationship up to the level of our people-to-people relationship. There will always be room for growth but we have built many new linkages in the past few years and we should all look forward to more interaction on the trade and cultural scenes between Canada and India in the short, mid and long-terms. The writer is the Consul General of Canada in Chandigarh
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ASK THE US EMBASSY What visa should I get if I want to visit the US as a tourist? The most common type of visa is the B1/B2 visa, which is used for tourism, medical treatment and certain business activities. People applying for this kind of visa will have to follow the procedure at ustraveldocs.com/in. They will fill out an application, pay a fee, go to our offsite centre to give fingerprints and photo, and then appear for an interview at the Embassy or Consulate. At the interview, we may ask about where they are going and who they will meet, about their work and family in India, about their travel history, and so on to understand their qualifications for a tourist visa. If applicants can demonstrate to us they have legitimate travel plans and sufficient ties in India to come back to after a short stay in the US, we can issue a B1/B2 visa. We issued more than five lakh tourist visas in India last year. Most of those were 10-year multiple-entry visas, meaning the people who received them can travel to the US as much as they want for 10 years. We encourage Indians to travel to the US and so we welcome applications for B1/B2 visas. How can I obtain an immigrant visa? To be eligible to apply for an immigrant visa, a foreign citizen must be sponsored by a US citizen relative, a US lawful permanent resident, or by a prospective employer. That sponsor files a petition with the US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) asking that the intending immigrant be granted a visa to travel to and begin living in the US. The process can take some time because we process thousands of immigrant petitions every year from our Embassy in New Delhi and Consulate in Mumbai. For petition information, visit the USCIS website:
www.uscis.gov. I am a US citizen of Indian origin currently visiting India. My child was born in India. How can I obtain a US passport for my child? If you are a US citizen, your child may be eligible for US citizenship no matter where she or he was born. If your child was born outside the US, you can receive a Consular Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA) certificate that states that a child is a US citizen from birth. Most (but not all) children born abroad to a US citizen parent are eligible to be documented as US citizens through issuance of a CRBA and US passport. You should apply for a CRBA in person through a pre-arranged appointment at the American Citizen Services office at the Embassy or Consulate. Full application information, including fees and necessary documentation, is available at
http://newdelhi.usembassy.gov/service/reporting- births-and-citizenship-questions.html I want to study in the U.S. How can I do that? To study in the US, you need a student visa but which kind depends on what you want to study. F1 visas are for academic courses while M1 visas are for vocational courses. In both cases, you first have to be accepted at a US school. That process involves choosing an appropriate school for your educational and career goals and applying to that school. The best place for advice on that process is Education USA at www.educationusa.info. Once you have chosen your school and been accepted, you apply for the visa at ustraveldocs.com and arrange your appointments for fingerprints and photo, and for a visa interview. When you come to the student visa interview, we will ask questions about your choice of school, your study plans and career goals, how you plan to pay for school and how study abroad will help you achieve them. If you demonstrate to the visa officer your plans are credible and you plan to use the visa correctly, you can be issued a student visa. More details on student visas is at www.ustraveldocs.com/in/in-niv-typefandm.asp Note: Please send your questions to aboutusvisa@tribunemail.com. The US Embassy will only give general answers based on various queries. We will be unable to respond to individual correspondence. For more information, you can consult www.ustraveldocs.com/in or on Facebook for the Visa Fridays feature (www.facebook.com/India.usembassy).
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The Tribune has launched a collaborative effort with the US Embassy, New Delhi, to provide answers to common questions on consular topics. In this column, the US Embassy will answer general questions, but not specific cases, regarding immigration and travel-related queries.