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Far from the ethos of freedom struggle
Modi should keep in mind the larger picture, the idea of India
Kuldip Nayar
BJP workers beat up protesters who showed the black flag to party candidate Shatrughan Sinha in Patna during the just-concluded elections. A PTI file photo |
I
did
not want Narender Modi to be India's Prime Minister for ideological reasons. His effort to polarise the country is not in the nation's interest. But the voters' choice is different. Modi has won the right to rule, having won through a fair and open election. And he is entitled to pursue his agenda which offers, to use his words, the 'politics of development and not revenge'. Modi should, however, keep in mind the larger picture, the idea of India. The idea of India is neither territorial, nor ideological. It also has little to do with economics or politics. The idea, the ethos of this country and what we stood for during the freedom struggle is democracy, pluralism and egalitarianism. Beginning with India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who stood for a socialistic pattern of society, to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, believing in free market priorities, the idea has been mutilated by every party which has come to head a government. The ethos has been pushed aside. The idealism has taken a back seat and even youth are more interested in jobs than in harking back to a past based on a value system. The new rulers have, no doubt, come through a democratic process, but they have used the Lok Sabha election campaigns without bothering about the means or methods. One rough estimate is that Rs 5 lakh crore was spent on publicity by different candidates, financed by people from the corporate sector. Consequently, there is little that the new Prime Minister or his colleagues can do because they are beholden to the moneybags for the positions they occupy. Even otherwise, they are far from the ethos of the national struggle. I am not surprised that the new generation is blank about the sacrifices which the nation made to wrest itself free from an unwilling and barbaric Great Britain. How many remember that the Jallianwalla Bagh massacre represents sheer brutality of the British rulers and the defiance of the ordinary innocent Indians, our ancestors, and who had focused all their attention on independence? One friend of mine, an Indian settled in London, has rightly suggested that there should be a holiday to commemorate the memory of those who jumped into a well to save themselves, as well as others who refused to move even after the British-led soldiers had exhausted their last bullet. How does the new government clear the debt of their forefathers' sacrifices? We cannot recover from the British authorities in London the money which they took from India through exploitation. But we can at least get the symbols of our heritage which are accumulating dust in the basement of the Victoria and Albert museums. I recall that when the Nehru Centre was opened (the money was spent by New Delhi), I asked the curator how long would it for the Indians to have access to the relics of the Raj. She said that only 5 per cent of what they have had been put on exhibition after 35 years. The rest would have to wait. As India's High Commissioner in London I took up the issue of returning the Kohinoor diamond to India. This priceless relic was once a part and parcel of the treasury of Mahraja Ranjit Singh and is thought to have originated from the Golconda mines in Hyderabad. The reply of top British officials from the foreign office was that the Kohinoor was now studded in their monarch's crown. I pursued this issue in the Rajya Sabha when l was its member. I was shocked when the then Foreign Minister of the BJP government, Jaswant Singh, requested me not to press the matter because it would tell upon the relations between India and Great Britain. I am hoping against hope that the new government would rectify the mistake which I committed by keeping quiet. For the new rulers this is a golden opportunity to revive those prized values of innocence and decency with which India was associated long before the advent of colonial rule. How many remember the notorious Robert Clive, the first Governor General of Bengal, and his successor, Warren Hastings, who exploited the country and used their ill-gotten wealth to invest in the UK? The 300,000 pounds that Clive exacted from the rich Bengalis were used to buy his membership of the House of Lords, as well as huge property. The famous Somerset House in London was built with Clive's assets. When impeachment proceedings were launched against him, he was quoted as saying how astounded he was by his own "moderation." Nevertheless, Clive was unable to live with his guilty conscience and committed suicide. Impeachment proceedings were also launched against his successor in India, Hastings. The most effective weapon the British had to conquer India was to divide communities so that they could act as arbitrators and justify their rule on the grounds that they were trying to bring peace among people of different religions. In the Lok Sabha elections some political parties have encouraged cleavage between Hindus and Muslims. These political parties should remember that although democracy has taken roots in the West, there is more than one foreign government that would love to get its foothold in our country. We represent the rich pickings for one and all. Traditionally, we were known as the "sonay ki chidiya" (golden sparrow). To maintain unity of the country and strengthen the faith of the common man in our political process, we will have to go back to the ethos of our national movement: that is, all communities belonging to different religions and castes are equal in the eyes of the law and as laid down by the Indian Constitution. I hope the Lokpal Bill, which is pending before Parliament, will be passed soon so that even those at the top have to show their accountability. There should be no vindictiveness or harassment of those who have lost. The top priority of the new government should be how to uplift the 30 crore people who are still wallowing in poverty and hunger. One estimate is that the 30 crore people, equal to the entire population of Europe, go hungry to bed. This defeats the ideal of egalitarianism which was promised after Independence. It's up to the new rulers how they deliver it, but their steps should be seen as moving towards that direction. This process cannot tolerate corruption which l find at every tier of the government and political parties.
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MIDDLE |
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When radio was my favourite toy
Harjap Singh Aujla
 My
maternal grand-father was a medical professional, but his favorite hobby was listening to radio in his spare time. Three years after All India Radio made its debut, in 1939 he bought his first radio, a made-in-England GEC three band shortwave/ medium-wave receiver. In 1942, he bought another radio, a five-band Holland-made Philips piece and gifted the older GEC radio to my mother. When I was four, the government radio expanded in East Punjab under the name All India Radio Jullundur-Amritsar. On the auspicious occasion of the Guru Nanak Dev birth anniversary in 1948, my mother woke me up early, gave me a bath, clad me in a new set of clothes and asked me to put the radio on. I handled the radio reluctantly, but succeeded in tuning in to All India Radio Jullundur-Amritsar. Some very enchanting voices started reciting Gurbani direct from the Golden Temple. I enjoyed it thoroughly. From that moment, my shyness with the device called the radio ended and I started fiddling with it like a modern child plays with his toys. Attractive toys available these days were a rarity during those days, the family radio was my most favourite toy. It had two shortwave bands, the first one had the inter-continental bands, including 13, 16, 19, 25, 31 and 41 meter wavelength broadcast segments, and the second had 49, 60 and the tropical bands of 75, 90 and 120 meters. The medium-wave band consisted of 200 meters to 550 meters. There was no FM in this radio. My favorite was the international shortwave band. I used to move the needle from one frequency to the other in a never-ending search for newer radio stations. Radio Ceylon (Colombo) was my most favorite station. The BBC was my father's choice for news. My other favourite stations were Radio Pakistan Karachi, Radio Iran Zahidan (Urdu) and Radio Kabul. All these stations played Hindi film music. On medium-wave, during the day time only the Punjab-based radio stations Lahore and Jullundur could be heard. At night I could pick up distant stations like Calcutta and Bombay too. The instrumental music played at Bangalore and Madras stations was mesmerising and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I must admit that my radio was instrumental in developing appreciation of good music in me. At a young age I could admire the beauty of Hindustani and Karnataka music. Begum Akhtar, Hira Bai Barodekar, M.S. Subhalakshmi and Bade Ghulam Ali Khan became my favourite maestros. Lata Mangeshkar and Talat Mahmood had always been dear to my heart. They touched my emotions, every time I listened to them on this vintage beauty. This radio had been shuttling frequently between Kapurthala and New Delhi, by train and by road, without of course its packing box, which was lost during the forties. These never-ending journeys battered the radio a whole lot and in 1966, when it was brought to Chandigarh, a few days before Punjab's trifurcation, it developed a fatal defect, which could never be repaired and the vintage beauty had to be replaced. But we kept it placed quite prominently, in full view of the visitors. In the 1980s, a radio repairman offered to repair it. But, at his shop, some collector liked its unique shape and configuration. After that we never saw it. The radio is long gone, but its memory will linger in my mind for ever along with the taste of good music it inculcated in me.
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OPED
— Security |
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What’s wrong with our national security policy?
Lt Gen S. S. Mehta
Sixtyseven
years into Independence and despite four wars, including a humiliating defeat in 1962; matched by a consummate victory over Pakistan in 1971; the Kargil intrusion, the Mumbai terrorist attack, scores of insurgent and internal security movements, India remains cocooned in a yawning void between promise and delivery. If one thought India has had enough time to put the building blocks for a sound national security policy into place, one would be disappointed. On this critical issue, we remain vague and incongruous. On the contrary, it would seem that there is an inexplicable disconnect in policy makers’ minds about the linkages between National Security and National Defence.
National security is an inclusive concept. It demands political savvy, economic security, soft and hard power, focused development and growth of human and material resources and public understanding and support. In contrast, national defence has a narrower meaning. Defence relates to sovereignty, territorial integrity, capability to contain internal disorder, respond to man-made and natural calamities, and have the synergised political will and broad-spectrum capability to undertake multifarious international obligations; even the odd intervention if that becomes necessary in supreme national interest. Security vs Defence Security and defence are therefore not interchangeable. Security incorporates defence. Collectively they stand for National Security and both must co-exist. Kautilya in his seminal treatise on statecraft — Arthashastra, warned us around 2,000 years ago that national security challenges to a state demand of it both expertise and force development to successfully face the threats that it may be subjected to. He identified four such threats: The external threat externally abetted, the external threat internally abetted, the internal threat externally abetted and the internal threat internally abetted. Today we face all of them in varying degrees. Yet, a Comprehensive National Security Policy has not been articulated. Even if it does exist in some form, its application on ground is incoherent if not headless. It appears after each episodic disaster we face as a nation that we have learnt no lessons from the past, nor is there continuity of responses that could mitigate the sufferings that follow from such events. Using the Kautilya analogy, it is instructive to identify the current threats to our security. First, the external threats: Afghanistan and Pakistan are the globally recognised epicentres of terrorism. A spillover to Jammu & Kashmir is a natural fallout and we are in its throes. With China, the International Border and the Line of Actual Control (LAC) are still not settled and what has happened in the recent past is a source of concern. In the South, Sri Lanka is reneging on its commitments towards its Tamil citizens and Tamil Nadu is in ferment. Even Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar make no bones about their problems with India and some have equidistanced themselves from their large neighbours. Maldives is in turmoil and is a deepening source of concern for us. The internal threats are no less worrying. Maoism/Naxalism, with its “Red” corridor spanning half a dozen states, besides interstate spats over water sharing are now routine and are increasingly vociferous. Thus, in today’s India, land, water, migration and energy creation, distribution and sharing are all sources of concern. All these can be categorised within the Kautilyan framework of threats and puerile political explanations do nothing to mitigate their wholly deleterious impact on national security. Non-traditional threats We also have to face the reality that there are at least six non-traditional threats that negatively impinge on our national security: Water, health and the increasing possibility of pandemics, a debilitating energy crunch, stand-alone education not networked to employability resulting in spiralling levels of unemployment and underemployment, rapidly degrading environment, and not the least, abysmal levels of deployable technology — both indigenous and imported — complete the dismal round up. Manufacturing is now only 16 per cent of our GDP. Even in the much-touted services sector, discerning analysts call us the “labourers of the world”. Clearly we need to transit from a “labour arbitrage” economy to a “knowledge arbitrage” economy. How that is possible is another story but needs to be told —perhaps on a later occasion. What then are the indicators of a truant National Security Policy? Firstly, is it there at all? If so, where is it? Who makes it? Who disseminates it? Who is calling the shots on Security Policy? What inputs are required to make one, and who provides them? Secondly, if there is one, does Parliament, and through it the common man need to know? If not, why not? Let us, for a moment, assume there is one. The question that then begs answering is, as to why so many reports written by successive committees under different governments are lying in cold storage? These reports deal with urgent national issues of water sharing, defence, defence production, health, labour, environment, innovation, research and development etc. Some allied questions also need to be raised. Where is the priority for operational readiness? If push comes to shove who will be held accountable? The Rules of Business suggest it ought to be the Defence Secretary but we all know the grim reality. These rules have never been applied so far. Why are we net importers of security equipment? What happened to the Scientific Adviser’s assertion in 2002 of a 70:30 ratio of indigenous to imported security equipment delivery schedule? It was then, as it is now, a pious statement devoid of a blueprint to execute it. We cannot in any case procure because the loser of a contract bid starts complaining anonymously and the process collapses. Lack of accountability Who monitors the National Technology Base? Where are we in the Human Resource Development, innovation, health, farming and agriculture practices’ indices? These are sample questions but serve to amplify a lassitude; that has consumed, like a cancer, our core understanding of what makes a nation work towards taking its place among the hierarchy of effective and powerful nations. The question that nevertheless begs an answer is why do successive governments relegate the demands of National Security to ridiculous levels of apathy? Glaring shortcomings An objective scan shows that the current arrangement has glaring shortcomings; some inbuilt, some contrived, some personality and mindset led and some a fallout of inadequate experience, lack of exposure and an inability to “think through” by our apex-level decision makers. The problem gets exacerbated by a near-total lack of a world-class work ethic, including networking among key advisers, staff and concerned ministries that allows for structured as opposed to “gut level” thereby subjective formulation of a focused “India First” national security policy. Consequently, the list of knee-jerk policy responses that we keep making are legion. The key take-home is stark and uncompromising: strategy and policy are two sides of the same coin and a truant national security policy and therefore an absent national security strategy has perversely scarred India’s strategic decision-making matrix. Look at the tell-tale signs. Around 1.25 billion Indians with a lion’s share of the youngest male and female population in the world; young people with a creativity index better than most nations; people with energy, verve and an infectious we-can-and-we-will:just-give-us-a-chance attitude today find themselves eminently unemployable. A country that has a stunning array of nature’s bounty in perennial snow-fed and peninsular rivers is today faced with rapidly depleting water resources because we are hidebound and sadly dated in rain water/aquifer water harvesting and conservation techniques. The agricultural sector has been in stasis and has witnessed a sharp rise in farmer suicides. Our health, women and child welfare, our basic hygiene and environment conservation standards are at low levels; amongst the lowest in the world and, pretty unsurprisingly, we have a GDP that is declining and dismissive of the benefits emerging from new technology/new methods of wealth creation. Shortchanging citizens Although all this might look disconnected, look at the image this has created. Culpable Italian Marines have to be let off, Ms. Khobragade strip-searched, former Presidents frisked, bank accounts of proclaimed cheats released, our fishermen jailed, our prisoners in neighbouring countries beaten to death, soldiers’ throats slit. Armed patrols of neighbours walk in and out, migrants are here to stay, and the haves/have-nots’ divide has become uglier. Isn't it the first call of a democratically elected, legally constituted government to ensure the security of its citizens? Why is the citizen; the basic building-block of the nation repeatedly and mindlessly shortchanged in all aspects of his/her life and living? It is time that the new political dispensation that comes into power by end May 2014 takes stock and draws a comprehensive, unique, well-thought-through and synergised blueprint to address these deep and abiding concerns. Partisan debates of blame game are now passé. The citizens deserve an appropriate response and it can no longer be left to fate and providence to resolve. (To be continued). The writer retired as the Western Army Commander. Post retirement, he has served as DG CII and as a member of the National Security Advisory Board. Tomorrow Wanted: A National Security Commission
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The Tribune National Security Forum
With India at a crossroads and a new government taking charge, The Tribune has decided to set up a National Security Forum to ideate, discuss and bring clarity on the imperatives and challenges faced by the country with regard to its security and that of its billion-plus people. The purview of the forum will not be confined to military affairs but encompass the entire gamut of issues that have a bearing on the country's security, such as water, food, health, energy, technology, internal unrest and geo-strategic developments. The aim will be to identify the challenges and find ways to effectively counter these. To begin with, The Tribune will, in the coming months, carry a series of articles from experts analysing various aspects of national security and invite comments from readers. The first in the series begins today — a three-part article that sets the stage for a wider debate on national security. We welcome your comments and suggestions on the articles and the forum. Please send these to the
nsftribune@tribunemail.com
— Editor-in-Chief
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