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Protection for the corrupt Incredible India |
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AAP has tied itself in knots
They still write letters
Joint command: Theme for a Chinese dream
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Protection for the corrupt The
Supreme Court on Wednesday questioned the validity of the law which protects the policymakers from frivolous inquiries. A CBI investigation in a case of corruption stops abruptly if it is found that an IAS officer of the rank of Joint Secretary or above is involved and has to be examined. To move forward, sanction of the competent authority is required. This is often either denied or delayed. Permission, if granted, is usually under media and public pressure. The Bench asked: "… how could the government create a privileged class of (the) accused among the top bureaucrats by according them this protection?" This defeats the very objective of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The questions raised by the five-judge Bench are in keeping with the dominant public mood in the country against corruption. The government is hard put to defend what was once taken for granted. Instances of politicians and bureaucrats joining hands to misuse power for mutual benefit are not uncommon. Politicians protect and reward officials who do their bidding. Despite the public outrage, the ruling politicians at the Centre and in states keep appointing pliable officials at key positions, including Lokayukta and Lokpal. The CBI and the police have got some operational autonomy but are still controlled and political interference in their work is rampant. Courts are overworked and the influential accused use the system to their advantage and get away easily. The challenges are numerous but the foremost before the government is how to nail the wrong-doers, while encouraging the honest officers to take bold and fair decisions without the fear of reprisal. The incorruptible performers need protection from persecution. Also, there can be genuine mistakes in the discharge of official duties. Intention to do an illegal act has to be seen before action is initiated. But how can the law be used to save law-breakers, bribe-takers and those willfully causing financial benefits to companies? After the coal and telecom scams, such issues have cropped up and can no longer be brushed under the carpet.
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Incredible India India
has allowed visa on arrival for tourists from all countries except eight, including Pakistan and Lanka, regarding which there are security issues. A demand of the tourism industry for long, it is assumed the government would have reasonably addressed the concerns of the Home Ministry. The immediate benefit of the move will be felt in tourism, as the convenience for potential foreign visitors would allow unplanned and spontaneous trips too. With annual tourist arrivals in India nearing 7 million, the income potential is obvious — it was around 18 billion dollars in 2013. Convenience of dealing with the country and greater exposure globally would have its spin-offs, including greater employment opportunities and foreign investment. Security may remain a concern, but any system works on probabilities. High-risk countries — Pakistan, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Sri Lanka and Somalia — therefore have been left out of the scheme. Lanka though sends the fourth largest number of tourists after the US, the UK and Bangladesh. Prior visa approvals sought from Indian embassies are granted on the basis of data available with them. This is mostly in digital form, and can be accessed anywhere, including at airports. There should be no problem in giving on-the-spot visas, as long as the required infrastructure is put in place. The government must ensure a pro-tourist initiative does not turn into an embarrassment. At present the Immigration Department is woefully short-staffed. India has many charms to offer the world — from landscapes and monuments to history, culture and arts. Yet, it stands at the 41st position in world tourist arrivals. China receives nearly double the number of tourists visiting India. The visa initiative will help change that, but there is obviously far more that needs to be done. Beginning with marketing India as a destination, the country has to do some homework too. Security, personal safety, hygiene, pollution, transport, travel information, etc, are well-known concerns of tourists. Let us keep the promise held out by the 'Incredible India' campaign.
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Prejudice is a great time saver. You can form opinions without having to get the facts. —E. B. White
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MISS Eleanor MacDougall, of the Westfield College for women, who made a tour in India studying problems of female education, has in article contributed by her to the “International Review of Missions,” pointed out the defects of female education in India. In one respect the outlook has been encouraging, viz., the dying out of the old prejudices of the people against female education and the general desire to educate the girls. But the serious defect arises from a lack of trained Indian lady teachers, which is the cause of the entire lack of enthusiasm for female education in India. Miss MacDougall points out that the Hindu Reform sects, the Indian Christian community and the Anglo-Indians are the three classes from which lady teachers can be recruited, but the former two do not supply anything like the number that will give an impetus to female education. “If Germany ruled India” OF all the idle speculations made about the political future of India and suggested as a “cure’ for Indian unrest, there is none to beat one, said to have been made by a Tory M.P. and supported by a “high official of the Indian Government” in England, viz., to lease India to Germany. This story is given by the London correspondent of the Bengalee who says that the Tory M.P.’s proposal was to lease India for a term of years to Germany with the option of purchase at the end of it! What suggested the idea of “sale of India” is probably the precedent of the Philippines and Cuba, but surely there is no historic instance on record of so vast a territory as India being ever sold by a potentate, however powerful or great. And this to be perpetrated in the imagination of one of the 670 men who hold the destinies of the British Empire in their hands! It is still more difficult to know what was in the mind of the “high official of the Indian Government” who is reported to have given his whole-hearted support to the brilliant suggestion.
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AAP has tied itself in knots A
political debate can be, and should be, sharp, divisive and even personal. But none should deliberately try to vilify the personal character of the opponent unless the facts are unimpeachable. Most of the newspapers, including some of the reputedly sober ones, recently flashed the news about a list circulated by Arvind Kejriwal describing Central ministers and other leaders of the Congress and the BJP as “corrupt”. Kejriwal took the rash step in the hope that, stung by this, the Congress would withdraw its support. As a result, the AAP government would resign and go to the people as a wronged party, conveniently trying to cover up AAP members' misbehaviour with African and other women which had led certain women's organisations and others to criticise AAP for its insensitivity in these delicate matters. On top of this came the “enlightened” Kejriwal’s statement that Khap Panchayats are only cultural organizations. At the same time he said, rather with tongue in cheek, that if they did something illegal, action would be taken. What a convoluted explanation by the Chief Minister of Delhi! Surely, he is aware that Khap Panchayats in Haryana and Rajasthan have been responsible for harassing young couples by questioning their marriage. Khap Panchayats have exiled such couples from villages — and even ordered their killings. The Punjab and Haryana High Court and the Supreme Court have in many cases directed the prosecution of members of Khap Panchayats and many of them have even been convicted. One of the founding members of AAP, Madhu Bhaduri, has resigned, saying publicly that “she has nothing to do with a party which humiliates women……and that she wanted to distance herself from AAP”. Maybe the compulsion of Kejriwal is that his next target of election is Haryana. If AAP, which calls itself a different kind of political party, courts organizations like Khap Panchayats which violate every human right, how can youth, especially young women, trust it with their vote? Such being the compulsions of Kejriwal, he is looking for an excuse to quit the government and give a make-believe impression to the public that the dishonest Congress was afraid of his steps against corruption and, therefore, has withdrawn the support. When the Congress did not swallow the bait of withdrawing support even after its leaders were called corrupt, AAP in order to further provoke the Congress publicly included the name of Sonia Gandhi in the list of corrupt leaders. The Congress seems to have seen through his strategy and has not reacted. AAP is now cornered into fulfilling its commitment to supply water and electricity as promised in better ways than the previous government did. Thus the reality is that AAP has tied itself in knots of its own making. So we have a game of chess being played between the Congress and AAP. People of Delhi are suffering, in the meanwhile. The public wants concrete action and not an exchange of allegations between politicians. AAP should also realise that running a government is a serious business. It had announced before elections that it would pass the Lokayukta Bill at the Ramlila Ground. But the venue is being abandoned because of the cost of over Rs 2 crore estimated by the police, apart from security reasons. A switchover to Indira Gandhi Stadium looks easy because being a Delhi Government property, it will only require certain book entries and no cash payment. A more serious question has to be answered. Legislation in a democracy is not passed at rallies. There has to be a serious deliberation on each part of the legislation. If the AAP members' plea of involvement of the public is so genuine, what stops them from holding even corner meetings or bigger public meetings where Kejriwal and his Cabinet colleagues can easily mingle with people and have a discussion on each aspect of the Lokpal Bill? And thereafter the mater can be taken up in the legislative assembly hall, debated and finally passed. That would be both democratic and people-friendly. As for watching debates, TV channels can cover each angle of the debate. AAP can even install big TV screens throughout Delhi during the debate and passing of the legislation and thus satisfy the test of involving people in legislation. But if AAP is interested only in cheap gimmicks, then this latest action of holding a public meeting in I.G. Stadium is on a par with that of the Roman Empire, which used to hold gladiators' fights and killings in public. But that is not how democracies function. Of course, the Congress is also playing its devious game. I am referring to NTPC, a Central undertaking, putting pressure on the Delhi electric supply companies to pay up their arrears or the supply would be stopped. NTPC is under the Central government and it is hard to believe that the threat could have been given without having cleared it first with the Central government, more so when a CAG audit is going to be held to look into the allegation made by Kejriwal that there is a big tax evasion by the local power companies. Unfortunately, this devious game between AAP and the Congress can only bring misery to the average person in Delhi. The political scene is not encouraging. I feel that the movements by people who wish to bring about social change and fight gross inequalities in our country should combine and play an effective role in parliamentary elections.
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They still write letters It
was a bright sunny afternoon of the New Year when I received two letters amidst the heap of greeting cards, a post card by Mr Om Prakash and another by Prof Parihaar of Ludhiana, both hand written and full of emotions. I was touched to see that in this hustle bustle of fast moving world, people still care to write letters of emotional concern. Bhari duniyan main jee nahin lagta Jaane kis cheez ki kami hai abhi The world seems to be very small, but why it appears that distances amongst us have increased. Why don't we feel the same joy and happiness with the arrival of emails which these letters used to bring? What happened to those love letters which used to be kept under the pillow, dreaming the beloved while awake throughout the night. Many times I question myself: Do the new-generation youth experience the same thrill with the arrival of an SMS sent by their beloveds? People like Mr Parihar are the flag-bearers of old traditions. They still choose to express their emotions through letters despite having access to a mobile phone. I was overwhelmed by the emotions of those letters and decided to pen the replies. When the very tip of the pen touched the surface of the paper, my frozen emotions started melting, as if this very action completed some emotional circuit. The current started flowing and that very moment I took a resolution that I will start writing letters to those who matter to me and use the mobile for emergency
communications only.
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Joint command: Theme for a Chinese dream Earlier
this month, a Japanese newspaper revealed that China was planning to drastically overhaul its military commands by restructuring the present seven military regions and the Second Artillery, which controls China’s strategic forces, into five joint commands. Three of these would face the maritime areas of China in the East China Sea and the South China Sea while the other two would presumably look towards China’s land-based adversaries, primary among these being India. Currently, the forces confronting us are primarily handled by the Chengdu military region, with a small part of Ladakh, including the Depsang Plains area, by the Lanzhou military region.
This report gained credence when a day later the China Daily cited the Chinese Ministry of Defence to confirm that China would implement a joint command system “in due course”, and that it had already launched pilot schemes towards that end. Curiously, over that weekend, the Chinese seemed to have had another thought and the Ministry of Defence declared that the earlier reports were “without basis.” However, the tenor of the denial in the nationalist Global Times suggested that this disavowal was pro forma. In essence, the joint commands would be the equivalent of theatre commands where all four elements of military power — army, navy, air force and nuclear forces — would be wielded by a single commander through a unified command structure. At one level, it signals the growing sophistication of Chinese military thinking, and at another, the expansion of its military vision beyond its continental confines to the oceans and the airspace above. Like all Chinese leaders, Xi Jinping, who became the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in November 2012, has displayed interest in military matters. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA), as is well-known, owes its allegiance to the CPC and not China, the nation. Its importance to the party was reinforced by its role in the Tiananmen events in 1989. Leaders till Deng Xiaoping had been either PLA veterans or political commissars in the PLA. In Xi’s case, his father Xi Zhongxun was a noted revolutionary leader, who had led the PLA forces. More importantly, between 1979 and 1982 Xi junior had served as an assistant to Geng Biao, who was Secretary-General of the powerful Central Military Commission (CMC) , the body which oversees the PLA. As Xi set out to take command of the country, he made it a special mission to keep the PLA close to himself. Modernising the PLA Perhaps, the greatest indicator of this was his adoption of the notion of the “Chinese Dream” as his theme-song soon after he became the boss of the party and the military. The idea was the product of Colonel Liu Mingfu, a former professor at China’s National Defence University, who wrote a book with the same name calling for policies that would enable China to surpass US as a world power. Xi’s more guarded notion of the ‘Chinese Dream’ is the “rejuvenation” of the Chinese nation but it is clear from his remarks and policies that military power is an important component of this revival.
Chinese checkers Xi became Chairman of the CMC at the same time that he took over as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China in November 2012. He lost little time in stamping his authority over the PLA. Within two months, he carried out systematic personnel changes in key areas of the PLA command structure comprising four general departments and seven military regions, as well as passed orders to “administer the army with strictness and austerity.” This is a process that has continued since. Xi’s views on matters military became apparent through his publicised tour to the Guangzhou military region in December 2012. This is the region that fronts to the South China Sea where China has made extravagant maritime boundary claims that affect Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia. Interestingly, the official media used the term Guangzhou War Theatre, rather than Military Region. Xi’s message was that the state would give the PLA everything to modernise itself but in turn it wanted two things in return — an army, which would win the wars it fought, and, perhaps more important, one that was completely loyal to the Communist Party of China. To this end, the PLA needed to beef up its institutional structures and train under realistic conditions of combat and in what the Chinese call “informationised” (information technology) conditions. As the official PLA daily quoted Xi, “We must ensure that our troops are ready when called upon, that they are fully capable of fighting, and that they must win every war.” Apart from professional ability and loyalty, Xi has stressed the need for the PLA to change its entire culture and adopt a style of “frugality and austerity.” In December 2012, the PLA also passed its “Ten regulations on improving the work style of the PLA” which formally banned liquor in PLA functions, forbade the holding of big banquets and called on the PLA brass to adopt a simple style in their inspection tours. Subsequently, in April 2013, new instructions were issued ordering the PLA and People’s Armed Police generals and senior officers to spend two weeks in the frontline as enlisted soldiers. Regiment and brigade commanders were called on to do this once in three years, the division and corps commanders once in four years and higher leaders from the headquarters and military regions and districts once in five years. The idea of declassing is, of course, part and parcel of Maoist practice. But the PLA had generally been exempted from the humiliating periods when they were forced to undertake menial labour. To go back to the issue of the joint command: Actually, the Japanese report was probably triggered by the Chinese Ministry of Defence press conference of November 28, 2013, when the spokesperson, Yang Yujun had said the PLA would deepen reform in good time, “and blaze a trail in reform on a joint operation command system with Chinese characteristics.” He had gone on to add that joint operations were a compulsion of modern information-led warfare and that “the Chinese military has made explorations in that field.” Autonomous military regions Since the emergence of the People’s Republic, the number of military regions have waxed and waned from six to start with to 13 for a brief while, finally stabilising at seven in the mid-1980s. Given the way they thought of war, the Chinese deliberately made these military regions autonomous, capable of fighting a war without a central direction. But with the compulsion of fighting highly mobile war in “informationised” conditions, as well as to take on new aerospace and maritime threats, the Chinese clearly feel the need to reorient their forces, which have become increasingly sophisticated, away from its historical reliance on ground forces, towards a command structure that can take advantage of their new capabilities over land, sea and space. This issue has come up in the background of the Third Plenum of the Communist Party Central Committee that had taken place two weeks earlier in November 2012. While the emphasis, and a great deal of reportage, of the Plenum was on economic and governance reform, there were important decisions taken in relation to national security. For one, China had announced the creation of a National Security Council-like structure to deal with challenges in internal and external security. The Plenum directives reiterated what Xi had been telling the PLA from the time he had taken charge: The government would clear all obstacles to PLA modernisation but the PLA itself had to reorganise, adopt new doctrines, even while remaining a force which “obeys the Party’s command, is capable of winning battles and has a sound work style.” Since then, writing in the Chinese media revealed that the thrust of the reform was in three areas — first, reforming the leadership mechanism in the PLA, second, optimising the size and structure of the forces and third, developing a more comprehensive education system to cultivate advanced military thinking. The Indian dilemma There is an interesting coincidence here since a great deal of Indian thinking and reform measures, too, have suggested the eventual move of our armed forces to the integrated theatre command concept. Based on recommendations of the GoM that it had set up in April 2000, the NDA’s Cabinet Committee on Security approved the creation of several apex new institutions and management organisations, which also laid stress on greater coordination and jointness. Among these were the Chief of Defence Staff, the Strategic Forces Command to manage all strategic forces, and a tri-Service Andaman & Nicobar Command. The CDS was the beginning point from which the Indian military would be restructured to create tri-Service theatre commands. A committee headed by former Cabinet Secretary Naresh Chandra has also recommended the creation of a CDS-like figure. Sadly, political waffling has prevented the appointment of the CDS-like figure and hence organisational reforms that would see the emergence of theatre commands in the Indian military system remain frozen. All military reform usually descends from the political system. Generals, as the saying goes, only tend to learn to fight the last war better. In China, clearly, the party is ensuring that its global ambitions will be backed by a military, which has the wherewithal to confront global challenges. In India, the political class has taken a leave of absence from managing the national security apparatus altogether. —
The writer is a Distinguished Fellow, ORF, New Delhi. He was a member of the Naresh Chandra Task Force on national security.
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No, I am not against publicising acts of corruption. But I would have expected some small factual details of the corruption charges just as those made public about the coal and telecom scams. AAP’s naming of certain leaders as corrupt and criminal who are playing dynastic politics is an act of provocation. Notwithstanding the slander, the Congress has continued to give outside support to the AAP government.
These letters made me nostalgic. I saw myself, in the dust of past, running after the postman to know whether there was any letter of our concern. In the good olden days the arrival of the postman used to cause subtle anxiousness to the entire town. The opening of windows with a bang, shy whispers, the restless clinking of bangles behind the door curtains were the signal of arrival of somebody who matters. The postman was the carrier of joys and sorrows. He was the integral part of our community life. Alas! His sad demise in this world of mechanical communications has left a deep blank. Amidst all mechanical tools of communications where with a click of mouse the entire world comes to our doorstep, we can watch our far-off relatives while talking, we can share every moment of happiness and sorrow with our friends and relatives on social media web sites, I still feel something is missing. As the famous poet Nasir said