August 1, 2012

Putting Kerala to work

REETIKA KHERA Keralas achievements have long been celebrated by development economists high literacy rates, including among girls, low infant mortality rates and so on. There has also been a spate of writings highlighting the ills of Kerala society. Critics have pointed to the high rates of suicides and feminists have also raised difficult questions. While there might be some truth in these critical perspectives, when one compares Kerala with other Indian States, there is no doubt that it has got something right. The contrast between the north Indian States of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh and the southern States

(Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu) always strikes me while doing fieldwork.

Positive aspects

Last December, a trip to Kerala to visit districts that had been nominated for the Central governments annual NREGA award (for the effective implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) brought home that contrast once again. I visited a few MGNREGA worksites in two districts Alappuzha and Thrissur and had discussions with workers with the help of MGNREGA officials. Without suggesting that the implementation of MGNREGA in Kerala is faultless, this

article highlights some of the positive aspects of Keralas experience.

The first thing that struck me was the large-scale participation of women in MGNREGA. According to MGNREGA records, the share of women in MGNREGA employment is higher in Kerala than in any other State about 90 per cent. I also saw something that one does not learn about from official data: assistant engineers, overseers, data entry operators, panchayat presidents, mates, BDOs there are plenty of women in almost every conceivable post. Further, a skill ladder already exists in some ways. For instance, in Alappuzha, I met a MGNREGA worker who had been elected a block panchayat member.

The second heartening observation was that in Kerala, one sees gram panchayats playing a real role in the planning and implementation of MGNREGA. The employment guarantee act has provisions for grassroots planning and implementation. In many north Indian States, Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) are involved in implementation, but rarely play an active role in the planning process. In Kerala, by contrast, PRIs are strong, with impressive physical infrastructure a gram panchayat office in Kerala resembles a block office of some of the northern States. I was told that everything goes through gram panchayats. PRIs, it seems, prepare annual plans for each panchayat and follow the prioritisation decided in the

gram sabha. Block panchayats have standing committees on different subjects. The block offices we visited were bustling with activity and, often, block panchayat members were present. And no, this was not just window dressing for a gullible visitor from Delhi my presence was often ignored at the block offices.

Third, I was excited to see the range of MGNREGA works and the quality of assets being created. This is a truly remarkable feature of MGNREGA in Kerala. In Thrissur, canal maintenance and sluice gate maintenance were the big NREGA works. Desilting of canals enables them to function for irrigation purposes, and also raises the water level in surrounding wells. Another case of good work was the cleaning

desilting and de-weeding of ponds in Alappuzha. In Thrissur, the cattle breeding farm under the Veterinary University offers its land to MGNREGA labourers, to grow fodder for the cattle. Soil conservation works and water harvesting works are undertaken with some scientific inputs. For soil conservation works, thought is being given to enhancing nitrogen content by adding certain leaves. Mud compacting is also done to enhance soil quality. Vettiver (magic grass) is planted along desilted and deweeded ponds in Alappuzha. Apparently, vettiver reduces the pollution in ground water (including ridding it of pollutants from a brewery in the vicinity) and prevents soil erosion (I was told it can only be removed using JCB machines!).

With Kudumbashree groups (a State government initiative for poverty eradication through networking of women's groups) taking a keen interest in MGNREGA, every possible kind of convergence is taking place. Kudumbashree groups are learning how to farm for the first time. They lease in private land and use MGNREGA labour for some of the agricultural operations. Quite a lot of land development work is undertaken on private and public lands. In Alappuzha, Kudumbashree groups grow vegetables, possibly paddy also. Produce is sold locally or Kudumbashree groups are linked with the vegetable board for sale in larger markets. The involvement of Kudumbashree groups and the availability of adequate technical staff (agricultural scientists, engineers, etc.)

have allowed flourish.

such

creativity

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Workers testimonies about what MGNREGA meant to their lives were the most satisfying part of this brief visit. Here is one small example. I held a short group discussion in Pariyaram Gram Panchayat (Chalakudy Block, Thrissur) with a group of about 15 workers. The worksite supervisor (mate) was a woman. As we went around the circle, this is what I learnt: Omana Hamsa (who worked 40 days last financial year) bought sand to renovate her house; Jayathi (48 days) undertook house repairs; Shaila Sadanan (35 days) bought gold for her children; Shirley Sunderesan uses it towards repayment of a bank loan of Rs. 50,000 for her house; Kamalam

Revi and Sheela Balu who had bought a cow on a Kudumbashree loan are repaying it with their MGNREGA earnings; Anitha Sajinan uses her wages for her daughters college education and the mate, Jancy Balan, uses hers to pay her sons computer course fee. There were two male workers as well: Vinayan said he used his MGNREGA earnings to repay a house loan his mother took four years ago, and Kuttan bought himself a gold ring!

Grey areas

The districts I visited were probably the best, since they had been nominated for the national award. Even in the best districts, there were grey areas in the implementation of

MGNREGA in Kerala: for instance, convergence of MGNREGA sometimes seems to boil down to subsidising labour for private farmers, without additional employment generation. The participation of men is low primarily because of the low MGNREGA wage (compared with the market wage). So they prefer other work. The labour market seems to be segregated along gender lines. Delays in wage payments plague the programme even here, though not to the same extent as in the northern States. District officials candidly admitted that payments are made in 20-25 days well over the mandatory limit of 15 days.

During this visit to Kerala I experienced, first-hand, how near-

universal literacy can reduce social distance thereby altering social dynamics and enhancing accountability. Two small incidents illustrate the point. As I introduced myself to the workers at Pariyaram Gram Panchayat through the BDO, I said I wanted to learn about what they did with their MGNREGA earnings. In an attempt to break the ice, I looked at the two male workers and said, They must have used their wages to buy alcohol (a comment I hear often elsewhere). The BDO, also a woman, did not find my comment amusing and put me in my place its not like that, madam, she said. In the north, BDOs usually distance themselves from the workers and align themselves with visitors. My comment would not have been challenged by a BDO in many other places. The BDO and my

roles were reversed here, with the BDO standing up for the labourers. In another incident, after an onlooker corrected my spelling of the name of a village, I felt I was being more conscious while making notes. This suggested to me how similar pressures must be at work for the local administrators too not just for the implementation of MGNREGA but in all public spheres. For me, this was the most important insight from my Kerala visit. August 1, 2012

Predicting the monsoon

R. RAMACHANDRAN

Given the current rainfall trends in June and July, the monsoon (June 1-

September 30) rainfall for the country as a whole is in all likelihood to be deficient (defined as less than 90 per cent of LPA, the Long Period Average). The shortfall in July is 22 per cent, which is very unlikely to be made up by the rainfall in the remaining two months and prevent the imminent (meteorological) drought.

From public perception, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) failed in its forecast for which it is already drawing a lot of flak from media commentators for getting it wrong once again. The IMD had forecast a normal monsoon with a total seasonal rainfall for the country as a whole at 96{++}/{--}4 per cent of the LPA. But, actually, the IMD forecast this year was pretty good and

this flak unwarranted. Yes, this one sentence forecast aimed at giving a single number for the consumption of the public and politicians is definitely off the mark. But there are other significant details in the IMDs changed and improved forecasting methodology that it has been following since 2003, which would show the IMD in better light.

Statistical approach

The new strategy has been to move away from a deterministic forecast of this single quantity, the India Summer Monsoon Rainfall (ISMR), to a probabilistic forecast. In fact, India is the only country which gives a quantitative long-range forecast (LRF) when long-range forecast, whether

statistical or dynamical, is a highly probabilistic exercise depending very critically on the initial (summer-time) values of the meteorological variables and the models used. In the statistical approach, the variables are certain meteorological (regional and global) parameters that have been found to be statistically well-correlated to the ISMR. In the dynamical approach they are the values of physical variables themselves, such as pressure, wind velocity, etc.

A statistical approach is resorted to because the underlying physics of the monsoon is not yet fully understood for the dynamical equations to correctly represent the causative conditions for the monsoon and its evolution. Moreover, integrating these

highly non-linear equations over a long period for an LRF requires highresolution data on the variables (not easily available) and highly intensive computational exercise requiring huge high-performance computing resources. Also, because of nonlinearity, small (measurement) errors in the initial conditions will diverge very quickly to yield wrong results. In fact, to date, no dynamical model has been able to simulate the monsoon over the Indian region well and accurately predict the monsoon behaviour. For example, the model from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) of the United States, which has been adapted for monsoon prediction by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, has forecast 104 per cent rainfall for 2012.

The statistical approach, on the other hand, depends on how robust and stable the atmospheric forcing parameters (the predictors) are. A major problem has been to identify a small set of stable and independent parameters that influences the monsoon rainfall and the bulk of its variance. In fact, there is a natural variability of the rainfall on the decadal scale that is seen from historical data. A 30-year moving average plot of the rainfall suggests that we are currently in the below normal epoch of this natural variability. Moreover, the predictors themselves have been found to be unstable over long periods. Many of the once strongly influencing parameters have declined in their correlations over the years. Some

have, in fact, turned negative. And yet the monsoon system itself seems to be stable and has been visiting us every year without fail! The search for a minimal set of stable and strongly enforcing parameters thus remains a constant one.

Five categories

Therefore, instead of a single-numberfixated forecasting exercise, probabilistic forecast makes eminent sense and logic. Also, since the forecast skill of individual models has been found to be not very good, since 2007, the IMD has adopted an ensemble approach. Here the ensemble includes statistical models of its own and different dynamical models from various international organisations.

This approach will also give probabilities, rather than a single definitive number, for different outcomes of the ISMR.

For this probabilistic exercise, the IMD has classified the monsoon rainfall into five categories: Deficient (less than 90 per cent of the LPA), Below Normal (90-96 per cent), Near Normal (96-104 per cent of the LPA), Above Normal (104-110 per cent) and Excess (above 110 per cent). In any statistical exercise, there will be a finite probability of the outcome being in any of these categories. The confidence with which a prediction is made depends on how well one is able to estimate these relative probabilities.

But before looking at the IMDs 2012 forecast, let us see what the a priori (purely climatological) probabilities for these categories are. The climatological probability for a Normal monsoon (96-104 per cent) in any given year is 33 per cent and those for Below Normal and Deficient monsoon are 17 and 16 per cent respectively, which are by no means insignificant. These numbers need to be kept in mind when one looks at the actual forecast and see how much the years meteorological conditions change these a priori probabilities.

Unfortunately, the IMD has not felt it necessary to emphasise this aspect in its forecast. Apart from 2003 and 2004, when this probabilistic approach

began, and more recently in 20112012, information on the relative probabilities for the five categories was not made public. Apart from political expediency and possible adverse influence on the market, one cannot imagine any other reason. Given the convenience of pegging stories to this single number, news reports too have ignored the other details of this years forecast. So the IMD itself is partly responsible for inviting criticism after this years forecast.

So what did this years forecast tell us in terms of probabilities? In the preliminary April 26 forecast, which is based on December-March data of atmospheric variables, the IMD forecast was 47 per cent probability

for a Normal monsoon, 24 per cent for a Below Normal monsoon and eight per cent for a Deficient monsoon. In the updated June 22 forecast, which includes data up to May, a possible trend towards a poor monsoon was discernible. As compared to the April forecast, while the probability for a Normal monsoon fell to 42 per cent, Below Normal shot up to 35 per cent and Deficient increased to15 per cent, nearly the climatological probability. Unfortunately, the IMD does not sufficiently emphasise these aspects in its press release and continues to give undue focus on that single number in spite of its changed forecast strategy. It is clear that these probabilities give sufficient insight to possible monsoon behaviour and can serve as guidance for proper planning.

But it is not clear in what form the forecast is presented to the planners and the agriculture ministry for them to take appropriate measures because the way the governments response is being projected in media reports it would seem that it did not have any idea of the distinct possibility of a bad monsoon year. It can even be argued that the IMD totally gives up this single number forecast for the ISMR. Instead, different agencies can scientifically interpret the forecast probabilities for the different categories and take appropriate contingency measures. If this information is to be continued to be shared with the public, an exercise that began only in 1988, then the IMD must also take efforts to explain the probabilistic nuances of the forecast to

the media and the public. It is high time that the IMD moved away from realpolitik to real-scientific. August 2, 2012

Burning questions about safety

V. JAYANTH

DISMAL RECORD:There is no need to set up new probes or panels on safety. All that the Railways needs to do is to implement sets of recommendations already with it. The inside and exterior of the coach gutted in the Nellore incident. PHOTOS: K.V. SRINIVASAN

The Indian Railways will do well to jettison the sabotage theory in the investigations into the Tamil Nadu Express fire at Nellore earlier this week. Quoting some passengers on the train who said they had heard an explosion, some Railway officials and politicians seem to be pushing the sabotage theory as a possible cause. But it seems unlikely going by the evidence as it appears, and the preliminary investigations both at Nellore and in Hyderabad.

According to preliminary indications from the investigating teams including forensics officials there appears to be no evidence or trace of any explosive in S-11, the coach that was gutted. The sources say that there is nothing in the remains of the charred

coach that point to an explosion or detonation. As on date, it seems to be a case of a pure and simple fire, which could have emanated from or near the toilets of the coach. The shell of the coach seems intact which would not have been the case had there been an explosion but for the completely burnt out interior. Officials think that it could be a case of a short circuit in or near the toilet, which could have also led to the jamming of the doors.

Fortunately for passengers in adjoining coaches, the blaze did not spread. Railway sources say the explanation for that may be that there was no wind and the train was brought to a halt quickly after the flames were spotted. It was railway staff at the station who

had sighted the fire. Some passengers had also pulled the alarm chain.

In addition to the police and scientific investigations, the Commissioner of Railway Safety will conduct his own probe into the fire and hold public hearings to record evidence and hear witnesses too. All these will have to be put together for the Railways to come to a final conclusion on the cause and then think of corrective measures.

Absence of corrective measures

The problem with the Railways seems to be the absence of corrective measures even after the cause of an accident has been established. There have been innumerable safety reports,

commissions, and voluminous reports recommending a series of steps to improve railway safety. Despite earlier governments at the Centre recognising the urgent need to shore up safety and security, and releasing substantial funds for a concerted drive, not much has been achieved by the Railways. This begs the question: is the Railway Minister and his Railway Board taking safety seriously?

One does not need to probe afresh or set up new panels on safety. All that it needs is to implement sets of recommendations already with the Railways. And these deal with every cause of accident from derailments to collisions, unmanned level crossings or human failure, and fire on running

trains. All of them have been dealt with in great detail already.

Some minor recommendations have been recommended when for instance, communication systems were improved to enable better and effective exchange of information between train crew and the railway stations; a major signals upgradation plan was implemented.

Realising the importance of safety on the rails, the Centre cleared a massive safety plan to replace old rails and rolling stock. But this has not yet been fully implemented.

The Railways even tried an anticollision device on selected routes and

decided to fit every train with it unfortunately not yet implemented. So we still have collisions, mostly of the kind where one train collides with a stationary train. Many of these accidents are attributed to human failure, which calls for a major retraining and safety orientation for staff.

Use of fire retardant material

When it comes to fighting fires, the Railways record proves dismal. Most trains do not have fire fighting equipment, even extinguishers. Even after a fire is spotted, it takes time to find a water source. There are manual checks in some stations to find out about overheating of axles or wheels,

but it not enough and it is not done everywhere.

Perhaps the most significant recommendation till date was for the use of fire retardant material in coaches. Now that the Railways have many coach factories and are even importing special rakes for Metros or special trains, it should be possible to redesign the coaches so that they will be fireproofed. Similarly, Railway staff at stations, trains, and the Railway Protection Force (RPF) must ensure that passengers do not carry inflammable material or stoves with them while travelling by train.

As many as 32 lives were lost in the Nellore tragedy. Many of the bodies were charred beyond recognition, with

the DNA test now the only option to identify them. Will the Railway Minister Mukul Roy and his ministry as well as the Railway Board wake up and prevent the loss of more lives to fires on trains, and more generally, in other kinds of accidents? When preventable tragedies are allowed to happen with an alarming regularity, there is no value to the boast that the Railways runs 20,000 trains or transports 20 lakh people every day, because there is simply no predicting if they will all reach their destination safely. August 2, 2012

The fog of war in Syria

Middle East & Israel Blog - Reporting & Analysis on Israel, the Middle East,

and the Jewish Kishkushim.Blogspot.com

World.

CHINMAYA R. GHAREKHAN

The end game in Syria has commenced. The king has lost several of his pieces and is cornered, with little prospects of escape and win. The best he can aspire to is an honourable draw and even that would appear to be too much to hope for. The alternatives for the king or the President are: offer a draw which means exile to another country or fight till the bitter end.

Complete surrender

The western powers and their allies in the region have made their intentions clear: they will not settle for anything less than complete surrender and perhaps a trial for crimes against humanity either in Damascus or in the International Criminal Court. It has been known all along and this writer has mentioned it frequently that the real target was Iran. This has been confirmed by the latest reports of the Americans consulting Israel about the post-Assad scenario. Israel would appear to be willing and prepared to live alongside a radical, Muslim Brotherhood-al Qaeda regime next door, so long as Iran loses its most influential ally in the region; it still will have Iraq as an ally.

The course of the conflict over the past 18 months has raised serious doubts about whether all those who instigated, financed and equipped the rebels were ever ready to countenance a compromise, whereby Mr. Assad would survive in office in return for implementing his promises of reforms. That would have kept the DamascusTehran relationship intact and, hence, was not acceptable.

Is it too late to try for a political solution? Is it worth considering a formula whereby all the parties rebels, principal stakeholders which would include Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar and others, P-5, Iran, the U.N. the Arab League, etc. are brought together face-to-face with Mr. Assad or his deputy in an effort to hammer

out a compromise? Keeping Iran out at Geneva was clearly evidence enough that a peaceful, political settlement was not a priority. Perhaps, the antiregime players, by announcing at the very beginning of the revolt that Mr. Assad had to go, made the ostensible search for a political solution unconvincing.

Mr. Assad will certainly keep fighting till the bitter end; he might think he will succeed in defeating the combined might of the rebels, who by now are better organised and armed, and their backers who have announced publicly that they intend to increase their assistance to the rebels. It is open war. Mr. Assad surely knows the odds against him but he might prefer to go down fighting rather than face a

Qadhafi-like end. He still has considerable stocks of conventional and chemical weapons as well as missiles. The Hezbollah in Lebanon has thousands of missiles aimed at Israel and Hassan Nasrallah has pledged support to Mr. Assad. Iran, which has more stake than any other country in the regimes survival, will go to any length to support him, by itself and with Iraq where Malliki is openly supportive of the Assad government due to sectoral affinity. So, more, much more violence should be expected, with the war spilling over to the neighbourhood.

Who will benefit from all that violence? Surely not the people of Syria in whose name the fight is being fought! Radical Islamic elements will

be the only beneficiaries. Is this what the international community wants? From all accounts, the sanctions imposed by America and Europe are badly hurting the Iranian regime and Iranian people. Iran will be further weakened but it might also unite the Iranian people behind the regime more. If the desire to avoid further bloodshed is genuine, it might still not be too late to consider something along the lines of the suggestion mentioned in the previous paragraph.

There are some principles involved in the Syrian civil war. The principle which Russia and China cite for their otherwise realpolitik motivated position is that any regime change must happen solely as a result of an agreement among the people of the

country and outsiders should have no say in it. Russia insists that it is not holding any brief for Mr. Assad, but says equally firmly that the principle is important. The Libyan case is still fresh in the minds of everyone and is definitely a factor in the general reluctance to support the increasingly loud demand for the President to abdicate.

But the situation in Syria also touches on at least two other principles. One has to do with the sanctity of human life and the other concerns national interest. The almost daily massacres of scores of people do pose a challenge to individual and collective conscience: can one remain silent in the face of such events? Of course, since the world is fed exclusively by the western

media, one gets the impression that the regime alone is responsible for all the mayhem, which is not the case at all. We are told frequently by the U.N. sources that armed groups are equally engaged in the killing sprees. Kofi Annan is careful in demanding that both sides stop the violence. Nevertheless, since the regime is far better equipped in terms of lethal weapons, even as the opposition is getting more and more deadly arms from various, known sources, the onus is particularly heavy on the regime. While condemning the bloody violence in the country, there is no need to strike a balance between the two sides. The regime will have to be singled out as more responsible, just as we are more critical of the Israeli government for the disproportionate

use of force in retaliating against Palestinian attacks.

The principle of national interest has two aspects: the forces of history argument and hard national interest. It is best when the two converge as they do in the Syrian case. It is good to be on the right side of history, though it is not always evident what the right side might be in every situation. It is more important to be on the winning side and there is little doubt about who the winning side will be. So many countries have invested so much in this conflict that they simply cannot afford to fail or back out. It is only a matter of time before the new President of Egypt, Morsi, comes out on the side of the Syrian opposition. He recently went to Saudi Arabia

where he was offered significant aid and whose king would have certainly asked him to join in the battle or war to protect fellow Sunnis in Syria.

It made good sense for India to have voted in favour of the resolution that was vetoed by Russia and China. Of course, we would have felt good to have abstained, but more important than feeling good is to think of what is good for us. Our interests go beyond Syria since we have enormous stake in the stability of the whole region energy, six million strong Indian workers, their remittances back home, to name a few. Syrias neighbours, determined as they are to get rid of Mr. Assad, will certainly not forget who their friends were at the time of their need. Kuwaitis have still not forgotten

Indias ambivalent position at the time of Saddam Husseins attempt to swallow their country in 1990, though it has not come in the way of healthy relations with India (which is partly at least a factor of our improved relations with Saudi Arabia).

Other countries are not so large hearted as India is; we did not harbour any grudge against all those countries that did not support us either at the time of Chinese aggression in 1962 or at the time of our crisis over Bangladesh in 1971.

Secular regime

Whatever else one might say about the Baath regime, it was secular. It did

not persecute anyone on the ground of being a Sunni or any other sect, except of course members of Muslim Brotherhood. The international community ought to be, but does not seem to be, concerned at the fate that would await the minorities in postAssad Syria. Hardly a murmur is heard in the western media on this. The concern is genuine. The Muslim Brotherhood, the way it has been dealt with by the two Assad regimes, will surely wreak vengeance when the opportunity presents itself. This is already happening and will greatly escalate in future.

Sadly, one has not heard any reassuring voice from the opposition groups in this regard. Their sponsors should advise them to do so. It is not

enough to include this sentiment in declarations drafted by friends of Syria. After Assad, what? is a question that should engage the attention of all those who are singlemindedly bent on getting rid of him, not so much in terms of who will take over power as in terms of what awaits the minority communities in Syria. How will the U.N. guarantee protection to them? Surely, the international community must live up to its responsibility to ensure their safety. It would be appropriate for India to highlight this aspect. August 4, 2012

A house for Mr. Gopinath, and a genset

MAKING A STATEMENT:The Nicobarese know how to survive in their own land. PHOTOS: ALAPHIA ZOYAB

Our boat approached the abandoned and lonely shores of Trinket island in the Nicobar archipelago where a man waited for us.

I waved from the boat, wondering if he would be too shy to wave back. But he raised a strong, muscular arm and I felt a renewed thrill in returning to posttsunami Trinket to meet Gopinath Jeem.

Gopinath had survived the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami after battling a raging sea for almost nine hours to get to the neighbouring island of Kamorta. For two years after the tsunami he was forced to live there because everything in Trinket had been destroyed. He lost a daughter who he adored, his coconut plantation and his house. He had no tools to build anything new. In fact, Trinket had borne such a major brunt of the earthquake that it broke, biscuitlike in three places.

The government had forsaken this battered place and built homes for its residents in Kamorta in a new settlement called Vikas Nagar. Vikas means development in Hindi but everyone I had spoken to in Vikas

Nagar seemed unhappy with the present and anxious about the future.

Unlike Gopinath who came back, all the others stayed on in Kamorta, living on the free food that the government provided them until the day their houses were built and handed over. By then the Nicobarese had become so dependent on handouts that many people had simply lost the will to work and those who did, ended up like daily wage labourers employed in rural work schemes which they found pointless.

Knowing what had happened to so many Nicobarese, I wanted to find out how Gopinath, who had turned his back on this government imposed way of life, was getting on in Trinket.

Rasheed, Abdul and I jumped off the boat into the shallow water and went ashore to Trinket. Gopinath led us directly up the steps he had created in the earth, leading to his house. Within seconds, we were in a clearing with a large square machan , the traditional Nicobari house built on stilts. This was rather an ad hoc house, which Gopinath had built with all the odds and ends he could lay his hands on.

But in returning to Trinket to live in this house, Gopinath had made a powerful political statement. The message to the government was that it didnt need to teach the Nicobarese how to survive on their own land. The government had spent millions in taxpayer money to build houses for a

community of skilled carpenters, who had built their own homes with indigenous material for centuries.

We went up the wooden ladder of the machan into a large cool and breezy room. Soon, Abdul, acting as unofficial chef, brought out coffee. Gopinath unfurled a plastic mat and we sat down together for a snack.

Years of living alone made Gopinath very comfortable with silence even in company but I was keen to get him to tell me about his life in Trinket.

I was mentally very disturbed for the first two years after the tsunami, said Gopinath, beginning slowly.

I was just waiting for the government to give us tools so that we could build our own houses. But the government didnt give them to us.

I came back to live here because I found it unbearable in Kamorta. Im also scared that the government will take away my land by force if someone doesnt live here. There is a lot of confusion between the government and the Nicobari tribe. Actually everything belongs to us but the Indian government is doing as it pleases, he said.

Everyone had finished their coffee so Gopinath stood up and went out of the house where he started a fire with a

small piece from a buoy, to roast a chicken for lunch.

Nothing burns as well as a boya , he said, pointing to the collection of buoys outside his house.

Where did you get so many? I asked.

By the seashore, he said.

He was like Robinson Crusoe. Everything he possessed had a purpose and a lot of it came from the seashore.

While we waited for the chicken to roast, Rasheed and I took a walk around the house.

Rasheed was the official spokesperson of the Tribal Council of Nancowrie, the middle group of Nicobar Islands and he was concerned that the Nicobari people after the tsunami were being pushed into poverty despite living in a very resource rich archipelago.

By giving us free houses and free food the government has made the Nicobarese a little lazy and totally dependent on them now, he said.

The problem with Nicobari people is kimirvahiyento , he said. He was

using the Nancowrie word for which the closest meaning in English was acute shyness.

We just dont know how to tell the government that we are not happy with what they are forcing on us.

After our tour around the homestead we returned to the machan . A generator was filled with kerosene which provided electricity. For a change, Gopinath was going to use it for the tubelight that night.

I generally use the generator only to charge my cell phone, he said. After all, he woke up at two in the morning and went to bed at seven in the

evening, shortly after sunset. He didnt really need to switch on any lights.

By the time we ate our meal, the sun had already gone down in a brilliant blaze of pink and orange. Abdul brought out more coffee and we chatted over the noise of the generator.

How are you earning money, Gopi? I asked.

I sell my poultry or pigs to people in Kamorta. A whole pig costs as much as Rs. 14,000.

Rasheed was impressed. He said, Gopinath is living the life that Nicobarese used to live and hes

making money while people in Vikas Nagar are crying.

The government has gained major control over peoples lives. Now only what the government says happens, Gopinath continued.

An Assistant Commissioner once came here and asked me if Id taken permission to cut wood. I told him, Who are you to ask me? Its my island. Ill do what I want. Even the Forest Department came to plant saplings but I told them not to because I felt they would have returned to misuse them.

Do you need the governments help for anything at all? I asked.

Gopinath thought for a while and then said slowly, Theres a shortage of kerosene so I just want a diesel generator. Nothing else.

Do you know that youre very different? I said, to which Gopinath laughed.

The tsunami had wiped the slate clean for the Nicobarese and Gopinath was one of the few people who had made a clear choice. If the government wasnt going to allow him to go back to the way things were, he was going to do it himself. In that he had succeeded.

(Alaphia Zoyab is a campaigner with Avaaz and freelance journalist researching the impact of the tsunami on the Nicobarese.)

We just dont know how to tell the government that we are not happy with what they are forcing

on us.

Visiting the Nicobar Islands seven years after the 2004 tsunami, Alaphia Zoyab found how one man who had lost everything to

the sea turned his back on the governments rehabilitation assistance and decided to rebuild his life from scratch, on his own August 4, 2012

As maximum as it gets
SHIRISH B. PATEL

Indian cities have evolved over centuries, and in general do not have the grand layouts and leafy avenues of many of their more recent western counterparts. New Delhi is an exception, but then its layout is a

western imposition and has nothing to do with the way old Delhi developed, or indeed any other city in India barring a few more recent exceptions.

Building codes

In every city, buildings are meant to conform to a set of building codes informal earlier, now formalised. These codes are complex: buildings have to observe a minimum required front open space, possibly side and rear open spaces as well, with plinths often mandated to cover no more than a specified fraction of the plot area. The maximum number of floors is also often specified.

A post-World War II innovation from America introduced a new form of building control. This is called FSI (Floor Space Index) in India and FAR (Floor Area Ratio) everywhere else in the world. It is the ratio of built-up area of all floors on the plot to the area of the plot itself. The FSI regulation is welcomed by architects. They like the freedom to reduce the footprint of the building and increase the number of floors, while still observing the FSI rule which sets the total built-up area allowable on each particular plot. But from the authorities point of view, the FSI specified has to be carefully managed to ensure that the extent of built-up floor space permitted in a locality does not exceed that localitys infrastructure capacity, in regard to water supply and sewerage of course

but, more importantly, in regard to transport and crowding on the streets.

The World Bank has been relentlessly complaining that Indian cities are not optimally using their land. They particularly pick Mumbai to make this case and point out that the citys irrational building rules impede good economic use of real estate. Alain Bertaud, in particular, a consultant to the World Bank, is vehement that FSI levels in Mumbai are too low and need to be immediately and drastically increased. Once this happens, it will become a model for the rest of the country. To underline its argument, the World Bank presents a bald comparison of FSI across international cities, which is both meaningless and misleading. It is like comparing

individuals weights without considering their heights or the societies they live in. The policy recommendations that emerge can be both dangerous and damaging for the city.

Here are the FSI values for one of the most crowded residential localities in Manhattan, Community District 8, known as the Upper East Side, compared with Mumbais C Ward, one of Mumbais densest areas:

On the strength of comparisons like this, Mumbais FSI has been portrayed as undesirably low and pushed up to 4, which is the current upper limit, except in the case of hotels, educational institutions, hospitals and the like where the limit can be much higher.

Indoor crowding

But there is a major factor missing in this World Banks comparison of FSI. This is that cities are at different levels of economic development, inhabited with individuals occupying, on average, different extents of floor space. Living is simply more crowded in some places, and less crowded in others. Here is a comparison of what we might call indoor crowding.

The following table highlights staggering differences: Manhattan, at 64 sq.m per person, has six times more residential floor space than someone in Mumbais C Ward, and Manhattan has over five times as much floor space

per job. With such extravagant use, no wonder Manhattan needs a much larger FSI.

Buildable area

A second factor that is missing in comparing cities is the extent of buildable area: in other words, the proportion of buildable plots to street area. FSI applies only to buildable plots. In Manhattans CD-5 the Plot Factor (plot area / street area) is 1.7, which means 37 per cent of the area is under roads and only 65 per cent is available for construction (65/37 = 1.7). In Mumbais C Ward, the area under roads is less and the area available for construction is higher 71 per cent buildable, 29 per cent

streets (making for a Plot Factor of 2.4).

What must be factored into any debate on FSI is street crowding. This is an important index which gives an idea of how many occupants live within a given street area. It is the product of the number of residents per unit of floor area, the Plot Factor and FSI. Despite the higher FSI in Manhattans CD-8 (three times that of Mumbais C Ward), the street crowding is only 2,190 persons per hectare, whereas Mumbais C ward even with its lower FSI has 4,690 persons per hectare:

Mumbais C Ward already has its streets more than twice as crowded as Manhattans Upper East Side. Any doubling or quadrupling of FSI in

Mumbais C Ward, as is being currently debated under prodding by the World Bank, will only double or quadruple its already massive street crowding to levels so far not seen anywhere in the world.

We have recently witnessed this in a small way in Mumbais suburbs. In October 1997, there was a sudden relaxation and FSI could be increased from 1 to 2 in the western suburbs, using Transferable Development Rights. Everyone experienced the sudden increase in traffic volumes, a new and infuriating congestion arising from a doubling of traffic which could not be explained by the slow rise in car ownership, and was much more closely related to the increase in building volumes.

The World Banks comparison of international FSI values is thus simplistic in the extreme and seriously misleading, because it ignores the other equally relevant parameters of indoor crowding and Plot Factor. Pressing for a major upward revision of FSI without a corresponding improvement in infrastructure, particularly transport to deal with crowding, is logically indefensible. It promises something it cannot deliver, an improvement in the quality of life. For the poor, and the vast majority of citizens, it will result in a worsening of living conditions, particularly travelling conditions. But worst of all, it is a red herring. It distracts us from the central problem, which is that adding to the citys land area by establishing new transport arteries is

being invariably and unaccountably delayed. There is also a deliberate companion policy of withholding land from the market by one means or another. How to keep land in short supply is thus the name of the game, by which fortunes can be made in short order, and never mind what happens to Mumbai or its citizens.

(Shirish B. Patel is a civil engineer by training and an Urban Planner by accident, experience and inclination. He was one of the three original authors of the idea of New Bombay, and for its first five years was in charge of planning, design and execution for the new city.) August 4, 2012

A for Anna, B for Baba, C for Camera

BISHWANATH GHOSH

FAST FORWARD:Had there been no TV cameras, would Anna Hazare (right) and Baba Ramdev still have been interested in ridding the country of corruption? PHOTO: S. SUBRAMANIUM Rajesh Khanna may have immortalised a few lines that are easily recalled by everyone Pushpa, I hate tears but he will certainly not be remembered for his political speeches. Yet, one particular speech stands out in my memory. It was

reported in the papers and it has stayed in my memory even though years have passed.

In the speech, made in Calcutta during the 1989 general elections when he was campaigning for the Congress, the actor likened political power to a matchbox. When you place it in the hands of a mother, he told the crowd, she uses it to light the kitchen fire and feed her children. But when in the hands of a child, the same matchbox can even burn down a house. The Congress, he said, was the responsible mother who deserved to the keep matchbox.

To my young mind I was only 19 then the analogy sounded rather lame, even absurd. I felt sorry for

Rajesh Khanna for talking about little matchboxes, when seasoned politicians of the time were talking about big guns the Swedish Bofors that was to fell Rajiv Gandhis government.

Today I have come to realise the symbolic importance of the matchbox. Rajesh Khanna was clearly ahead of his times; only that Delhi, unlike Bombay, never acknowledged his genius.

In an age when a television camera wields the real power the gadget can transform a politician into a pauper and a pauper into a politician in no time; if nothing else, it guarantees you 15 minutes of fame you can see how similar it is to the matchbox.

When in the right hands, it can educate, entertain, enlighten. When on the wrong shoulders, it can excite, provoke and even set Move pays off

Do we even realise how little we work our minds these days when it comes to analysing events around us? We feed on the frenzy whipped up by news channels; and, when caught in a verbal duel between distinguished panellists with colliding views, we are so confused that we end up adopting the voice and the demeanour of the excited news anchor. Since TV news is 24/7, you are never ever given a chance to let your own thoughts precipitate: the animated anchor is always breathing down your neck, telling you what to think.

Amid such cacophony, listening to a yoga guru can be a pleasant distraction. I gave up watching TV news long ago, ever since the channels discovered the art of breaking news, but I always loved watching the telecast of Baba Ramdevs yoga camps, even though he would keep demonstrating the same set of postures and breathing exercises day after day, month after month.

Here was a man a hitherto unheardof swami in a country that boasts of larger-than-life gurus who got the entire country practising pranayama . Even on trains and in public parks you could see people sitting upright and either exhaling forcefully or breathing through alternate nostrils. The

talkative swami had brought about a yoga revolution, something that serious, larger-than-life gurus could not succeed in doing in their own country even though they are worshipped in the West. All this thanks to TV.

If Aastha the channel which telecast Ramdevs camps alone could make him a demigod for middleclass India, imagine what the combined might of the various news channels could do to his status? The thought is most likely to have crossed the yogis mind when he suddenly decided to switch gears from talking about regaining ones health to regaining the nations lost wealth.

His move paid off. Overnight, he was propelled from the 6 a.m. slot to primetime; if you were to watch TV news the morning after police dispersed his protest meeting at Ramlila grounds in June last year, you would believe that nothing else newsworthy happened in the country of one billion on that particular day.

By then, TV had already made Anna Hazare a household name. Until the time he sat on a fast demanding introduction of the Lokpal Bill, which he believes will rid India of corruption, not many knew who Anna was. And then they all knew who he was and many rose in his support. But life for them soon returned to normal when they realised they had greater day-today problems to deal with dug-up

roads and traffic jams and payment of EMIs than worry about a law which would come with its share of inbuilt loopholes and may not be of any use to them.

Anna Hazare, buoyed by the unexpected support, sought to prolong his 15 minutes of fame by threatening to continue with his fasts. But the public seems to have lost interest in his crusade, which perhaps explains why he and his team decided unilaterally to end their recent hunger strike without any government representative begging them to do so.

Anna Hazare is 75; Baba Ramdev is an accomplished yogi . They should know that corruption is a malaise that cannot be cured overnight certainly

not from the top. Corruption is a disease that needs to be addressed from the bottom.

A journey

I am reminded of a train journey I undertook from Chennai to Hyderabad some years ago. My co-passengers in the coupe were a small family a man, woman and their child. Soon after they finished having dinner, the man was about to throw the plastic boxes out of the window when the child a girl about five-years-old stopped him.

No appa, she admonished her father, My teacher tells me not to throw out things like that. Please put them in the

bin. The man, deeply embarrassed but bearing a proud smile, set out in search of a bin.

Thats where nation-building begins: the school. You cannot set right the character of a nation through legislation. A piece of legislation can only punish the guilty if at all one is found guilty but if you are really striving for a corruption-free society, youll have to begin at the grassroots level. A place where there are no television cameras.

What would happen if there are no TV cameras? Would Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev still be interested in ridding the country of corruption? Would you still have a bunch of hoodlums raiding pubs and slapping

young women in the name of Indian culture? Thats a question you will have to ponder upon and answer. August 6, 2012

Assam calls for a human response

FARAH NAQVI

Tearing up families:A Bodo girl consoles her grandmother at a relief camp in Kokrajhar district on July 27. Photo: Ritu Raj Konwar As the magnitude of the human tragedy in Assam unfolds, where is our healing touch? Where are the appeals for funds that newspapers routinely

issue? Where are the big humanitarian aid agencies? This is possibly the single largest conflict-induced human displacement to take place in India over such a short period of time since partition over 4,00,000 Bodos and Muslims uprooted, terrified, and running for their lives in under 10 days. In this hyper-connected age, news travels fast, graphically, and into our drawing rooms, yet we appear unmoved.

When the Gujarat carnage took place in 2002, scattering over 2,00,000 people to the winds, hardly anyone came forward, not even the State. This was in sharp, painful contrast to the generous corporate support, and eager aid agencies that rushed to help victims of the terrible Gujarat

earthquake the previous year. Assam, too, is reeling under a natural disaster the worst flooding in a decade and myriad organisations are there to help. Will they turn their backs on the camps for the riot-affected in Kokrajhar, Dhubri, Chirang and Bongaigaon? And crucially, will the government block access to these camps as it sometimes does in conflict-induced displacement? Well, in so doing they will only deepen divides. Hunger in the belly of a displaced child in a relief camp will turn to hatred in the mothers heart; wounds inflicted by vicious attackers need to be healed with care, not filled with the creeping gangrene born of neglect; fear should not be allowed to turn to fury. Why is it that natural disasters soften our hearts, and loosens our purse strings, but we recoil, turn

wary, inhuman, and politically cautious when disasters are humanmade or conflict induced? Perhaps we blame the victims for bringing this upon themselves. Or worse, perhaps we take sides.

Ironically, conflict-induced internal displacement in India has been a great equaliser, affecting all communities, of all religions, and tribal groups in tragically similar ways. In the absence of any Central government monitoring agency or data, human rights groups (like ACHR and Amnesty International) and organisations like the IDMC (International Displacement Monitoring Centre) conservatively estimate 6,00,000-plus conflictinduced internally-displaced people in India . Estimates of Kashmiri Pandits

displaced since 1990 range from 2.5 to 4 lakh. In the North-East alone, 47,000 people displaced by Bodo-Muslim and Bodo-Santhal violence in 1993, 1996 and 1998 have been in camps in Kokrajhar and Bongaigaon districts of Assam (of those displaced in 1996 and 1998, 44,000 were estimated to be children); 125,000 people displaced by Bodo-Muslim violence in 2008 have been in camps in Darrang and Udalguri districts of Assam; 4,000 people were displaced by violence between Khasis and Nepali-speakers in 2010 in the Assam-Meghalaya border region; 31,703 Brus were displaced from Mizoram to Tripura in 1997 and 2009. In Chhattisgarh more than one lakh people have been displaced since June 2009. Thousands continue to be displaced in Gujarat (since 2002) and in Orissa after

violence in 2007 and 2008. These numbers are generally of those living or registered in camps, not those dispersed elsewhere, still without a durable solution or resettlement. Add them, and the figures swell.

In 1998 the United Nations accepted 30 Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. Distilled from existing international human rights and humanitarian law, these are the international standards protecting the rights of the tens of millions of internally displaced persons (IDPs) globally, and these need to be the standards protecting Indias IDPs. Since 2006 Gujarats displaced Muslims have organised themselves to demand recognition as IDPs in every possible government forum the

National Minority NHRC, and more.

Commission,

Yet, India has not moved an inch towards recognising the nature of targeted violence in law; recognising those displaced by each episode of targeted violence not as mere migrants but as IDPs with certain inviolable rights; or creating national standards for comprehensive remedy and reparation, including relief, rehabilitation and compensation. When displacement takes place due to targeted mass violence, with loss of life, property, family and loved ones, and the destruction of the very fabric of a socio-economic and cultural community, rehabilitation calls for a new understanding. When displacement takes place under fear

and constant direct threat of violation of Article 21 of the Constitution, the trauma with which survivors face the future is considerably worsened, and protection of constitutional rights must be sought through a clear nonnegotiable framework of entitlements.

Today, without any framework, without statutory, uniform, nationally recognised justiciable norms even for immediate relief and compensation, we once again face the spectre of lakhs of desperate, scared human beings languishing in hundreds of makeshift relief camps with no standards of medical care, food, or water let alone special provisions for women, children, the aged and the infirm. We have no single-window protocols in place for getting them back their

documents, their homes, their land, their lost livestock, their livelihoods, and their dignity. There is no policy or law that recognises the grave gendered implications of violent displacement separation of family members, alteration of gender roles when families are separated, break down of family structures, loss of community support, desperate pressures of child care, increased domestic violence, sexual exploitation in exchange for relief handouts, and the long-term psychosocial trauma that accompanies all this. We have nothing but arbitrary and selective amounts of compensation being doled out, guided by a sense of charity rather than by a rights standard. And all of this, with no possibility of reparative justice of apology by States for failing to protect, of guarantees for the future no

participation of survivors in planning the terms of their resettlement, no promise of justice.

The tragic failure of policy is compounded by the fact that much of this was recognised and addressed in the Draft Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill, 2011, which has been languishing with the government for the past year. That some of its provisions were opposed should not have prevented a caring government from stepping forward, addressing all concerns, acknowledging the legal and policy vacuum that the Bill tried to fill, and putting in place a comprehensive framework for justice and reparation for targeted violence. That it has failed to do so has been at grave cost to the

victims of Assam Bodos and Muslims alike. How late is too late? How many episodes of violence will this nation have to witness before we say yes, it is time to be human.

(Farah Naqvi is a writer and activist, and a member of the National Advisory Council. Views expressed here are entirely personal. E-mail: [email protected]) August 6, 2012

Disturbing trends in judicial activism

T.R. ANDHYARUJINA

Judicial activism is not an easy concept to define. It means different things to different persons. Critics denounce judicial decisions as activist when they do not agree with them. Activism, like beauty, is often in the eye of the beholder. In India, the opening up of access to courts to the poor, indigent and disadvantaged sections of the nation through Public Interest Litigation, popularly known by its acronym PIL, is unexceptionable judicial activism. From 1979, the judiciary led by the Supreme Court in India became relevant to the nation in a manner not contemplated by the makers of the Constitution and became an active participant in the dispenser of social justice.

It is a matter of concern that over the years this original, beneficial and unexceptionable character of the Courts activism in PIL has been largely converted into a general supervisory jurisdiction to correct actions and policies of government, public bodies and authorities. This is a type of judicial activism unparalleled in any other judiciary.

For basic rights

PIL jurisdiction began haltingly with little idea of its potential when the Supreme Court, in 1979, entertained complaints by social activists drawing the attention of the Court to the conditions of certain sections of society or institutions which were deprived of their basic rights.

In 1979, Supreme Court advocate Kapila Hingorani drew the Courts attention to a series of articles in a newspaper exposing the plight of Bihar undertrial prisoners, most of whom had served pretrial detention more than the period they could have been imprisoned if convicted. Sunil Batra, a prisoner, wrote a letter to Justice Krishna Iyer of the Supreme Court drawing his attention to torture by prison authorities and the miserable conditions of prisoners in jails. This was taken up as a petition and the Court passed orders for humane conditions in jails. In 1980, two professors of law wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper describing the barbaric conditions of detention in the Agra Protective House for Women which was made the basis of a writ

petition in the Supreme Court. The exploitation of workmen at construction sites in violation of labour laws was brought to the attention of the Supreme Court by a letter. The slave-like condition of bonded labourers in quarries was brought to the attention of the Court by a social activist organisation. A journalist moved the court against the evictions of pavement dwellers of Bombay. Several cases of this type followed.

In dealing with such cases, the Court evolved a new regime of rights of citizens and obligations of the State and devised new methods for its accountability. In 1982, Justice P.N. Bhagwati, correctly stated the purpose of PIL as it originated. He emphasised that PIL a strategic arm of the legal

aid movement which is intended to bring justice within the reach of the poor masses, who constitute the low visibility area of humanity, is a totally different kind of litigation from the ordinary traditional litigation .

No longer were the Courts clientele drawn from landlords, businessmen, corporations and affluent persons. With PIL, the common man, the disadvantaged and marginalised sections of society had also easy access to the Court with the help of social activists.

This unique judicial activism was not found in other countries and leading judges abroad such as Lord Harry Woolf of the United Kingdom and

Justice Michael Kirby of Australia, applauded it.

The new intervention

However, over the years, the social action dimension of PIL has been diluted and eclipsed by another type of public cause litigation in courts. In this type of litigation, the courts intervention is not sought for enforcing the rights of the disadvantaged or poor sections of the society but simply for correcting the actions or omissions of the executive or public officials or departments of government or public bodies. Examples of this type of intervention by the Court are innumerable. In the interest of preventing pollution, the Supreme Court ordered control over automobile

emissions, air and noise and traffic pollution, gave orders for parking charges, wearing of helmets in cities, cleanliness in housing colonies, disposal of garbage, control of traffic in New Delhi, made compulsory the wearing of seat belts, ordered action plans to control and prevent the monkey menace in cities and towns, ordered measures to prevent accidents at unmanned railway level crossings, prevent ragging of college freshmen, for collection and storage in blood banks, and for control of loudspeakers and banning of fire crackers.

In recent orders, the Supreme Court has directed the most complex engineering of interlinking rivers in India. The Court has passed orders banning the pasting of black film on

automobile windows. On its own, the Court has taken notice of Baba Ramdev being forcibly evicted from the Ramlila grounds by the Delhi Administration and censured it. The Court has ordered the exclusion of tourists in the core area of tiger reserves. All these managerial exercises by the Court are hung on the dubious jurisdictional peg of enforcing fundamental rights under Article 32 of the Constitution. In reality, no fundamental rights of individuals or any legal issues are at all involved in such cases. The Court is only moved for better governance and administration, which does not involve the exercise of any proper judicial function.

In its most activist and controversial interpretation of the Constitution, the Supreme Court took away the constitutionally conferred power of the President of India to appoint judges after consultation with the Chief Justice, and appropriated this power in the Chief Justice of India and a collegium of four judges. In no Constitution in the world is the power to select and appoint judges conferred on the judges themselves.

The Court is made the monitor of the conduct of investigating and prosecution agencies who are perceived to have failed or neglected to investigate and prosecute ministers and officials of government. Cases of this type are the investigation and prosecution of ministers and officials

believed to be involved in the Jain Hawala case, the fodder scam involving the former Chief Minister of Bihar, Lalu Prasad Yadav, the Taj Corridor case involving the former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Mayawati, and the recent prosecution of the Telecom Minister and officials in the 2G Telecom scam case by the Supreme Court.

Military operation

The Supreme Court has made an order even in a military operation. In 1993, the Court issued orders on the conduct of military operations in Hazratbal, Kashmir where the military had as a matter of strategy restricted the food supplies to hostages. The Court ordered that the provision of food of

1,200 calorific value should be supplied to hostages. Commenting on this, an Army General wrote: For the first time in history, a Court of Law was asked to pronounce judgment on the conduct of an ongoing military operation. Its verdict materially affected the course of operation .

Even proceedings of Legislatures are controlled by the Court. In the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly case, the Supreme Court ordered the Assembly to conduct a Motion of Confidence and ordered the Speaker to conduct proceedings according to a prescribed agenda and not to entertain any other business. Its proceedings were ordered to be recorded for reporting to the Court. These orders were made in spite of Article 212 of

the Constitution which states that Courts are not to inquire into any proceedings of the legislature.

Other examples

Matters of policy of government are subject to the Courts scrutiny. Distribution of food-grains to persons below poverty line was monitored, which even made the Prime Minister remind the Court that it was interfering with the complex food distribution policies of government. In the 2G Licenses case, the Court held that all public resources and assets are a matter of public trust and they can only be disposed of in a transparent manner by a public auction to the highest bidder. This has led to the President making a Reference to the

Court for the Courts legal advice under Article 143 of the Constitution. In the same case, the Court set aside the expert opinion of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to sell 2G spectrum without auction to create greater teledensity in India.

The Court has for all practical purposes disregarded the separation of powers under the Constitution, and assumed a general supervisory function over other branches of governments. The temptation to rush to the Supreme Court and 21 High Courts for any grievance against a public authority has also deflected the primary responsibility of citizens themselves in a representative self government of making legislators and the executive responsible for their

actions. The answer often given by the judiciary to this type of overreach is that it is compelled to take upon this task as the other branches of government have failed in their obligations. On this specious justification, the political branches of government may, by the same logic, take over the functions of the judiciary when it has failed, and there can be no doubt that there are many areas where the judiciary has failed to meet the expectations of the public by its inefficiency and areas of cases.

Justice Jackson of the U.S. has aptly said: The doctrine of judicial activism which justifies easy and constant readiness to set aside decisions of other branches of Government is wholly incompatible

with a faith in democracy and in so far it encourages a belief that judges should be left to correct the result of public indifference it is a vicious teaching. Unless the parameters of PIL are strictly formulated by the Supreme Court and strictly observed, PIL which is so necessary in India, is in danger of becoming diffuse, unprincipled, encroaching into the functions of other branches of government and ineffective by its indiscriminate use.

(The writer is a senior advocate of the Supreme Court and former Solicitor General of India. This article is an abridged version of a lecture he recently delivered at the sesquicentennial of the Bombay High Court.)

Public Interest Litigation is a good thing when it is used to enforce the rights of the disadvantaged. But it has now been diluted to interfere with the power of the government to take decisions on a range of policy matters August 7, 2012

India must think before it acts on Syria

PREM SHANKAR JHA

On July 15, an estimated 7,000 rebel fighters owing allegiance to the Free Syrian Army invaded Damascus, the

capital of Syria. In a Sturm und Drang operation, captured on amateur video by an observer whose harsh breathing reeks of fear, they raced towards the city in brand new pick-up trucks over barely marked desert tracks from Iraq and Jordan, waving Kalashnikovs in the air. Two days later, at 10.00 am, as a bomb planted in the defence headquarters killed four top generals in the Syrian armed forces and severely injured several of their advisers, they embarked on a reign of terror in Midan, killing anyone who was wearing a uniform or appeared hostile to them. Residents interviewed by the Syrian media after the army took Midan back said the attackers were Arabs, not Syrians, for they spoke a different kind of Arabic.

Surprise

The Arab League and the western powers convened a meeting of the United Nations Security Council within hours. But instead of demanding that the insurgents abide by Kofi Annans six-point plan, their draft resolution condemned Syria for using heavy weapons in this case helicopters against the marauders. Russia and Chinas veto did not surprise anyone. But Indias decision not to vote with its BRICS partners and to toe the western line instead did.

Why did India do this? For it must surely have known even then that Damascus was only a curtain raiser for the battle that is now being joined in Aleppo. According to Syrian

estimates, infiltrated foreigners Chechnya Qaeda.

12,000 FSA fighters have Aleppo. Half of them are from Libya, Afghanistan, and Sudan in short, al-

If there is a bloodbath in Aleppo, the West is bound to table yet another resolution in the Security Council, this time seeking permission to use other means if necessary to topple Bashar al-Assad and save civilian lives. Will India again vote with the West? Before it does so, it would do well to remember that its own nation building project is still incomplete. So whatever conventions it allows or helps the West establish on the Right to Protect or Intervene may well come back to haunt it in the years that lie ahead.

New Delhi needs to bear this in mind because there are striking parallels between what Damascus is facing today and what Delhi faced in Kashmir in the 1990s. In 2011, Syria had been under the autocratic rule of the Baath party for 48 years. In 1990, Kashmir too had been under autocratic rule for all but seven of the previous 40 years. However, in both countries the autocracy was a stable one. Young people in particular chafed under the Baath partys rule in Syria exactly as they chafed against Delhis rule in Kashmir. But while nearly everyone wanted a change, almost no one wanted it at the cost of a violent disruption of their lives. In neither case, therefore, was the state the first to resort to violence: On the contrary, both insurgencies had to be stoked, so the first to pick up the gun were the

insurgents. In Syria this was done by Salafi/Takfiri Islamists who crossed the border from Jordan in March 2011 and holed up in the Omari mosque in Deraa before launching targeted provocations, and attacks on police stations and government offices.

A third parallel is the intervention of hostile foreign powers bent on converting a domestic upsurge demanding political empowerment into a movement for secession or regime change. In Kashmir, Pakistan did this by disarming the JKLF cadres still in training in Muzaffarabad in 1990 and creating the Hizb-ulMujahideen. In Syria, Turkey and Qatar are funnelling money and battle hardened jihadis to start a sectarian war that will overwhelm the state.

Last and most important, like New Delhi, Damascus has been trying to prevent civil war by offering the insurgents the alternative of the ballot box. Mr. Assad began, on his own, by lifting all controls on the Internet in January 2011. Over the next six months, he first tried to negotiate peace with the Sunni zealots in Deraa by sacking the governor and releasing 260 prisoners and 16 clerics, and promising to repeal the Emergency Laws and the ban on political parties that had been in place for 48 years. He fulfilled his first promise five days ahead of schedule on April 20 and his second three months later in July.

Mr. Assad also set up a drafting committee to frame a new, democratic

constitution for Syria, but neither this nor his other reforms made the least dent on the hardening resolve of the West and its Arab and Turkish allies to force Mr. Assad and his regime out of power and install the puppet Syrian National Council in its place.

Despite this, Mr. Assad persevered with his attempts to make an orderly transition to democracy. As the task of framing a new constitution neared completion, he announced that the draft would be placed before the people in a referendum. Six weeks before the referendum, he offered an amnesty to all rebels and invited them to join in the voting. They could well have done so for the draft constitution not only required an election within three months of its passing but also

contained a clause that would bar Mr. Assad himself from contesting the presidential election after his current term ended in 2014. But, egged on by the Friends of Syria, of whom India was regrettably one, they chose to boycott the elections and let the violence continue.

Sneering scepticism

The world learned virtually nothing about Mr. Assads efforts because the international media, which reported several of his pronouncements, did so with sneering scepticism and no attempt at analysis. But on February 26, 2012, 57 per cent of Syrias electorate crowned Mr. Assads efforts with success by turning out to endorse the new constitution. The large turnout

showed that the vast majority of Syrians still wanted a peaceful transition to a secular democracy, and did not mind Mr. Assad remaining in power to manage the transition. For the Free Syrian Army, whose leaders knew (just as LTTE leader Prabakaran did when forced to negotiate with New Delhi in 1987) that the return of peace would erode most of the support they enjoyed among the people, the only alternative that remained was to bring in foreign fighters in the name of jihad.

The result has been a dramatic rise in casualties after February. At the end of October 2011 eight months after the uprising began the U.N.s tally was between 6,000 and 7,000 deaths. By February, the figure had risen to

10,000-11,000. Today the minimum estimate is in excess of 20,000 dead. Christians and Shias have been the main victims in recent months. 50,000 Christians have been driven out of Homs, leaving less than a thousand behind. As a result, the number of doctors in the city has fallen from 850 to less than 50, and functioning hospitals from 45 to 5.

Attack on Christians

The killing of Christians has now spread to Damascus. When the Syrian army retook Midan, the FSA rebels dispersed but did not withdraw. Instead they selectively attacked and killed the wealthy, educated Christians of Damascus. The first targeted attack took place on July 23. Another

occurred over the weekend of August 4-5. U.N. officials in Damascus have reported a terrible killing in the Christian quarter of Damascus. Another exodus is therefore in the offing: the Archbishop of the Syrian church told a U.N. official que dieu me sauve only god can save us.

It is inconceivable that Mr. Assad initiated this escalation because his successful referendum in February and Kofi Annans six-point peace plan, which held the rebels equally responsible for the civilian deaths and did not endorse the western demand for Mr. Assad to step down first, had given him everything he wanted. From that point on, he had nothing to gain and everything to lose from violence. The western powers have their reasons

for studiously ignoring his lack of motive, but Delhi needs to remember that they are not Indias reasons.

When the next resolution condemning the Syrian government comes up in the Security Council, there are two good reasons why India must vote against it. The first is to stand by the principle of national sovereignty that underpins the U.N. Charter and reassure its BRICS partners that it is not a fair weather friend.

The second is to give the West an escape hatch to avoid compounding its own mistakes. The recent horrifying rise in sectarian killings; the growing terror of Syrias Christian population, the beheading of an international staff member of the Red Cross in Yemen,

and the creeping spread of sectarian violence in Turkey, have triggered a spate of reappraisals in the New York Times , The Guardian , The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and other publications. These reveal a nagging anxiety that the Wests intervention is not preparing Syria for democracy but dragging the entire region towards a no-holds-barred Sunni-Shia jihad that will douse the candle of reason with blood for generations to come.

India has a unique moral position in the world today: it is a working democracy; it threatens no country and is almost completely free from sectarian conflict. A vote by it against military intervention in Syria will therefore carry disproportionate

weight. It could give the West a facesaving way of pulling back from a sectarian war in which it will find itself aligned with the killers of Christians and the destroyers of the World Trade Centre. August 7, 2012

Its guns that kill people and many when theres no debate
NARAYAN LAKSHMAN

FALLOUT:The extent to which Wisconsin has gone to protect the Second Amendment on the right to bear arms may be questioned in the days ahead. PHOTOS: AFP, AP

That famous Homer-Simpson-esque bumper sticker of the U.S. National Rifle Association, Guns dont kill people, people kill people, would appear to have run its course after two deadly gun rampages in less than three weeks left 19 people dead and many injured, some critically.

Puzzling though it may seem to many outsiders, that may however not be the case, as both the nations President and the Presidential-hopeful maintain a stony silence on gun control laws and the U.S. government did little to stop the recent collapse of a much-needed arms control treaty supported by the United Nations.

The latest round of bloodshed, marked with the crimson shade of a hate crime, reportedly saw a tall, white, balding man some said an Army veteran sporting tattoos relating to the 9/11 terror attacks, target worshippers at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, a gurdwara in the sleepy suburb of Oak Creek, near Milwaukee.

Meanwhile James Eagan Holmes, a student at the University of Colorado, is currently in prison facing charges of killing 12 individuals and wounding many more at the screening of the latest Batman movie in Aurora, Colorado, on July 20.

At the scene of the crime in Oak Creek, which sent shockwaves through the Sikh community and indeed the

entire nation, an incriminating piece of evidence was discovered a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun, a weapon that the state of Wisconsin allows its residents to carry freely.

While the outbreak of violence reopened a welcome debate on religious-ethnic stereotypes, in particular the vector of violence consistently inflicted upon Sikhs and Muslims in the aftermath of 9/11, both the government and the public discourse have refused to bring up the need for tighter regulations governing the purchase of handguns and semiautomatic weapons.

Wisconsins lax standards

And Wisconsin is the perfect example of a state that has not only adopted historically lax standards for gun ownership and gun-carrying the current administration under Republican Governor Scott Walker has sought to further relax these standards.

Since November 1, 2011, Wisconsin residents were told they could apply for a concealed weapons permit through the Wisconsin Department of Justice, making their state the 49th in the nation that was allowed concealed carry of firearms.

The irony in this case was that a number of residents may well not feel the need to apply for such a licence given that Wisconsin has long been an

open carry state, or one in which no licence is required to carry a gun in plain sight.

According to reports, there are 12 states nationwide that permit open carry of a handgun without licence requirements; 13 states call for some form of licence, often a single permit for open and concealed carry; and 17 states do not prohibit open carry in general but either do not pre-empt local laws or law enforcement policies or have material restrictions carrying such as banning anyone with a past felony.

While it is going to be too late for victims in the Sikh community and their families in Oak Creek, the extent to which Wisconsin has gone to

protect the Second Amendment on the right to bear arms may be questioned in the weeks and months ahead.

For not only has Governor Walkers government pressed forward with its NRA-supported concealed carry law, but the 2011 codification of that provision added a sub-section to the Wisconsin Disorderly Conduct statute that further tied the arms of law enforcement officials who may seek to challenge an individual carrying a concealed weapon.

Under Statute 947.01, subsection 2 notes: Unless other facts and circumstances that indicate a criminal or malicious intent on the part of the person apply, a person is not in violation of, and may not be charged

with a violation of, this section for loading, carrying, or going armed with a firearm, without regard to whether the firearm is loaded or is concealed or openly carried.

Requirement

The only persons who may be denied the right to purchase a handgun or firearm in Wisconsin, according to a note provided by the NRA, is anyone who fails a background check for criminal history, involuntary commitment, or domestic violence. There is a requirement that 48 hours must elapse from the time the dealer receives a confirmation, that the buyer has passed a background check, before a transfer may occur.

This, then, is where the great state of Wisconsin stands with regard to its residents appetite for gun-carrying: so long as you have not committed a serious crime or have not been committed to a mental health facility in the past, you can possess and carry a weapon openly, and the law has been designed to tie the hands of any police officer who may seek to question your behaviour in public.

The worrying aspect of this law for most gun control activists is the fact that most individuals who are likely to embark on a killing spree of the sort witnessed in Oak Creek may be firsttime offenders. This means that Wisconsins gun laws are in effect

heavily tilted in favour of all such deviant cases.

While President Barack Obama and his rival Mitt Romney may hope avoid mentioning gun laws until November fearing the influence that the pro-gun lobbies such as the NRA wield nationally, it is the victims of gun violence, and their friends and families suffering lifelong scars, who will pay the greatest price for the silence of Americas political leadership on this burning issue.

As shooting incidents recur and the death toll mounts, will the American political leadership have the courage to take up gun control regulation?

August 7, 2012

Indian workers, lost in a gulf of despair

ARUN KUMAR

MIRAGE IN THE DESERT:More often than not, the reality is a lot different from what workers are told or picture it to be. A file photograph of a project site in Dubai. PHOTO: AFP The West Asia or the popular Gulf region is bestowed with a wealth of resources (predominantly oil & gas), that translates to a significant amount of deployable capital for economic and industrial activity, but the region is heavily dependent on imported labour to develop and sustain its economic

activities. According to a 2010 World Bank Report, the Gulf nations Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Saudi Arabia featured in the top 10 immigration countries with immigrants as a percentage of the total population at 86.5 per cent, 70 per cent, 39.1 per cent and 27.8 per cent respectively. Indian nationals form a significant part of the Gulf workforce and India and the subcontinent remain suppliers of huge labour pools both blue- and white-collar workers.

The Gulf country where I live and work has registered its 31st case of suicide a few days ago, by an Indian national (by far the highest suicide rate among immigrant foreign nationals). Most of them are blue-collar workers who venture out to this part of the

world for better wages. We are halfway through the year and this is a shocking and a deeply worrying statistic, and for just one country in the Gulf region. Its a rather well-known fact that most of these workers beg, borrow and sell all they have to make their way to these countries of promised prosperity (mostly by fly-bynight bogus recruiting agencies). More often than not, the reality is a lot different from what they were told or picture it to be.

Abuse, restrictions

Among other factors, working conditions tend to be harsh especially if you are a construction worker. Some unscrupulous employers (and not all) delay or dont pay wages on time,

physically abuse workers, retain passports to restrict labour mobility. Other employers have gone bankrupt due to worsening economic conditions, thereby leaving many workers stranded with no jobs, shelter and money. This and other factors could have prompted these workers to resort to the extreme step of taking their lives. It is important we address this serious issue associated with the immigrant workforce, especially in the blue-collar category. Several other countries are taking them rather seriously. Indonesia, for example, has taken some positive steps to address the issue of maid abuse in this part of world. The Indian embassies in these countries are pretty much the only place these workers can turn to but the embassies have their hands full with passport, visa and other related matters

and they dont seem to have adequate resources to be of any help. There are non-governmental organisations that are trying to be of help but they too could be overwhelmed.

Need for counselling

The Indian government should consider ways and means to protect its nationals working abroad and set up a fact finding mission to analyse and understand the problems faced by the immigrant workforce. The Gulf Indian diaspora should be actively engaged in exploring solutions. Indian nationals venturing out for menial or low-wage paying jobs should be sufficiently counselled and made to understand the economic and legal implications of working abroad. They should also

know the avenues for legal recourse should their employer default on salary payments or mistreat them. In select countries, where there is a high degree of blue-collar immigration, the government should actively consider posting a resident counsellor in the Indian embassies or setting up a workers welfare centre which can be a venue or platform to bringing up, discussing and resolving some of the issues. A combination of work and family related issues (such as separation from loved ones for several years) result in several psychological problems (depression, anxiety, and trauma) and these could also be addressed by reasonably wellequipped welfare centres.

Through bilateral agreements with countries which rely on the Indian immigrant workforce, the government should ensure worker rights are protected and a mechanism in place to deal with repatriation should the worker get stranded with no financial resources. A subsidised insurance scheme offered by State-owned institutions like the LIC or the GIC could also potentially act as a safety net. Such agreements and steps send out a strong message that the government is serious about the life and well-being of its citizens working abroad and could prompt host country governments to have stricter rules (and their enforcement) for employers employing Indian workers. Some such initiatives could already be underway but there should be a sense of urgency in implementing such initiatives.

Remittances

According to World Bank estimates, in 2011, Indians working abroad would have remitted about $58 billion, topping the list for the second time in a row. Of the total remittances, Indians working in Gulf nations that include Saudi Arabia, Oman, the UAE, Bahrain and Qatar would have contributed a third of the total remittances. Non-resident Indian (NRI) workers send home precious foreign exchange to financially support their families and establish economic interests in India (by buying hard assets, investing in businesses, etc) in the fond hope that they can secure their financial future and one day return to their home country to

join their loved ones. They deserve a support system that understands their needs, protects their interests and wellbeing. August 8, 2012

Tourism in tiger reserves must reinvent itself

SHEKAR DATTATRI

CORNERED CAT:Tourism in many of our tiger reserves is more like a visit to an amusement park, with screaming tourists, harassment of animals and traffic jams being the norm. The picture is of the Bandhavgarh park in Madhya Pradesh. PHOTO: RAMKI

SREENIVASAN/CONSERVATION INDIA

The temporary halt to tourism in core zones of tiger reserves is a wake-up call to an industry that has grown rapidly and become disruptive in some places. Rather than view the Supreme Courts interim order as a setback, tourism operators should see it as an opportunity to set things right. While there is no question that commercial tourism must be strictly regulated, a total ban on public access to wildlife reserves would be extremely harmful, as it will negatively impact conservation education, monitoring and other conservation activities by non-governmental organisations. Sensible tourism has an important role to play in conservation, and if

government and tourism stakeholders work together, it is possible to craft solutions that benefit local communities, nature lovers, tourism operators and, most importantly, wildlife itself.

While all of us may feel that we have a right to enjoy nature and the great outdoors, it is imperative that we understand that natural habitats are fragile, and ought to be trod on softly, observed quietly and enjoyed responsibly. Many developing countries, particularly in Africa and South America, have succeeded in establishing tourism practices that are low on impact and high on educational value. Many of their features can be emulated with appropriate adaptations. In India, Keralas Parambikulam Tiger

Reserve has developed an enlightened model of wildlife tourism that is praiseworthy.

Two problems; the way out

Two fundamental problems have led to the mayhem that prevails in some of our most popular reserves: first, a majority of tourism operators have little or no regard for nature, lack any sort of long-term vision and operate only for profit tigers and their habitats be damned. The second problem is that most domestic tourists have very little interest in nature or the quiet wilderness experience, and come almost exclusively for the thrill of seeing charismatic mega fauna, mainly tigers. Consequently, wildlife tourism in many of our tiger reserves is more

akin to a visit to an amusement park, with screaming tourists, harassment of animals and traffic jams being the norm. Most resorts provide no orientation to visitors, and most jeep drivers and guides who receive little or no training are usually only interested in the tips they can earn. The result is a mad scramble to spot the tiger so that each resorts visitors can feel that they got their moneys worth out of the visit. This type of tourism does not build a constituency for conservation.

There are other negative aspects of mass tourism. Due to a lack of land use planning or regulation, tourist resorts of all kinds have proliferated around the edges of some of the most popular reserves, creating a plethora of

problems from curtailing the traditional movement of animals towards water sources or other forests nearby, to excessive groundwater extraction and firewood use. Add garbage, sewage and noise pollution, and you have a mess that is as far from eco-tourism as it can get. There are a few sensitive resort operators who try to do the right things, and attract guests who come for the entire nature experience and not just for tigers. But like an organic farmer surrounded by pesticide-happy neighbours, the efforts of these operators and the aspirations of their nature-loving guests come to naught.

While it may require the wisdom of Solomon to mitigate tourist pressure in and around reserves where tourism has

already grown too large, all is not lost. So far, the chaos described earlier is largely restricted to a dozen places, whereas India has over 650 wildlife reserves, of which about 40 are tiger reserves. So, straightaway, we have a golden opportunity to ensure that the mistakes committed in a few places are not repeated elsewhere. As a first step towards ensuring sustainable and meaningful wildlife tourism, the National Tiger Conservation Authority has formulated Eco Tourism Guidelines. With appropriate consultation and implementation, these could finally help create a win-win formula for all stakeholders.

Meanwhile, tourism operators would do well to move away from an obsessive tiger-centric focus and

promote themselves as offering a broader nature experience, with the tiger as a tantalising possibility. For instance, tiger reserves like Corbett and Ranthambhore also have an excellent diversity of birds and other species. But, at the moment, one cannot watch other wildlife in peace in these reserves, with thrill-seekers whizzing past in clouds of dust. While it may initially seem financially foolish to look beyond the tiger, this strategy will ultimately pay off by attracting the right kind of visitors people who are more interested in experiencing nature rather than creature comforts. This would not only usher in more peaceful tourism in wildlife habitats, but also enable lodges to cut down on unnecessary luxuries and optimise their profits.

To survive and justify its existence, the wildlife tourism sector has no choice but to reinvent itself and get creative. The government must nurture the right atmosphere so that new ideas and initiatives have a chance to flower. August 8, 2012

Riots & the bogey of Bangladeshis

BANAJIT HUSSAIN

During the humanitarian crisis that has unfolded in Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon and Chirang districts of the Bodoland Territorial Autonomous Districts (BTAD) and the adjoining Dhubri

district, we have witnessed the tragedy of nearly 400,000 people belonging to the Bodo and Muslim communities being forced to move to 273 temporary refugee camps. These people will stand internally displaced, scarred and traumatised for months to come, if not years. So far, it is estimated that 65 persons have lost their lives and around 500 villages have been torched to the ground. The magnitude of this human tragedy is overwhelming considering the short span of two weeks in which it occurred. It poses a serious threat to the already fragile state of secularism in the region whose demography has always been so diverse. It urgently calls for a restoration of trust and confidence amongst all the people affected by the riots.

Polarisation

What is surprising is that rather than focussing on the immediate need for a humanitarian call to stop the killings and the violence on the part of community leaders and the administration, an atmosphere of extreme polarisation has been brought about, with leaders of both the Bodo and the Muslim communities hurling allegations and counter allegations at each other.

To make matters worse, leaders of the Bodo community, large sections of mainstream Assamese society, and a section of the media and the political class took it upon themselves to allege and prove that the responsibility for this human tragedy lies squarely on

illegal Bangladeshi migrants and that the undifferentiated Muslim masses inhabiting western Assam are Bangladeshis. The social media was also chock-a-block with rumours like the one about boats laden with guns and bombs being sent from Bangladesh to arm the illegal migrants in their alleged bit to take over Kokrajhar district.

It cannot be simply assumed that the BTAD leadership and the mainstream Assamese society are innocently mistaken in believing that all Muslims inhabiting this area are illegal migrants from Bangladesh. Rather it is a conscious mistake laced with communal undertones. The rhetoric of illegal migrants flooding the region that appears to be fuelling the attacks

is backed largely by what seems to be paranoia about the perceived growing numbers of Muslims in the area, all of whom are assumed to be illegal migrants.

It is a well documented historical fact that a large number of peasants from erstwhile East Bengal migrated and settled in Assam in the early decades of the 20th century. However, in the prevailing atmosphere of jingoism and xenophobia, it is not enough to just state that migration of East Bengali Muslim peasants in the early decades of the 20th century is a well documented historical fact. This historical fact needs to be reiterated today, especially when a constitutional authority like the Election Commissioner of India, Harishankar

Brahma, in his overzealous attempt to prove that illegal Bangladeshis are behind the violence, claims that this stream of migration into Assam started during the late 1960s and early 1970s (How to share Assam, Indian Express , 28th July, 2012). However, if one looks at the census data, his claims appear unsubstantiated and historically flawed. One wishes that a constitutional authority like him would be careful about and be aware of the countrys official demographic records.

Hypothetically, if we take the entire population of 33 lakhs in Assam in 1901 to be indigenous, and we apply the all-India rate of population increase of 74.82 per cent between 1901 and 1941, then the population of

Assam in 1941 should have been 57.69 lakhs instead of 67 lakhs. That means approximately 9.31 lakh people had migrated into Assam in this period. Applying the same all-India rate of population increase during this period, the Muslim population in 1941 should have been 8.8 lakhs, instead of the 16.9 lakhs it actually was. From this, it can be inferred that the increase was due to the settling of migrants in the State and that the majority of these Muslim peasant migrants who settled in Assam during this period were East Bengali Muslim peasants. It is worth mentioning that Muslim East Bengali peasants first settled in undivided Goalpara district (which included Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, Chirang and Dhubri till the 1980s), before they spanned out to other parts of lower and central Assam. From 1901 to 1931,

4.98 lakh East Bengali Muslim peasants are recorded in Goalpara district alone.

If one is to believe the assertions of the Election Commissioner, then the question that immediately arises is where are the descendants of the lakhs of East Bengali Muslim peasants who settled in this area before Partition? In all probability, many of them today are languishing in the relief camps with the imminent threat of being identified as Bangladeshis.

False claim

It has also been claimed by various people, including the Bodo leadership, that the Bangladeshi population in

Kokrajhar district where the violence erupted first and which is also the political seat of power in BTAD has increased by leaps and bounds in the last decades. Contrary to what popular perception might hold, even a cursory glance at the census data gives a different picture. There has been no alarming increase in Kokrajhar district of the Muslim population in decades. In 1971, the Muslim population in Kokrajhar (then it was a sub-division of undivided Goalpara district) stood at 17 per cent, with no census being conducted in 1981. It stood at 19.3 per cent in 1991 and, in 2001, it stood at 20.4 per cent.

Even though the religion-wise census figures for 2011 are not yet available, provisional results from the 2011

census show that the decadal growth rate of population between 2001-2011 for Kokrajhar district is 5.19 per cent, interestingly, marking a decline of 9 per cent as compared to the decadal growth rate of 14.49 per cent between 1991 to 2001. (The decadal growth rate for Assam between 1991 to 2001 was 18.92 per cent and 16.93 per cent between 2001-2011.)

There can only be two plausible reasons for this 9 per cent decline in population growth between 20012011. One possibility, though highly unlikely, is that the population growth rate has remained more or less the same as it was between 1991 and 2001, but the death rate has shot up by 9 per cent. The other possibility, which seems more plausible, is that there has

been a considerable out-migration from Kokrajhar, especially after the formation of the BTAD in 2003. Since the Bodos (who constitute 20 per cent of the population in the BTAD area) hold a monopoly over political power in the area, it is unlikely that there has been any significant out-migration of the Bodo population from Kokrajhar district. The Koch Rajbangsis, who constitute roughly 17 per cent of the total population of the BTAD, have been campaigning for and demanding a separate homeland Kamtapur which territorially overlaps the BTAD, thus making it unlikely that they would out-migrate, abdicating their political claim over the territory. In all probability, the out-migration involves other non-Bodo communities, including Muslims.

By now it should be clear that simplistic propositions like Bangladeshi illegal migrants are the root cause of the violence not only prevent us from understanding the complex reality of the situation but also reek of communal propaganda. The demographic reality of western Assam is a mosaic of different ethnicities with their own claims of identity and territorial aspirations.

In the light of this, some glaring questions stare us in the face. What informs this fear of the growing number of Muslims? How are these fears of the swamping of the ethnic and cultural identity of the Bodos being fuelled, and by whom? How and when did all Muslims in the area get classified in the public mind as illegal

migrants from Bangladesh? Looking for answers to questions like these, rather than raising the bogey of numbers and formulaic xenophobic explanations might make the difference, literally, between life and death in this region today.

(Note: All data are either calculated or taken from census data from 1901 to 1991 provided in the Gazetteer of India Assam State Vol-1, 1999 and Provisional Totals, Census of India, 2011)

(Banajit Hussain is a former Research Fellow at the Democracy and Social Movement Institute, Sungkonghoe University, Seoul)

Many Muslims from erstwhile East Bengal settled in Assam in early 20th century. But vested interests are out to prove that their descendants today are illegal migrants August 9, 2012

Universities, ours and theirs

KRISHNA KUMAR

There are four critical differences between universities of the western world and ours. The first is that they do all they can, when they recruit young faculty, to make way for

excellence. We do everything to block its entry. We start discouraging talent early, but a few bright youngsters manage to come up despite our best efforts. They are the ones who face the greatest resistance from our institutions at the time of selection for vacancies. The norms and standards that western institutions apply for selecting young faculty focus on individualised assessment of potential. Senior people and administrators who make decisions make sure that the aspirants are assessed on the basis of what they have published, the quality of research they have done, and how passionate they seem about the pursuit of knowledge and teaching.

Mechanical criteria

In our case, the initial criteria applied are purely mechanical. Any hint of trans-disciplinary interest means that the candidate loses the chance to be interviewed. And those who somehow escape this fate are ultimately sized up at the time of interview in terms of the lobbies they might belong to. Someone rare enough to be independent of personal as well as intellectual lobbies is the first to be eliminated. In the semi-final act of short listing, those lacking support from the dominant lobbies get weeded out. Then, in the ultimate moment, hard bargaining takes place and the institutions future gets sealed. If there is someone with an unusual background or achievement, you can depend on the selection committee to find a technical ground to reject him or her. The only way he or she might get appointed is if

a determined Vice-Chancellor forces the person in. Democratic procedures and correctness have become incompatible with respect for quality. Our universities feel comfortable with the labyrinth of eligibility norms that the University Grants Commission has nurtured with relentless energy to issue circulars over the decades. Selection committees debate over the finest of technicalities to justify the selection of the average, allowing anyone with sheen to get stuck and lost in the maze of criteria.

The second major difference between our universities and the western ones relates to the concept of teaching. We calculate teaching in terms of periods taken. The Radhakrishnan Commission had bemoaned the fact

that our colleges work like higher secondary schools. More than six decades after the commission gave its report, life in our undergraduate colleges is just the same. The UGC demands 18 periods of teaching per week from an assistant professor. Isnt that reasonable?, one might ask. Of course, it is, if you ignore what the word teaching means. The practice of calculating teachers daily work by counting the number of periods they stand beside the blackboard exposes the hollowness of our system and the concept of education. It also shows how little we have progressed since colonial days when accountability was tied to crude measures. How far Britain has moved away from the procedures it introduced in India long ago became apparent to me a year ago when I was

invited to serve on a course evaluation committee in a British institute. After examining the course content, the recommended readings and the description of each lecture session taken through the year, the committee met groups of students from the previous three years. We also read the detailed feedback each student is required to give at the end of each course.

Our discussion with students and separately with their teachers was frank and detailed. We learnt how students assessed their teachers in terms of preparedness for each class, personal interest in the subject, the pedagogic strategies used to arouse interest, and not just regularity which was, in fact, taken for granted.

In India, we worry about attendance records to keep the student under pressure to attend classes that may be altogether devoid of intellectual stimulation. Despite attendance norms being stringent, there are classes without much attendance. There are also numerous cases of attendance without classes. An obsolete system of examination helps teachers who miss classes and make no effort to relate to students. There are many who take the number of periods required, but their classes have no soul or spark.

Concept of knowledge

The third critical difference between life in an Indian university and a university in the West arises out of the concept of knowledge embedded in the

system. The crude measures our regulatory bodies such as the UGC apply in the name of accountability mask the epistemic sterility of the curriculum, the pedagogic process and examination. In the West, curriculum and pedagogy both follow the teachers own research interests. Even smaller universities with limited resources attempt to cultivate a research environment. Topics of research reflect the universitys concern for the social and natural world surrounding it. Research is seen as an inquiry to solve problems as well as to induct the young into a community of inquires. Keeping a record of hours spent on direct teaching becomes irrelevant in such a system, even in the case of undergraduate students. To keep their research interests alive and popular,

senior professors engage with young undergraduates who bring fresh questions and perspectives to ongoing inquiries. In India, you stop teaching undergraduate classes as soon as you attain professorial status. Teaching and research are seen as two separate activities. While teaching is perceived as institutional work, research is viewed as a personal agenda for moving forward in ones career. Not surprisingly, infrastructure and administrative procedures that might facilitate research do not exist. Obstacles do, and the teacher who makes the mistake of initiating a research project has to struggle all the way to its completion and the ritual of report submission to the funding agency. No one among colleagues or in the administration cares to know the findings, let alone their implications.

Teaching goes on following the grooves of preset syllabi, like the needle boring into an old gramophone record.

The fourth critical difference lies in the library. In the West, even in the most ordinary universities, the library forms the centre of life, both for teachers and students. Librarians enjoy a high status as their contribution to academic life cuts across academic disciplines. They work closely with teachers and students in the various tasks involved in procurement of books and journals, keeping the library quiet and friendly, and ensuring speedy access. Our case is the opposite. The library exists on the margins of the classroom. In many universities, undergraduate students

are not allowed to use the university library. Subscription to journals and magazines has dwindled over the years, and maintenance of past volumes is now seen as an obsolete practice because e-storage is available. We forget that the library is not merely a service; it is also a physical space whose ethos induces the young to learn the meaning of belonging to a community of scholars. Our reading rooms carry an unkempt, hapless look, with clanking ceiling fans and dogeared books waiting to be removed. Book acquisition has been saturated with petty corruption and a crowd of spurious publishers has thrived on the outskirts of the academia.

Symptomatic

These four critical differences are, of course, symptomatic of deeper problems entrenched in structures that govern higher education in India. Those who perceive all problems in financial terms miss the barren landscape of our campuses. Inadequacy of funds is, of course, worrisome, but it cannot explain the extent to which malice, jealousy and cussedness define the fabric of academic life in our country. There is a vast chasm that separates the Indian academia from society. Let alone the masses, even the urban middle class cares little for what goes on inside classrooms and laboratories.

The citizenry does not see higher education as an intellectual resource. Nor do political leaders. The only

commonly understood purpose that the system of higher education serves is to alleviate and keep under tolerable levels of discomfort what the British economist, Ronald Dore, has called the Diploma Disease in his 1976 classic on education in developing economies. Dore has explained why a country like ours will continue to lag behind the West in knowledge and technique so long as we keep using mark-sheets and certificates to screen the young for further education and employment. His insight that the valid goal of widening the pool of talent is defeated by bureaucratisation of selection continues to be pertinent across the colonised world.

(The writer is Professor of Education at Delhi University and a former Director of NCERT.) August 9, 2012

Government should have confidence in this House

ARUN BAPAT

The general safety and seismic vulnerability of Parliament House are suddenly subjects of anxious concern. Meira Kumar, the Speaker, observed that the building, with its cracks and absence of emergency measures, was silently weeping. Lok Sabha

Secretary-General T.K. Visvanathan has said CPWD has asked the Central Building Research Institute in Roorkee to do a survey of the building. We want to make sure that the 85-year-old building is able to withstand a major earthquake, given the fact that the national capital is quake-prone, he is reported to have said. There is much talk that the government is planning to construct a new Parliament House.

It took six years to construct the Lutyens-Baker designed Parliament House. Inaugurated by Lord Irwin on January 18, 1927 originally known as Council House, and after independence as Sansad Bhavan the building is majestically spread over six acres. Pink and red Dholpur sandstone were used in the construction. It has

144 pillars and the diameter of the building is 170 metres.

According to the Bureau of Indian Standards, the National Capital Region (NCR) lies in Seismic Zone IV. Two types of seismic experience are possible in Delhi. The first one is from quakes of magnitude less than 6.0 with epicentres within 70 km of Delhi. These do not cause major damage to engineered structures. An earthquake of magnitude around 5.75 occurred in Delhi on August 27, 1960. The epicentre was about 40 km from Delhi, near Gurgaon. It caused minor damage to buildings in the Delhi Cantonment area near Dhaula Kuan and other buildings.

The second is from a large magnitude earthquake in the Himalayas. If an earthquake of more than 7.5 magnitude occurs in Himachal, Uttarakhand or in J&K, the damage in the NCR would be of a different order. The distance of the Himalayan fault line from the NCR is about 270 to 350 km depending on location of the earthquake epicentre. At this distance, Rayleigh seismic waves are dangerous.

Within a 40 to 70 km radius of the epicentre, the damage from an earthquake in the Himalayas will be caused by shear waves (also known as S wave). These waves force on the foundations of structures, which could result in partial or full collapse of the building. As the depth of focus of a Himalayan earthquake would be of the

order of 20 to 30 km, the effect of shear waves is negligible beyond 100 to 150 km from the epicentre.

Beyond this distance, a quake travels as seismic surface waves known as Rayleigh waves. These can adversely affect tall structures, typically more than 17 metres high, located at considerable distance from the epicentre. The effect of Rayleigh Waves was notably observed at Ahmedabad during the January 2001 earthquake (magnitude 8.0). In the city, at a distance of 320 km from the epicentre in Bhuj, only tall structures suffered heavily while two or three storey buildings escaped. Similar damage was also observed at Mexico City, located at distance of about 500 km from the epicentre, during a

magnitude 8 earthquake in 1986. In the NCR, likely damage from a large magnitude earthquake in the Himalayas would be due to Rayleigh waves.

S waves cause damage by creating stress on sharp corners. Structures without sharp corners usually suffer less or no damage because the stress gets distributed almost evenly. This specific principle of even distribution of seismic stress has been effectively used in past constructions. These constructions have been standing for the last few centuries and have withstood the agony of severe seismic shaking. Kamakhay Mandir in Guwahati built in 1565 A.D. lies in the highest seismic zone, V. During the last 447 years, it has withstood three

major earthquakes of magnitude 8.0 or more. The temple is still intact. There are no marks of any historical seismic damage the temples circular structure and the dome-type upper section.

Another such example is in Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, where the Bajura Mahadev Mandir, said to be 1,100 years old, is still standing, despite at least six or seven earthquakes of magnitude more than 7.5. This temple is not exactly circular. But it has four heavy flanges projecting in four directions, which gives it the character of a circular construction. There are reports that during the April 1905 Kangra earthquake (magnitude 8.25) several houses collapsed but the Bajura Mahadev Mandir did not suffer any damage.

Some historical records mention that the design of Sansad Bhavan is based on the design of a temple at Mitwali (Mitaoli) in the Morena district of Madhya Pradesh. This temple is known as Chausat Yogini temple, the word chausat referring to the 64 temples within the big circular temple. The temple was constructed in the 8th century A.D. It lies in Seismic Zone III. It can thus be seen that circular cross section constructions are standing in good condition at Mitwali (Zone III) for 1300 years, Manali (Zone V) for 1100 years and. Guwahati (Zone V) for 447 years,

Additions, alterations, modifications, and periodic repairs are natural in any old structure. The Capitol and White

House buildings in the U.S are almost 200 years old. Without any major external change, these buildings have got by very well with just proper maintenance. The stadium of the University of California in Berkeley was built in 1923, and is located in the highest seismic zone in California. It has required major repairs due to ageing. Pulling it down was rejected as it was recorded in the National Historic Register. It has undergone total strengthening and now, it is claimed that it can withstand a major earthquake.

Advances in engineering and technology could be effectively used for the preservation, protection and conservation of Parliament House. Considering its height and circular

design, the effect of an earthquake in the vicinity of Delhi or a large magnitude earthquake in North-west Himalayan region would be nil or minimum. The earthquake bogey must not be raised to justify any plans to build a new house for Parliament. August 9, 2012

Insurance does not cover the wombs woes

SAPNA DESAI

High incidence of hysterectomies among rural women in Chhattisgarh has been almost exclusively linked to privatisation of healthcare and the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna (RSBY) in a recent article in The

Hindu (Diagnosis of a prolapse by Yogesh Jain and Raman Kataria, OpEd Page, July 16). Yet emerging research suggests that we take a broader view of hysterectomy, beyond privatisation to incorporate womens health and rights.

In a recent study involving 3,855 lowincome women (two-third rural agricultural workers and one-third urban labourers) in Gujarat, we found that 34 per cent of rural and 55 per cent of urban women who underwent hysterectomy had utilised a government hospital. Pre-RSBY, women who chose private hospitals went into debt to avail themselves of the operation. While public-private mixes will differ from State to State, it is nonetheless critical to recognise that

private practitioners and insurance coverage are not necessarily the primary drivers of hysterectomy.

Without population data over time and the perspectives of women themselves, it is difficult to ascertain if RSBY has increased unnecessary hysterectomies or if the surgeries would have happened anyhow. Our survey, one of the three systematic studies in India, revealed that seven to eight per cent of rural women and five per cent of urban women had already removed their uterus, at an average age of 37. While many may have been required, the womens ages as low as 23 raise suspicion of unnecessary procedures, but not definitively without medical review.

In Gujarat, no clear predictors of who is more likely to undergo the surgery emerged. According to local health workers, some women demand the surgery to rid themselves of menstruation and its associated taboos. Several, but certainly not all, public and private providers regularly performed the surgery as first-line treatment for relatively simple conditions. This could easily be interpreted as a case of supply-induced demand, which RSBY could exacerbate. However, after qualitative research with women, their doctors and health workers, a different picture emerged.

Providers and women offered the same, overwhelming refrain: the uterus isnt really necessary, after it has

fulfilled its reproductive role. Almost all women had been sterilised several years before a hysterectomy. Yet, in the face of permanently curing a persistent ailment or in fear of cancer, most women and providers dismissed the side effects of removing a onceessential organ. What overall value system dismisses the utility of the uterus post-childbirth? Gender biases, the same that drive violence against women and sex-selective abortion, require equal attention in understanding hysterectomy. If it were privatisation alone, would not male organs face the same fate?

The physical and mental burden of persistent gynaecological morbidity such as infections or menstrual difficulties takes a serious toll on

many women. Yet treatment for such ailments is virtually non-existent at the primary level public or private. In most States, providers in rural areas do not perform regular pap tests, routine exams or first-line surgical procedures for lack of time or equipment, ethical inclination or profit motive. When a woman does seek care, it is likely to be when the problem is acute, and at a far-from-home tertiary or private facility.

Without affordable gynaecological care available closer by, the follow-up travel and cost required for alternative procedures unjustly prevents both doctors and rural women from considering longer term, less-invasive treatment. Both insurance (like RSBY) and government tertiary care facilitate

what a biased system has already established for poor women in particular: remove the uterus and solve gynaecological problems once and for all.

Underlying drivers

Without doubt, improved monitoring and regulation of public and private providers is critical. But unnecessary hysterectomy will persist in both the public and private sectors if two core issues remain unaddressed: a lack of basic gynaecological care within primary care and a gender-biased view of womens bodies and health. While Chhattisgarh and Gujarat may have different health systems, it is unlikely that these two underlying drivers differ. Until the major determinants

and side effects of hysterectomy are identified and addressed, womens ailments will turn serious by default, and be treated with extreme measures by necessity. August 10, 2012

After particle search, some wallets may lose mass

DENNIS OVERBYE

When physicists at CERN reported on July 4 that they had discovered a new particle resembling the long-sought Higgs boson, it prompted a worldwide celebration of pride and mystification.

It also prompted a worldwide settling of scores as physicists inveterate gamblers examine the data to decide whether it is time to pay up on long-standing bets about the existence of the boson, which has been the object of a 40-year manhunt.

As described by the Standard Model, the theory that now rules physics, the Higgs boson would be tangible evidence of a hypothesised cosmic molasses known as the Higgs field. That field endows some elementary particles with mass, breaking a logjam of mathematical symmetry in the laws of the early universe and thus adding diversity and the possibility of life to the cosmos. Physicists say it will take them at least the rest of the year and maybe longer to ascertain whether the

new particle fits the theoretical prediction in particular that it has no spin, the first known subatomic knuckle ball.

Nevertheless, the British cosmologist Stephen Hawking, who 10 years ago bet the University of Michigan theorist Gordon Kane $100 that the particle didnt exist, has already told reporters he is conceding defeat. Dr. Kane is awaiting his windfall. I havent heard directly from him, Dr. Kane said in an e-mail, but I assume I will soon, in some interesting way.

Guido Tonelli, a CERN physicist and former spokesman for one of two groups that helped discover the particle, said that if he collected on all

the bets he made, he would be a rich man.

Some of these bets are still hanging in the balance. On Intrade, where as of this writing an investment of about $8 will get you $10 if the boson is officially found by the end of this year, the rules specify publication in a major peer-reviewed journal.

The chocolate coins bet

For Janet Conrad, a physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, those conditions were tentatively satisfied last week by the appearance of papers from the two CERN teams that made the discovery, CMS and

Atlas, on arXiv.org.

the

physics

web

site

As reported last fall, Dr. Conrad had bet her colleague Frank Wilczek, a physics Nobelist in 2004, 10 chocolate Nobel coins that the Standard Model Higgs boson did not exist. On July 4 she realised she was going to have to pay.

The payoff, however, turned out to be almost as complicated as some of the so-called Feynman diagrams physicists use to describe the interactions in which particles like the Higgs boson are created and destroyed. Or as complicated as a clandestine drug deal. The coins, embossed with the Nobel seal, are sold only at the Nobel Museum.

So shortly after the July 4 announcement, she sent Chad Finley, a friend and physicist at Stockholm University, to the museum, where he bought the chocolates for about $15. He could have then mailed them to the United States but was worried they would melt; instead he passed them to Szabolcs Marka, a Columbia physicist who was in Sweden at the time.

Dr. Marka took them back to New York and gave them to Matt Toups, a postdoctoral researcher with Dr. Conrad who was headed for Fermilab, in Illinois, where Dr. Conrad was working. The pair wrapped the chocolates in plastic foam so they wouldnt melt during the bus ride to La Guardia Airport.

Dr. Conrad picked up the chocolates just before a power failure sent temperatures in the Fermilab offices rising toward the chocolate melting point, and took them home to Cambridge, Mass., leaving them with her sister while she went off to a physics conference in Virginia and then back to Fermilab. She wrote in an e-mail, I have not seen them, since they are carefully enclosed in their Styrofoam, but I trust they are in excellent shape!

Dr. Wilczek, who is in New Hampshire, has not seen the chocolates either, but he said they had been delivered to his office.

Should subsequent measurements determine that the particle has the wrong spin and is not the Higgs boson, Dr. Wilczek has agreed to pay Dr. Conrad 1,000 coins, but neither expects that.

Were going to have some kind of party around the culmination of the bet; details are under construction, he wrote, adding, Ill be eating one myself and giving the rest away. August 10, 2012

Break free of U.S.-Israel shadow

VIJAY PRASHAD PURKAYASTHA & PRABIR

The Arab Spring changed the political topography of the Middle East. Stalwart regimes of the old order gave way to democratically elected governments. Since 1979, these old regimes have provided an element of stability that favoured the aims of the United States and its local subsidiary, Israel. Despite the deprivation and the prisons for the populations of the region, oil continued to flow and Israel remained unthreatened. Indeed, an annual subsidy from the U.S. exchequer to the Egyptian army provided the monetary gesture for Egypt to uphold its peace agreement with Israel. Absent a threat from Egypt, the Israeli armed forces enjoyed an asymmetrical military

advantage over Lebanon (with invasions by Israel in 1982, 1996, and 2006) and over the Palestinian lands (with a sustained occupation of its rump territories since 1967).

No such decisive advantage remains, since a popularly controlled Egyptian army of the near future might not allow Israel such carte blanche . On July 25, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak signalled the shift with a call for confrontation with Iran, The events of the Arab Spring, which have gradually evolved into an Islamic summer, show that at the ultimate hour of decision we can rely at the moment of truth on ourselves alone. The old pillars have fallen. The U.S. may no longer be able to bribe Israels neighbours to uphold a one-sided peace. Israel seeks new

allegiances, including from far-off India.

Boycott-divestment-sanctions

In the U.S., another Spring blossomed several years ago. After the 1967 Arab-Israel War, a section of the Jewish American population offered its unadulterated support to Israel. This bloc provided the mass base for Washingtons Israel Lobby, which put pressure on the government to back Israel regardless of its occupation of the Palestinian lands. Peter Beinarts The Crisis of Zionism (2012) shows that a new generation of Jewish Americans refuses to give Israel such an unquestioned commitment. A survey sponsored by the old guard found that young Jews want an open

and frank discussion of Israels policies, that young Jews desperately want peace and that some empathise with the plight of the Palestinians. They now see that the road to peace does not travel through the West Bank Wall, neither via Israels violation of the 4th Geneva Convention with the settlement activity.

The shift in attitudes came alongside the coming of age of a young Arab American population, soured by the racism that followed 9/11 and the wars in the Arab lands. It had an ear for the developments in Occupied Palestine, where the Israeli armed forces had ratcheted up the violence from 2000. A conference at Berkeley in 2001 repeated the Palestinian call for boycott-divestment-sanctions

against Israel. As Omar Barghouti, one of the Palestinian leaders of this movement, noted, it was time to besiege Israels siege. The BDS campaign flourishes, growing out of the enclaves of the Left into the mainstream. It has begun to pressure U.S. lawmakers on an issue that was seen as settled, namely their loyal support for Israeli policy.

Indias historical support to the Palestinian cause was dampened in the 1990s when the government sought a new equation with Israel as part of the general pro-U.S. foreign policy tilt. Under the BJP-led government (19982004), relations between Israel and India hardened, with intelligence cooperation and arms sales as the cement. By 2006, India registered a

record purchase of $1.6 billion of defence equipment from Israel. The head of Israels Foreign Defense Assistance and Defense Export Department Major General Yossin Ben-Hanan told the Economic Times in 2007 that India was Israels biggest customer. Over the course of the past five years, India continued to buy Israeli equipment, although both governments are chary about releasing data.

Israels flagging economy has been buoyed by its arms sales sector. The government-owned Israeli Arms Industry (IAI), the Israel Military Industries and the Rafael Arms Development Authority anchor Israels 150 defence firms, which collectively employ 60,000 people and earn

revenues over $4 billion. India has been buying missile systems, radars and early warning systems, unmanned aerial vehicles and field guns from Israel. On March 8, 2012, the Indian Ministry of Defence banned the Israel Military Industries for 10 years over a 2009 bribery scandal, where Israeli bribes opened doors at the Ordnance Factory Board of India. Selling arms is central to the Israeli economy, and selling arms to India has become essential at any cost.

A new report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute shows that India remains the worlds largest importer of weaponry. It estimates that over the next 15 years, India will spend $149 billion to buy arms. The U.S. remains the largest

arms dealer. The projected increases in Indias arms buying have set in motion frenzy in Israels arms sector.

As India increases its purchases from Israel, it underwrites Israels military occupation of the Palestinian lands. The volume of Indias imports helps Israels government-owned arms industry more cheaply manufacture weaponry that is essential for the Israeli army as it smothers Palestinian dreams of freedom in the moth-eaten Palestinian territories.

At the fourth BRICS summit in March 2012, its Delhi Declaration publicly entered the fray regarding Middle East peace. It called upon the countries of the region and the U.S. and Europeans to move toward a settlement of the

conflict based on the universally recognised international legal framework including the relevant U.N. resolutions, the Madrid principles and the Arab Peace Initiative.

India is torn between the Israeli-U.S. game plan for the Middle East and the BRICS potential. It is, on the one side, trying to distance itself from Iran, building up new alliances with Saudi Arabia and increasing its arms and intelligence links with Israel. India has backed the U.S. policy to isolate Iran, with Indian Ambassador to the U.S. Nirupama Rao indicating that India is to adhere to its path of cutting off oil imports from Iran. As the Israelis and the U.S. move to war with Iran, the Indian public response has been anaemic, notwithstanding the six

million Indian nationals who reside in the region (and the untold suffering to Iranians in the event of a war on that country). Seventy per cent of Indian oil comes out of the Straits of Hormuz, and any war on Iran would be cataclysmic for India and for the Global Souths potential to weather the turbulence of the global recession. India has also intimated an affinity with the Wests orientation toward the dangerous situation in Syria.

On the other hand, India tried to work with the BRICS agenda on Libya (it abstained on the U.N. Security Council resolution 1973, authorising force against Qadhafis regime). India proposed a U.N. draft resolution on February 18, 2011 that called the Israeli settlements in the occupied

lands illegal (the first resolution vetoed by the Obama administration). India also participated in the lead-up to the diplomatic conference in Ramallah (West Bank) on illegal settlement activity. On August 5, 2012, the Israeli government refused to allow the delegations from Algeria, Bangladesh, Cuba, Indonesia and Malaysia to enter Ramallah for this conference. As a consequence, India and the other NonAligned Movement members boycotted the conference. Hanan Ashrawi, on the executive committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, said in response: Israel is trying to not just lay a physical siege but also a political siege. We need to be able to move, to breathe, to act as a member of the community of nations. We cannot constantly be under the

boot. The issue of settlements returns to the U.N. in November.

Hard dance

Indias is a hard dance to sustain. It, however, makes sense given the national interests of the ruling sections in India. Their global ambitions move them in the direction of the U.S. and Israel, but the values of the freedom movement and of the non-aligned period of Indian foreign policy, not to mention the question of Indian national interests, pull in another direction. There is no easy arithmetic in the world of international relations, which is precisely why it is necessary for India to stay clear of the binding association with the ossified policy agenda on the Middle East of the U.S.-

Israel. As the document Nonalignment 2.0 put it, India should avoid the escalating rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia, with the latter aligned with the U.S. and Israel.

India needs to join the new spirit of the Arab lands and throw its considerable weight once more behind the aspirations of the Palestinians. That India subsidises the Occupation is morally indefensible. It is imperative that more pressure be brought on the government to reconsider its web of arms purchases and intelligence agreements with Israel. The largest democracy in the world is ill-advised to stand on the side of colonialism.

(Vijay Prashad is the author of Arab Spring, Libyan Winter (New Delhi:

LeftWord Books, 2012) and is on the advisory board of the U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. Prabir Purkayastha is with the Delhi Science Forum and the Indian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.)

India should throw its weight behind the aspirations of the Palestinians and stop subsidising the Occupation

August 10, 2012

A natural choice for world heritage status

S. MUTHIAH

SEEDS OF MODERN INDIA:(Top) St. Marys church inside Fort St. George from the Kings Barracks end, c.1920, and (above) a view from the Fort museum. PHOTOS: VINTAGE VIGNETTES, D. KRISHNAN

Heritage is our legacy from the past, what we live with today, and what we pass on to future generations.

Unesco

Founded in 1787, George Town, capital of Penang State, Malaysia, was declared a World Heritage Site by

Unesco on July 7, 2008. Fort St. George in Madras that is Chennai is 150 years older and sowed the seeds for territories such as Penang, but has not received similar recognition. For over a decade, I have been appealing for the older Fort St. George to be declared a World Heritage Site (WHS), given its historical significance. And it is this case that I present again for consideration to the Committee on World Heritage Matters constituted by the Central Ministry of Culture when it holds a meeting in Chennai today to hear local views.

Unesco defines a WHS as a place or environment of great significance or meaning to mankind. It may be a living urban city or a rural settlement, a natural landscape (an underground

cave, for instance), a forest or a water body, an archaeological site (where excavations have revealed relics of the past) or a geological phenomenon. Thus, it could be a natural site, a cultural site (which would be a traditional man-made settlement representative of a culture or cultures resulting from human interaction with the environment), or a site thats a mix of both.

Four points

To be slotted into one of these categories, a potential WHS would need to, according to Unesco:

1) be of outstanding universal value which would be reflected in the

historic, social, scientific, aesthetic and/or spiritual value of the place to mankind.

2) display progressive developments in architecture, technology, the creation of monuments, town-planning, landscaping, etc.,

3) reflect a distinct cultural tradition/civilisation that is still vibrant or which has disappeared; and

4) have exceptional examples of building styles that reflect its history.

Fort St. George, from where Madras was born and from which modern

India grew, meets all these criteria and more.

In historical terms, its outstanding universal value is unquestionable. From 1640 to the 1770s it was the chief British settlement, from Aden to Manila. From here grew not only the Empire, but also every institution of modern India. From governance by a governor and council and a municipal corporation, to the birth of the Indian Army and the founding of such institutions as the countrys first Western-style school (St. Georges today), the first technical school the Survey School (later the College of Engineering, Guindy) the first General Hospital, the first modern observatory and a host of other institutions, to, in more recent time,

the first regional political party to sit in an Indian legislature (the Justice Party) and the introduction of Prohibition heeding Gandhijis call, Madras has a near-375-year-old history of achievement that is truly outstanding.

Like the Fort, the Indian town that grew outside it first the Old Black Town (now the High Court-Law College campus) and then the New Black Town (now George Town, Madras that is 50 years older than George Town, Penang) has over the years reflected multiculturalism in ethnicity, language, religion, the arts and cultural tradition ranging from those of the English and Portuguese, to the Armenians, Gujaratis and Marwaris and the native Tamils and Telugus, of scores of different

communities. Here flourish, or are remembered, all the major religions of the world. A score of languages are spoken every day and numerous cultural traditions are followed as a matter of course. And the architecture ranges from the centuries-old traditional to its later variations and the classical and colonial, from Madrass own contribution, IndoSaracenic, to art deco and the modern. As for town-planning, the gridiron layout for the native shophouses and other quarters behind the Fort and the merchants offices along the shoreline is colonial urban development pioneered here.

With Fort St. George and George Town up to the Old Town Walls as the core zone, and from Royapuram to

Park Town, Purasawalkam, Egmore and Chepauk to Triplicane High Road as the buffer zone, here is a site deserving of World Heritage consideration for its historic contribution to not only modern India but also to the empire the British spread beyond it. Empires may come and go, but history remains to be remembered and commemorated.

(S. Muthiah is a chronicler of Madras.)

Fort St. George in Chennai meets every criterion set down by Unesco to be declared a site of outstanding universal value August 10, 2012

Suddenly, its all hail multiculturalism

HASAN SUROOR

UNITED FACES OF GREATNESS:Mohamed Farah (left) with compatriot Greg Rutherford after winning the mens 10,000m final on August 4. Rutherford triumphed in the mens long jump final. PHOTO: AFP

This week, a year ago, London was burning as anger over the death of a black youth in a police shoot-out

spiralled into one of the worst riots in England for a generation.

The violence prompted a torrent of incendiary comment about the impact of laissez faire multiculturalism on British values and Britains way of life. A year on, as London basks in the warm glow of the Olympic Games, with several immigrants bringing glory for Britain, the mood has swung to the other extreme. There is a mass outbreak of enthusiasm for multiculturalism, famously declared dead by the head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) not long ago. Suddenly it is seen as up there with other unique values that put the Great into Great Britain.

Athletes of foreign descent such as Mohamed Mo Farah, Jessica Ennis, Greg Rutherford, Tiffany Porter and Yamil Aldama once derided as plastic Brits are being hailed as the new face of Britains vibrant racial and cultural diversity.

Ennis, daughter of a Jamaican immigrant, has been called the nations new sweetheart, and Mo Farah, who came to Britain as a nineyear-old refugee from war-ravaged Somalia, a British legend. Along with the Australia-born Rutherford, fondly referred to as a ginger wizard, they have been dubbed Britains golden trio for winning gold for their adopted country.

There is a sense that something profound has happened and, as The Times noted in a breathless editorial, a new Britain is being born out of the best of the old Britain.

The prospectus that delivered the Olympics (to London) relied heavily on an account of a tolerant, multicultural Britain and it is as such that the success has followed, both inside the arenas and inside, it said.

A year ago, Prime Minister David Cameron described Britain as a broken society suffering from moral collapse and suggested that state culturalism was the first step on the slippery slope to extremism. Today, he finds Britain an inspirational country that makes

people feel proud to be British. He has spoken of the awe-inspiring performance of the multi-ethnic Team GB, and hailed London as the worlds most diverse city. A senior Conservative MP received a public dressing down for dismissing the opening Olympic ceremony as multicultural crap.

Many are mystified by the Prime Ministers conversion and asking whether he is the same man who had warned that passive tolerance of multiculturalism was an invitation to extremism, and argued for a more muscular approach. Frankly, we need a lot less of the passive tolerance of recent years and much more active, muscular liberalism, he said at a security conference in Munich last

year causing anger among immigrants back home.

Mr. Camerons new-found passion is simply a reflection of the national mood: he is saying what he believes people want to hear and will connect him to the masses. Partly that mood has been generated by the media, with newspapers making an extra effort to pick out ethnic faces to illustrate stories about the wonderful Olympic spirit that, among other things, has seen hundreds of Asian and African immigrants work as unpaid volunteers at the Games.

New converts

Even the notoriously xenophobic Sun is singing a refreshingly new tune. Red, white, blue, black, brown, pink or purple these Olympic Games have united us all, it exulted in a report headed Marvellous Modern Britain Unleashed Upon the World. And, with the zeal of a new convert, added how the world had seen the true colours of British greatness with champions of every hue a mixedrace Yorkshire lass, a Muslim refugee and a ginger.

How can your heart not surge with pride when they win for Britain? it asked.

At the rabidly anti-immigrant Daily Mail , it is a bit more hush-hush with the paper dressing up its celebration of

Britains diversity as conservative values in action.

But it is celebration, nevertheless.

So, what does this sudden burst of love for multiculturalism signify? Is it an acknowledgment, finally, that in a country as diverse as Britain, multiculturalism alone can work, and a signal to the advocates of monoculturalism to shut up shop?

An honest answer will be no. Sceptics warn against reading too much into what they believe is simply a passing phase part of a general feel-good mood generated by the success of the Games and achievements of British athletes,

especially those from ethnic groups. Those who know a thing or two about the fickle British temperament, mirroring its fickle weather, predict that normal business i.e. moaning and carping should resume once the Games get over this weekend.

The economy is getting worse by the day and cracks in the ruling Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition have widened while the country has been distracted by the Games.

Just wait for the news to get out and see how quickly the euphoria evaporates, warns an observer. But then who knows? The country may have changed this summer, and it could be the start of a deeper

engagement with what the Sun and Mail patronisingly used to dismiss as multi-culti Britain.

One year after the London riots, the national mood has changed as Britain basks in the glory of the Olympic Games August 13, 2012

Rare glimpse into a secret world

ANANTH KRISHNAN

The private lives and business interests of top leaders are considered such a sensitive issue in China that longstanding directives from the Propaganda Department bar media outlets from even naming the children and spouses of the President and Premier. Few people in China are aware, for instance, that the sons of Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao enjoy highprofile careers as the wealthy heads of State-run and private equity firms. Or, for that matter, that the relatives and associates of security czar and Politburo Standing Committee member Zhou Yongkang have wide interests in State-run oil companies, and those of former Premier Li Peng exert control over the lucrative power industry.

But in the past few days, the carefully controlled image that the Communist Party of Chinas (CPC) top leaders have cultivated has been shattered in a courtroom in the central Chinese city of Hefei, the provincial capital of Anhui. Prosecutors, who have charged the wife of Politburo member Bo Xilai with murder, have provided a rare glimpse into a murky world of murder plots, mafia intrigue and multimillion dollar foreign investment deals at the highest levels of government.

Little regard for the law

In the day-long trial that concluded on Thursday, Gu Kailai, the wife of the purged former Chongqing Party Secretary, did not contest the charges that she had poured poison, procured

from mafia groups with the help of provincial CPC officials, into the mouth of British businessman and family associate Neil Heywood. The CPC carefully managed the trials closed proceedings, which did not link Mr. Bo either to the November murder or to the subsequent cover-up.

However, a detailed account of the prosecutors case that emerged late last week has provided rare insights into the dealings of one of Chinas most popular politicians, who was a key figure in the 25-member Politburo before his suspension in April. Part of the account was released by the official Xinhua news agency, while other details came from an Anhui student who sat in on the courts proceedings. His account was

independently verified by a lawyer who was present in the courtroom.

The details that emerged painted a picture of a world where influential politicians and local police chiefs held little regard for the law; a world where it appeared normal for the wife of a Party Secretary to walk into the office of a police chief in the middle of the day and discuss whether a faked shootout or poisoning was the best way to pull off a murder. The case has also brought to light the murky financial dealings of the Bo family. At the heart of the conflict with Heywood was a real estate investment project in France, prosecutors said. They revealed the involvement of Mr. Bos young son Guagua, who is a graduate student at Harvard, in business

dealings in Europe along with one of Chinas richest businessmen, Xu Ming a revelation that is likely to raise troubling questions for the party about the often opaque ties between the families of provincial leaders and businessmen.

Threatening emails

Mr. Xu, who founded the Dalian Shide group and amassed a fortune in the northeastern port city of Dalian at a time when Mr. Bo served there as Party Secretary, has since been detained. Prosecutors said Bo Guagua introduced Mr. Xu to Heywood, who agreed to participate in a real estate project in France and another construction project in Chongqing which would have given him a

massive 140 million (Rs.1,200 crore) windfall. When the project failed, Heywood is alleged to have sent threatening emails to Guagua, demanding 10 per cent of his expected share, or around 14 million. Heywood, the court was told, subsequently detained Guagua in his home in London to pressure Ms Gu.

During those days last November, I suffered a mental breakdown after learning that my son was in jeopardy, Ms Gu told the court according to Xinhuas account, which did not disclose the business dealings. She also acknowledged that the case had produced great losses to the Party and the country, for which I ought to shoulder the responsibility, and I will never feel at ease. The court heard

that Ms Gu was in an unbalanced state of mind cited by her lawyers as a mitigating factor that might spare her the death sentence and was being treated for anxiety and depression.

On Friday, four senior police officers in Chongqing who were alleged to have played a role in the cover-up stood trial. The former Chongqing police chief, Wang Lijun, is expected to stand trial in coming days in Chengdu, in southwestern Sichuan province, where the scandal first came to light when he fled to a U.S. Embassy in February following a falling out with Mr. Bo. Mr. Wang has been accused of treason, and will also have to answer questions about his knowledge of the murder plot.

Upcoming party congress

The CPC is keen to draw a line over the crisis before the 18th Party Congress, which finalises the leadership transition, convenes in October or November. Top leaders have spent the past week in closed meetings at the seaside resort of Beidaihe near Beijing. Deciding the fate of Mr. Bo is thought to be one of the matters under discussion, with the once influential princeling leader, in coming weeks, likely to be expelled from the party. The Bo Xilai affair is unlikely to affect the leadership transition: Chinas leaders have appeared to close ranks and agree to take a tough stand on the ambitious politician.

The bigger challenge for the party is that the events of the past few days have been seen by many Chinese as a reflection of increasing corruption at the highest levels of government, a result of insufficient checks and balances and a lack of transparency. Bo Xilai, many believe, is not an exception. The CPC, however, has stressed the message that the case was simply a murder trial involving one errant leaders wife, and not reflective of the system. Party newspapers have even argued that the case had shown the resilience of the rule of law.

A problem for the party is that few people appear to accept that point of view, judging by the tone of responses from thousands of netizens on microblogs in recent days and weeks.

Veteran China scholar Perry Link, in a recent essay, highlighted one popular joke recently doing the rounds, criticising the official reluctance to acknowledge the problem. Wang Lijun is from a Mongolian minority group, and Ms Gu has been cited by media reports as holding a Singaporean resident card. This whole case is about a Mongolian who ran to the Americans to expose a Singaporean who killed a Brit, the joke said. Nothing to do with China.

The trial of Gu Kailai has dramatically shattered the carefully cultivated image of Chinas leaders August 13, 2012

Sharing the same difference

RAVINDER KAUR

A dominant theme underpinning the American media coverage of last weeks attack at the Oak Creek gurdwara is that Sikh worshippers were killed because they were mistaken for Muslims. While Sikh organisations have refrained, and rightly so, from framing it this way, the perception of being misrecognised is widely shared among the Sikh diaspora. It is not a coincidence that in the past decade or so, an increasing number of websites run by Sikh

diasporic communities have aimed to increase awareness of the Sikh religion in their countries of residence. While some offer sophisticated educational tools as well as basic knowledge designed as frequently-askedquestions that can be grasped quickly by even the simplest of minds, others do so through more rudimentary blogs, awareness camps, open houses, personal commentaries and online chats available in nearly all major European languages. The need to establish visible difference, it seems, has never been greater than now.

Media coverage

How and when did awareness campaigns turn into a survival strategy for a diasporic community? This

question has mostly not been part of the media coverage that followed in the U.S. or, for that matter, the European press. There are two reasons for this reluctance. First, because the media itself has been perpetuating this angle of mistaken enemy and pinning its commentaries around this premise. And second, any answers would require a critical account of the ways in which the Other has been profiled, classified and excluded in the decade-long war on terror, and how racial hostility and violent aggression have shaped the recent discourse of security in the West. Rather than addressing the questions of extremist politics, race and exclusion, the coverage has curiously been turned into an occasion to spread mass awareness about Sikhs and their religion.

To understand the knowledge/survival co-relations, let us begin with the media profiles of the killer who is called domestic terrorist by the FBI, but mostly considered a nutcase by journalists that have emerged in the past week. The terrorist, Wade Micahel Page, is a 40-year-old U.S. Army veteran who became a prominent player in neo-Nazi circles. He was particularly well known for white supremacist music he produced in a band called End Apathy. The essence of his hate-filled music was etched on his body too, in the form of a tattoo imprint of a Celtic cross marked with the number 14. The coded number stands for a 14-wordlong slogan that reads We must secure the existence of our people and future of white children. According to

witnesses, he is also said to have 9/11 tattooed on his arm invoking the legacy of September 11, 2001 and thereby positioning himself as a warrior on the frontlines of the never ending war on terror. The belligerent rhetoric of the war on terror is what probably helped him draw direct connection where none existed between September 11 and the Sikh worshippers in Oak Creek preparing their community lunch.

If we were to follow the commentaries on American media outlets, then his chief crime was not the chilling murder of men praying peacefully but his ignorance his inability to distinguish between a Muslim and a Sikh man; between an Arab turban and a Sikh turban. This explains how we

first witnessed the discourse of mistaken identity by fumbling anchors who seemed more focussed on the barely known religion than on the crime committed. The Sikh religion was slightly puzzling it was neither Christianity nor Islam, not even Hinduism that they were more familiar with. Even a newspaper as thorough as the New York Times initially advised its readers to pronounce the name Sikh as sick in one of its background articles explaining the victims religion. If the media could be so ignorant, then there was little hope for someone like Page to avoid such mistakes, seemed to be the logic running through the media coverage. The second step taken by helpful anchors naturally was to help create public awareness so that Sikhs could be distinguished from Muslims. Some

newspapers even carried photos of different styles of turbans in a know your enemy kind of manual so that Sikh turbans could be differentiated properly. The point was not that there wasnt an enemy, but that the one Michael Page had targeted was a false enemy. In short, the killings were a case of error caused by ignorance rather than domestic terrorism as was being suggested by the investigators.

Perverse logic

The Sikh diaspora is only too well aware of the perverse logic of this stance and, in fact, has revised its public campaigns since 2001. Some of the first campaigns following hate attacks on Sikh men in the U.S. carried an explicit message on placards stating

that Sikhs are not Muslims. When the unintended implication of this message became clear, these slogans were dropped. However, the attacks, insults, discrimination and, in some cases, murder, in everyday life have not ceased for the Sikh men who are particularly targeted because of their visibility marked by turbans. This visceral hatred evoked by visible symbols of difference has resulted in more than 700 racial attacks in the U.S. since 9/11. Against this background, the bid to create awareness of Sikh identity as distinct from Muslims appears more as a tragic and desperate move by a community whose safety is seemingly at the mercy of vengeful extremists armed with loaded guns. In other words, its an illconceived but last ditch effort to survive in a society which has

scorched its insides in the war on terror.

It is precisely therefore that one must question the strategy adopted by the Sikh groups of focussing awareness campaigns and spreading knowledge about Sikhism. Or put another way, the idea is to draw attention towards their religion in order to gain recognition as Sikhs. Their hope is that greater awareness will correct perceptions about their religion which, in turn, will foster harmony and understanding within the wider communities they live in. While these are laudable objectives, the problem is that, one, such an approach puts the onus of establishing innocence upon the victims. And two, it is bound to remain ineffective as long as racial

hatred remains unchallenged in its totality as such. Until and unless the discourse of intolerance and extremism in society is addressed as well, awareness campaigns will bear little result. The profile that has emerged so far of Wade Michael Page has nothing to suggest that information or education about ethnic differences would have altered the shape of events. Even if we presume that he had the ability to recognise Sikhs apart from Muslims, his white supremacist views would leave no room really for anyone who was different.

In the Sikh community, the theme of mis/recognition has another painful history too. It was as recent as early 1990s when the category of terrorist in India was still synonymous with

Sikhs. It was common to see public places, bus shelters, walls, notice boards in Delhi filled with black and white photos of young Sikh men with visible turbans who were wanted by the authorities on charges of terrorism. This was long before the word terrorism entered the western lexicon and long before September 11 would even be conceived. The acts of violence, then as now, were seen not as the work of a few rather those of an entire community. In fact, the category of terrorist itself had come to be constitutive of Sikh collectivity which in public imagination had subsumed even those who were opposed to violence.

This traumatic period in recent Sikh history is probably yet too raw to be

unpacked. The Oak Creek killings, meanwhile, have brought to the surface deep-rooted anxieties of a community that has historically been shaped by experiences of alienation. The lesson derived from the killings is that it is as important to confront the structures that engender hostilities and allow them to grow unchecked as it is to correct perceptions about the victims faith.

(Ravinder Kaur is Director, Centre of Global South Asian Studies, University of Copenhagen)

Instead of differentiating itself from Muslims in the wake of Wisconsin,

the Sikh diaspora must challenge

racial hatred as a whole August 13, 2012

SIM in search of an identity

OMAR RASHID

Nobodys as attractive as they appear on their display pictures. But they are also not as ugly as they seem on their electoral cards.

These lines will probably ring some bells among Facebook users in India. It might draw a few reassuring smirks, tempt some to casually glance at their

voter ID card, and say: Of course, I look better than that!

Granted, our electoral cards are not always the best mirrors of our intricate subcontinental facial features. But beyond that, it should be no cause for any major repercussions, or at least that is what one would think.

I, however, was recently stung by the joke so severely that I have begun to take it seriously, and rather personally.

In mid-July, fresh in the holy city Allahabad and already terrified by roaming charges, I set out to buy a local SIM.

The regulations were clear enough: I submit duplicates of my identity card(s) plus a recently clicked photograph and after some formfilling, cross-signing and billing, the number would be mine. Later, the company would call to confirm whether I still remembered my name, my fathers name, date of birth and so on.

It all went smoothly. The next evening, someone did ring. But only to blurt out, Your ID wont work, get another one.

I was puzzled. I had submitted all the required documents plus my local guardians identification proof, as outstation customers are obliged to do.

Your photo does not match the photo on the card, the voice continued, somewhat hesitantly.

Less subtly, he meant to say, You are slightly bearded, but the photo is not.

The following day, I tried educating the retailer and the salesperson that a citizen obtains a voter card at 18 and I was 23. Easy math, minor changes are natural. But to no avail clearly, little regard for biology here.

So, along with a restrengthened arsenal of documents, I approached the retailer again. I asked my local

guardian to come along too, just in case they didnt like her picture either.

The retailer approved the documents with a nod but rather cautiously informed me that he was not sure the company would accept them.

Its up to the company now, he passed the judgment, but gave no explanations about what qualified for that approval.

Would they not approve my face? Or Name? Date of birth? Religion? Or something else? I had no way of knowing, and the retailer couldnt tell me either. But since I laid bare enough personal details and proof of my being

a journalist, I was certain the SIM would be confirmed.

And it was. But in my local guardians name! My documents were rejected without any explanation and the companys salesperson stipulated that now I also needed an assurance letter from a local organisation to make me eligible for my own SIM. Why didnt they tell me all this earlier?

I was impressed by such fastidious dedication toward national security, but decided to approach higher authority anyway. And to cut the story short, eventually I did get a SIM; a new SIM.

This was no undercover investigative assignment, and most likely, it is not a one-off either. Probably, it does have a little more to do than the substandard print of our identity cards?

In June, while I was in New Delhi, unknown numbers would call me probing my origins and real residence, only hours after I had bought a new SIM. Custom procedure? Probably not. Wrong number?

Possible.

Definitely the hotel managers get it right when they ring my number just to check its authenticity, while I register at the counter. But its not just hotel

executives and retailers whose hearts start racing at a glimpse of my identity card.

Even armed men in pretty uniforms are sometimes left with an I just got stung by a scorpion expression while they carefully read my identity card.

Take for instance, July 2011. While boarding a flight to Chennai from Kolkata I was thoroughly probed about my purpose for visiting the southern metropolis.

My laptop was scanned while I was away picking up another tag for my bag. They even managed to pull out my identity card out of a book in my bag.

After convincing himself I was no threat, a rather bulky security personnel in sand grey uniform remarked sheepishly: Oomur... Humne aapka naam padha toh dar gaye ...

His face showed he was relieved more than anything, but perhaps also a mite disappointed. All he had found on me was a book on Swami Vivekananda.

We shout national emergency when our overpaid celebrities get delayed at western airports. But hardly have we introspected what young students and professionals from certain sections face while moving within the country. Or even while trying to rent a flat.

Recently, there was a case, right here in India, involving the nephew of actor Naseeruddin Shah. The media wasted no time laying out his credentials as a former Major, with some news websites highlighting the words discrimination and Muslim in dark bold fonts.

But for ordinary citizens, these things happen so subtly and swiftly, they can only smile back in time.

National security and social security are important. But should it be at the cost of common sense? The paranoia regarding the other is here to stay.

The names of the people and organisations involved in this little episode, I decided not to disclose. What identity does a SIM have, after all?

(Omar Rashid is The Hindus new Allahabad correspondent.)

An attempt to get a mobile phone number proves to be a journey of discovery about the subtle, and not so subtle ways of discrimination August 14, 2012

In search of the elusive goal

BISHAN SINGH BEDI

NOW AND THEN:At the London Games, the commitment level of teams like Germany, the Netherlands, Australia and Great Britain was evident. The Netherlands Bob de Voogd in action during the IndiaNetherlands match on July 30, 2012. Indias Raghunath V.R. is to his right. In the picture at right, Dhyan Chand (centre) in form during a match between the Indian Olympic team and a Berlin team in 1932. PHOTOS: AFP, THE HINDU PHOTO LIBRARY

Im writing this piece not as an expert on Indian hockey, but as an avid fan

and follower of our National Game. Yes, hockey is our national game, no matter what the cynics say. At the Olympics, I followed India in other disciplines too, some with pride, others along the expected lines of frustration. But really, hockey made my heart bleed. Finishing at rock bottom was a record of sorts.

Of course, Im familiar with the winning and losing character of sport. That is what makes following the fortunes of ones country in an event like the Olympics that much more intense and exciting. Much was expected from our archers and some of the boxing hopefuls. But those disappointments didnt hurt as much as the hockey debacle. Now, where do

we start collecting the debris of Indian hockey?

Im inclined to agree with a very angry Michael Nobbs that this is not the moment to pull down Hockey India. But then, how does one get to the bottom of the ills affecting our national game? Mr. Nobbs may not be very familiar with the deep-rooted politics of the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) and Hockey India or the Indian Olympic Association he is here on a professional assignment with no guarantee for medals.

My firm belief is that it is the team that makes a coach, not the other way round. All successful coaches have had great teams to handle. John Buchanan and Gary Kirsten readily

come to mind. Indian hockey experts swear the best coach in London Olympics was Ric Charlesworth, by many a mile. But all that the Aussies could manage was a bronze, albeit a well earned one.

The excuses at London

I watched just about all the hockey from London. It was a delight to observe the commitment level of teams like Germany, the Netherlands, Australia and Great Britain. Mr. Nobbs admitted his wards were kindergarten stuff in comparison. The Indian defence was non-existent and so were interceptions and deflections. Ive heard some hockey buffs saying our boys play far too much of individual game. If that be the case, surely some

form of individual brilliance might have been on display. Sadly, there was no such evidence.

Another view is that our boys peaked too early. Where and when and how? Let us just face it Indian hockey is in a very confused state of mind and body. The players do not know which parent to listen to IHF or Hockey India, two rogue bodies whose only interest is self-promotion, not the game of hockey. It is a matter of great shame that IHF and Hockey India are blatantly and most grotesquely working at cross purposes. And neither the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) nor the Sports Ministry has any control over these two warring factions.

Hockey India was the brain child of Suresh Kalmadi when he was still on cloud nine of the Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2010. Then the president of IOA, Mr. Kalmadi could do no wrong, or perhaps he was far too omnipotent to have any opposition. Meek Indian character allowed every sinister move to strangle Indian hockey. The players had no voice, they have never had any more simply put hockey players have always been pawns in the hands of grossly power hungry hockey officials.

There is a huge part of me which is willing to side with the players; but never with the officials. Narinder Kumar Batra, the Secretary General of Hockey India, made a public apology for the disastrous Indian show from

London. One would have thought that was the ideal time for him to not just say Sorry, but own up the mess and step down. Heads will roll, but only the players. Never is any official made accountable.

Im told a good number of Hockey India officials were in London enjoying themselves while the team was tottering at the bottom of the rankings. Is there a case here for an RTI activist to ask the right questions and give the lay man an idea of the expenses incurred by Hockey India cronies in London?! From where it is now, Indian hockey cannot go down any further. Or perhaps it can into the grave. But it could look up provided both the IHF and Hockey India are banished from the scene. Am

I being too harsh?! I dont think so. Tough measures need tough decisions. No one in the IHF or Hockey India would be inclined to take those. We are all too familiar with uproars after every hockey disaster, and then after a while the national anger dies down and the official caravan moves on. This is not the time for an arthroscopy of Indian hockey; there is dire need for a major operation. We have had far too many ad hoc compromises in the running of this game in India. It is time for the Sports Ministry to rope in some renowned ex-Olympians to discover how to uphold the image of Indian hockey and not that of self-promoting officials.

Rediscovering the nurseries

The need of the hour is to rediscover the potential of the nurseries in Bhopal, Lucknow, Sansarpur, Coorg and Mumbai and elsewhere in the country. We need to do this on a war footing without outsourcing our national game to foreigners. It hurts to know the CEO of Hockey India is a lady from Oz what price National pride?

I have noticed in recent times Indian hockey has expressed the strong urge to follow the ever eager financial model of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). To be honest I find nothing wrong with that strategy, except the governance of cricket and hockey are vastly different. Cricket requires no financial help from the Sports Ministry, while hockey

cannot move without generous help from the government.

Money makes the mare go. But that will happen only if there is transparent spending on the actual game. It was recently reported that Hockey India had decided to induct a couple of cricket officials and a TV channel owner into the hockey administrative framework for promotional purposes. I find it all very depressing and revolting I wonder how long our past, present and future hockey players will continue to tolerate such substandard administration of hockey in our country?!

On a brighter note we have to be grateful to the outstanding commitment of players such as Saina

Nehwal, Vijay Kumar, Gagan Narang, Yogeshwar Dutt, Sushil Kumar and the Manipuri boxer Mary Kom. We have reasons to be cheerful as the number of medals have doubled since Beijing. But gold remained elusive. Ajay Maken, our Sports Minister is optimistic about 2020.We can get 25 medals, he says. Mr. Maken, your self-assessment report is good. It needs to be excellent. Come on, Mr. Maken. Lets give some priority to sports at the grass-roots level. You are trying your darned best to bring about transformation in various federations. More power to you to clean-sweep IHF and Hockey India in one go.

(Bishan Singh Bedi is a former India cricket captain and ardent fan of hockey.)

Only a total clean-up of Indian hockeys shambolic administration can pull

the national game out of the pits August 14, 2012

Dont disable her right to go to school

ANUPAM AHUJA

Let us begin by listening to Miras story.

When I learnt that I have been granted admission in the college of my choice, fear of being part of the rest of the world gripped me. Though confident about my academic abilities, I was terrified at the thought of how the others would react to me: a cerebral palsy wheelchair user with a speech difficult to comprehend and a drooling mouth. Would they look at me with poor you written all over their faces? My early life experiences came back as a vivid flashback. We belong to a minority community of scavengers, lived in poverty and I remember being teased in school on account of my disability and background. Despite this, I learnt to take the insults in my stride. I was a keen learner and was admired for my learning abilities, though silently.

As I finished primary school, suddenly the world changed. I was asked to leave school as parents of my classmates had raised objections about my peculiar characteristics, in particular the drooling (which would spoil my books and clothes). A big fuss was created even after my mother, on being asked, had unconditionally signed a declaration absolving the school authorities of all responsibility in case of a mishap! I was forced to continue my learning in a home-based education programme under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. A special educator who my classmates called the teacher of the mad children came once a month to teach me for two hours. However, my class five teacher voluntarily continued to teach me regularly at home and, with my

mother, worked hard to also seek support from other teachers/institutions/agencies. Eventually I completed my schooling through the open schooling system.

As I reflect, I wonder had my school teacher not been there would I have continued my education despite being pushed out of the school! I remember feeling very sad seeing my sisters go to school and on coming back narrating how they spent their day studying, playing and having fun. I was not allowed to go out in the locality where we lived as my grandmother felt that if people saw me, it would spoil the marriage prospects of my two elder sisters. I know she loved me but her actions

made me feel miserable sometimes even unwanted.

and

Many children with disabilities (not disabled children as they are children first and the disability happens to be one of their many characteristics) like Mira (name changed) have historically been excluded from mainstream education. Legislation has played a crucial role in changing this scenario. Parliament recently passed the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009. This Act has been amended lately. Also, India has ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) which mandates equal rights, outlines non-discrimination in the context of disability and inclusion.

How have these moves impacted on children with disabilities like Mira who have been pushed out of the system and many others who have been invisible for too long?

Mixed response

Most often when we talk about educating a child, we think about school and believe that true learning can only take place within the four walls of a formal classroom. However education occurs in many different forms and environments. The recent amendments regarding an option for home-based education for children with severe and multiple disabilities are based on this latter outlook. The amendments have received a mixed response. What are the implications

for children with disabilities like Mira? Although the law does give a choice and an option for home-based education to parents, did Miras mother really have a choice? Parents of children with severe and multiple disabilities are particularly vulnerable because society often does not see the point of their child going to the school and thus may not provide the required support. Parents, particularly those with meagre resources, have an unequal relationship with the system and this is evident from how their children are pushed out of the system more easily. Again Miras story is an example in point.

Post-amendment, voices have argued that home is the natural and first place for life-long education for all children

and thus why should we legally legitimise it for children with high support needs? If we are legitimising it, then why only for children with high support needs, and not for a child who is excessively shy or for a child with a different learning style? Should they also not be given an option? Why do we not think about asking children their own choice for the type of schooling they want to opt for? Should they not have a voice in a matter that affects their life?

Objective

Is education only for personal gain or does it also offer benefits for the general growth of an entire community providing a place for children, youth and adults to interact, socialise, and

unify societies? If we agree with the latter, then clearly home-schooling cannot really provide for this goal. Having ratified the CRPD, will categorising children as those with high support needs or not be appropriate? The Convention sees disability as part of human diversity and therefore persons with disabilities as equally valued members of society. It underscores the fact that disability is not just a medical issue. People become disabled because of all the social, cultural, economic, political and other factors that prevent them for participating fully in society.

We also need to consider what are the opportunities available for children with disability from the large population of migrants. Who would

identify and certify the children as severely disabled for providing the home-based education programme? What would be the kind of curriculum and standard of pedagogical principles followed? How often will these children be visited and by what kind of professionals? What kind of support will parents entrenched in the daily grind of making ends meet be able to provide? Furthermore, are we in a position to provide the required support such as rehabilitation services at home, social security for the family, and personal assistance for the child everywhere in the country? Who would monitor them if they are abused or given corporal punishment? How will the children in home-based education access the midday meal or other such incentives? Will not the state be shirking its responsibility to

improve mainstream education systems to better respond to differences and diversity of learning and learners if we start labelling children as uneducable within the education system? There is also a possibility of misuse. For example the parents of a partially deaf girl or a girl with low vision may not be able to escape the inclination to opt for homebased education possibly due to social or financial constraints. In addition, discrimination often has multiple dimensions such as a girl child with disability who may find herself doubly disadvantaged on account of her gender and disability and may remain uneducated for life.

Towards inclusion

Home-based education may have a negative or perhaps even a regressive impact on teachers attitudes as the responsibility to address different learning needs is passed to special educators in-charge of home based education. This will mean moving away from the principles of nondiscrimination and inclusion. Many argue that the current regular schools do not offer any relevant service for children with high support needs. A few feel that children with multiple disabilities, low functioning intellectual disabilities, the deaf-blind, the autistic, and others such as those with a high level of osteoporosis will definitely need the home-based option. The counter argument is: how can systematic changes be planned if these children remain hidden at home unseen, unheard and unknown to

anyone? How will children learn to live together, respect differences and diversity and realise each others strengths and weaknesses? How will we move towards building inclusive societies if our schools are not inclusive?

Home-based education cannot be the only alternative. It can at best be considered a preparation for including children with a strong will to bring them back into the mainstream. We will know how progressive this move is as we build research into the implementation of the RTE Act with its amendments. What stands out clearly though is the need for concerted efforts to make provisions in the Act a reality. And to make parents having to sign declarations absolving

schools of their responsibility of children with disabilities (as Miras mother had to do) an action of the past. Let us join hands to make schooling and life a happy experience for all children, acknowledging, respecting and celebrating diversity as enriching humanity and a normal aspect of society. Our efforts ought to be geared towards All for the children, for all the children including Mira!

(Anupam Ahuja works in the Department of Groups with Special Needs at the National Council of Educational Research and Training and has three decades of experience in the field of education. [email protected])

A recent amendment to the Right to Education Act legitimising homeschooling may lead to children with disabilities being pushed out of the system August 15, 2012

The absence in Punjabiyats split universe

AJAY BHARDWAJ

The partition of Punjab in 1947 created a paradoxical situation that Punjabis had never experienced before: they were one people, but with two mainlands now India and

Pakistan. In that sense, Punjab ceased to exist; by and large, Punjabis took to perceiving their world through the prism of nation states and national boundaries, shaped by whichever side of the divide they found themselves in.

In the process, the self became the other. The universe of Punjabiyat a shared way of life was marginalised. It was replaced by perceptions of contending identities, which have found an echo in the dominant power politics of east Punjab these past 65 years. However, the idea of Punjabiyat has not been totally erased. In ways seen and unseen, it continues to inhabit the universe of the average Punjabis everyday life, language, culture, memories and consciousness.

Living paradoxes

Born almost two decades after Partition, my first realisation of a composite Punjab, ironically, was through the presence of absences. Behind my grandparents house in our village Akalgarh, in district Ludhiana, is a narrow street. To this day it is called Rajputan de Gali (the street of the Rajputs). This is where the influential community of Rajput Muslims, as they were addressed, lived before Partition. The villagers reference to the Maseet Wala Gurdwara (literally the mosque turned gurdwara) is yet another symbol of the once powerful presence of Muslims in Akalgarh.

Similarly, there is a pond called Taru Shah da Toba , named after a wandering fakir Taru Shah , who preferred to stay on in our village. Over the years his shrine in the old graveyard has grown in size and stature. Yet there are no Muslims in the village.

To me, these living paradoxes spoke unequivocally of the presence of an absence of Punjabi Muslims from east Punjab. It was a reminder that any imagination of Punjab which excluded Punjabi Muslims would only end up ghettoising east Punjabi society.

The last six decades have witnessed two parallel trajectories in east Punjab as a response to Partition. One trajectory is defined by a dominant

mode of politics in the domain of national contestations; the other, reflecting an organic response of people in their everyday lives, emphasises local continuities.

Contestations & continuities

In spite of occasional expressions of bonhomie during a cross-border cricket match, offerings of prayers at each others holy shrines for the benefit of competing media cameras, or photo-ops centred on prisoners granted amnesty across the border, it is a fact that politics in east Punjab has always engaged with west Punjab strictly within a nationalist framework just like India would deal with Pakistan.

Strangely, the States Akali leadership, which is never shy of confronting the Centre on any issue, big or small, imagines Punjab no differently. Such is the influence of national boundaries in imposing constricting visions that Punjabi Muslims and west Punjab have been rendered completely invisible in the conceptualisation of the Punjabi self by this brand of politics in east Punjab.

For instance, the complete silence over the killings of Punjabi Muslims in east Punjab during Partition could be explained away by the nation state as a side effect of the birth of a nation. But, equally, east Punjabs political class has chosen to be silent on this issue of Partition, which had a totally

different meaning for Punjabi Hindus and Sikhs who shared so much in common with Punjabi Muslims in terms of culture, language, traditions and spirituality.

In all these years, the same east Punjabi political class has shown little interest in articulating any expression of regret for the killings of Muslims during Partition. As for the idea of a reconciliation which would help recover the self banished as the other in 1947, that has never been part of any political agenda.

This gives rise to a significant question. If this is how the States political leadership has envisioned Punjab, how is it any different from the Hindutva politics of Hindi , Hindu

, Hindustan ? Often, the justification of this silence stems from a positioning based on playing the blame game. It is a political stance that has been used by the likes of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to invoke Newtons third law of motion during the killings of Muslim minorities in his State in 2002.

In the year of the Gujarat killings, the Rashtriya Sawayamsevek Sangh (RSS) held a massive function in the heart of Amritsar to honour its cadres who had actively participated in the genocide of Muslims in 1947, ostensibly to protect the Hindus and Sikhs in east Punjab. At this Shaurya Smriti Samman function, (honouring the memory of valour), the RSS made an audacious attempt to appropriate iconic Punjabi

revolutionaries of the anti-imperialist movement like Shaheed Udham Singh and Kartar Singh Sarabha.

The counterpoint to this trajectory is to be found at levels closer to the ground, in the responses of the Partition generation that witnessed the genocidal violence of 1947 in east Punjab. In the villages straddling the Malwa region of Punjab, people of this generation can often be heard talking about the fate of the perpetrators of the killings, the accounts disturbing in their sharp details. They never fail to describe how the perpetrators, who were from their own community, met with miserable ends. The widely shared faith of this generation in a morality based on the belief that those who commit inhuman acts, suffer in

their own lifetime, that there is always a payback, carries within it a great humanist and universal message.

While shooting my documentaries in this region over a decade, rarely did I come across anyone valorising the killers of Muslims. This fast fading generations expressions of guilt and remorse seem to be a way of cleansing the soul, with the potential to heal the scars of a traumatic past and show the path to reconciliation.

Memorialising what and what not

Yet there has been no acknowledgement of this articulation anywhere on a formal level in east Punjab. No memorials have been

erected for the one million people who perished in 1947. At the same time, building memorials has been an unceasing political activity in the State. The pertinent ones in this context are the memorials of Wada Ghalughara, Chhota Ghalughara and the Banda Bahadur War Memorial. They are largely meant to invoke the heroic battles of the Sikhs against the Mughal states oppression. The point worth pondering is that these acts privilege a memory that is exclusivist, selective and sectarian, over the historical pluralist ethos of Punjab. This act of institutionalisation of memory is not very different from the manner in which Hindu nationalist forces and the RSS invoke the memory of Maharana Pratap and Chhatrapati Shivaji as saviours of Hindus from Muslim oppression.

Away from the glare of such grandstanding lies the universe of the common Punjabi. In so many villages across east Punjab, people throng the shrines of Sakhi Sarvar Lakh Data Pir or Nigaha Pir as he is called, whose main shrine is located near Dera Ghazi Khan in Pakistan. This is a vibrant living tradition outside the domain of the dominant faiths of east Punjab that has survived Partition and is evident in multiple spaces of shared spirituality, especially Sufi shrines.

The political class has never bothered to argue on behalf of such cross-border traditions which speak of multiple expressions of identity. It is more interested in picking and choosing elements which have the potential to

harden the identity politics of Us against the Other.

The silencing of language

There is one more interesting dimension to this rubric and it has to do with language. Post-Partition, in west Punjab, the imposition of Urdu virtually decimated the Punjabi language; in east Punjab, Urdu became a casualty of Punjabi. I remember having an animated conversation about Urdu with four elderly men under a pilkhan tree in a village in Ludhiana some years ago. A beautiful language, with nuances neither Hindi nor Punjabi can equal, said one. Its our language, forged from Arabic and Punjabi, said another. The third one remembered how, when Partition was

announced, all of us in Class III, studying lesson number 14 in Urdu, threw our Quaida in the air and said, Urdu ud gaya, Urdu ud gaya [Urdu has flown away]. The fourth friend ruminated: We used to think Urdu belonged to Muslims; nobody knew it was a language.

Here, too, the dominant trajectory of politics, with a skewed sense of Punjabs history, continues to deny the organic links between Persia and Punjab cultural, spiritual and linguistic. It has ghettoised the Punjabi language by keeping Urdu and Persian at bay. Ironically, while people in villages celebrate Gaus Pak Pir from Baghdad, students in Punjab are denied the option of studying Persian or Urdu as a second language.

This underlines the nationalist perspective echoed by east Punjab politics; it is certainly not a Punjab perspective.

(Ajay Bhardwaj is a Delhi-based documentary filmmaker. [email protected])

Nationalist politics and official patronage to a selective narrative of Partition have not succeeded in wiping out the memory of a composite pluralistic culture August 15, 2012

So whats new about Mumbai burning? Our response

JYOTI PUNWANI

Saturdays violence by Muslim youth has shaken Mumbai. This is probably the first time that policemen have borne the brunt of the violence of the 63 injured, 58 are policemen. What kind of mob has the guts to attack the police and think it can get away with it? A Muslim social worker has filed a complaint with the police against the organisers for instigating the public; a Muslim lawyer has gone to the High Court with the same demand. The

police have so far arrested 23, charged them with murder and other offences, and set up a Special Investigation team (SIT) to probe the sudden outburst of violence. With tons of visual evidence, it wont be difficult to identify the rioters.

The questions

Despite all these steps, some questions remain. Is it not the organisers responsibility to control the crowd they mobilise and ensure that no inflammatory speeches are made? Why arent they being arrested, specially since one of the organisers has a record of instigating violence? Why has the man who made the inflammatory speech not been arrested?

Second: why has this flurry of activity not been seen on all the other occasions that mobs have burnt Mumbai? While this may be the first time that the police has been targeted, its not the first time the media or BEST buses or cars have been vandalised. Indeed, in the last two months, Mumbai has seen frequent displays of such hooliganism. On May 31, observing the National Democratic Alliance-called Bharat Bandh, Shiv Sainiks damaged 42 BEST buses. This despite the chairman and seven of the 17 BEST Committee members being Shiv Sainiks. The chairman explained away the vandalism by saying that protesters become uncontrollable on such occasions, and demurred when asked if his party would pay for the damage.

Mid-June saw the new saviour of the Marathi Manoos kick-off a campaign against the payment of toll tax. Within 72 hours, three toll nakas were vandalised. Visuals of those actions are pretty similar to videos of Saturdays violence the same iron rods, the same smashing of glass. But there was one important difference. After the violence, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) MLA Shishir Shinde declared in audibly slurred tones, his partys intention to destroy toll nakas . The police obligingly waited till he finished addressing TV cameras before taking him away in their van. Saturdays videos had no such bravado after smashing everything in sight, the topi -clad youth could be seen fleeing for dear

life from police lathis. Two youngsters died in the ensuing firing.

The fallout of the two incidents however, may not be too different. Today, an MNS sticker on your car can exempt you from paying toll. And last week, the Maharashtra Chief Minister gave an audience to the man behind the violent anti-toll agitation. Accompanying Raj Thackeray at the meeting with the CM was Shishir Shinde. Two days after Saturdays violence, Maharashtras Home Minister gave a clean chit to one of the organisers of Saturdays rally, the Raza Academy. Dont be surprised if the outfits chief, Maulana Saeed Noorie, is soon seen sharing the stage with R.R. Patil, Congress Minister Naseem Khan and other influential

members of our government. After all, Eid is just round the corner. Had the violence not taken place, the rallys leading lights would have attended the CMs iftaar scheduled for Saturday evening.

However, those who rioted arent getting the same treatment that Shiv Sainiks and MNS rioters do. It can be argued that attacking the police is more serious than attacking public property. But attacking unarmed citizens only because they belong to a particular faith or region is that less serious? The MNSs attacks on North Indians, all televised, are just four years old. Two innocents were killed then. When the National Human Rights Commission directed the State to pay compensation of Rs.5 lakh each

to the victims families, the government spoke of financial problems. Incidentally, the MNSs unique way of protecting Marathi pride in 2008 cost the State a loss of Rs.500 crore. As for the Shiv Senas record of targeting, often fatally, unarmed South Indians, Muslims, mediapersons, Valentines Day lovers, rickshaw drivers it would be insulting the readers intelligence to list the details.

Looking back

Police failure to anticipate and prevent Saturdays violence is indeed blameworthy. But whats new? When the Mumbai police has had indications of Sena-led violence, has it ever tried to prevent it? Forget the 1992-93 riots.

In December 2010, the Pune police, apprehending violence at a protest called by the Sena, tapped Sena leaders phones and heard Milind Narvekar, Uddhav Thackerays PA, instruct Sena MLC Neelam Gorhe (a former Socialist) to gather a mob, burn buses and inform TV channels. Everything went according to plan; 54 buses were burnt. Punes Police Commissioner repeated the Maharashtra polices time-honoured motto: Preventive arrests would have aggravated the situation and R.R. Patil supported her, saying the polices priority was to safeguard law and order and protect the public.

When Meenatai Thackerays statue was desecrated on a Sunday in July 2006, the Sena ran amok. The same

man produced another gem: If the violence continues on Monday, the police will take action.

After the Sena attacked the IBN Lokmat office in 2009, senior journalist Kumar Ketkar, whose house had been earlier attacked by Nationalist Congress Party supporters because he had dared criticise the plan to set up a Shivaji statue in the middle of the Arabian Sea, told a news channel: Mumbai has not become feeble, Mumbai has become used to [such violence]. It was in 1966 when the Shiv Sena was born and ever since Maharashtra has been used to this culture. The Shiv Sena worship and encourage violence. So Mumbais youth become more and more involved

in this and this is a very dangerous trend.

The Muslim youth who went on a rampage on Saturday are also part of Mumbai. Maybe they felt they would be treated like their Hindutva counterparts.

Their leaders, knowing thats not possible, have tendered cringing apologies on TV and asked the culprits to turn themselves in. Imagine any of the Thackerays or Togadias doing that. On the contrary, the celebrity columnists and indignant TV anchors now foaming at the mouth at Mumbai burning see nothing wrong in conducting long interviews with the Thackerays, where the latter brazenly defend their tactics.

(The author is a freelance journalist based in Mumbai.)

Every time the Shiv Sena and the MNS have gone on the rampage in the city, the State government, police and even media have been mute bystanders August 15, 2012

On the Bhattarcharya children case

With reference to Vaiju Naravanes reports Now, travel travails for Bhattacharya toddlers and Efforts under way to end travel ordeal of

Bhattacharya toddlers (August 12, 2012) and Ananya Duttas Families of the Bhattacharya children caught in bitter row (May 25, 2012), we are writing to express our objection to your false and biased reporting in the case of Abhigyan and Aishwarya Bhattacharya.

Your reports take for granted the case alleged by the Norwegian authorities against Sagarika Chakraborty, the childrens mother. It is unfortunate that no attempt was made to ascertain whether there was any information available to controvert the allegations of the Norwegian authorities about the mother and her children. Moreover, your reports contain allegations based solely on statements of third parties who are in a conflict of interest with

Ms Chakraborty without giving her the opportunity to present her side of the story.

Ms Chakraborty has submitted to the appropriate authorities, video and documentary evidence that demonstrate her mutually loving relations with both her children; her fitness as a mother; and the normal development of both children month on month from infancy to within days of their being confiscated by the authorities in Norway. Her evidence contravenes, point for point, each of the allegations in your report about Abhigyan fearing and rejecting his mother and having some serious disorder before being taken away by the Norwegian authorities.

Your reports are also factually incorrect. There is no finding in the Norwegian orders that the mother regularly threatened to abandon [Abhigyan] as claimed in your report. It is also one-sided to charge the mother with trying to forcibly remove the children from their uncle without asking for her comment.

Your reports contain the defamatory charge that the mother has psychological problems even though the record of the Norwegian care proceedings contains no finding of psychological disorder against her.

We are also concerned that in reporting on an issue that concerns the welfare of two small children, reliance has been placed only on one side of

the story and that no reference has been made to reports that the children have not been taken to visit their designated child psychologist even once since they were taken to Kulti by their paternal uncle; and that the elder boy, who is nearly four years old, has not been admitted to any school and is reported not to have any language skills. There is deep concern that the place where the children are currently situated may not have appropriate paediatric, schooling and medical facilities that Abhigyan might require. Surely you would agree that the children deserve a fair chance of being given a better alternative, if such can be found, than the current arrangement of growing up without either parent and without being able to even meet their parents.

All these issues have been raised before the appropriate authorities. The matter is currently under independent and expert scrutiny and is being evaluated by duly qualified persons, including mental health professionals, child care experts and legal experts. It is vital, both for the sake of the children, and in the interests of justice, that this scrutiny is not derailed by one-sided, ill-informed and shrill reporting.

Given the grave concerns about bias, administrative overreach and denial of procedural and substantive justice in the care proceedings in Norway, we are at a loss to understand as to why your reports have taken such a determined and negative view of a woman who is using legal means to

gain access to her children. We are deeply pained at the spectacle of a well-respected publication such as The Hindu bringing its might to bear down on an ordinary individual in the way that has been done in these reports. We urge you to let the mothers claims be evaluated by the appropriate authorities in an atmosphere of calm and respect for all parties concerned. We therefore request you to publish this letter in full with the same prominence as the reports published about the Bhattacharya toddlers. We also request you to refrain from publishing one-sided reports in the case.

Signatories: Girija Vyas (former Chairperson, National Commission for Women), Mohini Giri (former

Chairperson, National Commission for Women), Brinda Karat (former MP), Sudha Sundaraman (AIDWA), Annie Raja (NFIW), Jyotsana Chatterjee (Joint Womens Programme), Sehba Farooqui (JMS), Suranya Aiyar, Shalini Grover (Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi)

August 16, 2012

Rediscovering the growth magic

AJAY SHANKAR

Over the last six months there has been an increasing sense of pessimism regarding Indias economic future. Is

the growth story over? Was the eightnine per cent growth a temporary aberration of a few years when the global economy itself was doing so well? Perhaps, there was no real takeoff and hopes for sustained double digit growth rates were the result of unwarranted euphoria. There has been for quite some time now persistent high inflation, high interest rates, rising fiscal and current account deficits and declining growth rates.

Bleak scenario

To add to the negativity of the domestic perspective, the international environment could not have been bleaker. The advanced economies of the U.S., Europe and Japan are still struggling with the consequences of

the 2008 financial crisis. Europe is in a crisis regarding the future of the euro itself. A political consensus on a clear road map for the way forward is still a work in progress with deep differences in both diagnosis and policy prescriptions.

If the pessimists are right then the best case scenario may be to assume that perhaps by 2015, Europe and the global economy would have recovered, India may by then have been able to undertake necessary but difficult reforms and then, perhaps, higher growth rates could be hoped for.

But are some underlying trends being missed? When the 2008 global financial crisis hit India, the economy

suddenly went into a free fall. The general consensus then was that India would be in for a prolonged period of difficulty, and recovery would occur along with that of the rest of the global economy. India surprised itself and the rest of the world by its extraordinary, swift and robust recovery and that too with a stimulus package that was crafted and implemented as the country went in for a general election. The actual fiscal stimulus was quite modest; less than one per cent of GDP and considerably less than that of most others. What made rapid recovery possible was that it was domestic demand driven.

Domestic demand rose substantially on the back of some earlier political decisions (seen with unease and

apprehension by most mainstream economic analysts); the positive wealth effect of the write off of farmers loans, the improvement in the terms of trade for farmers through higher support prices, and higher salaries for state employees on the implementation of the Pay Commissions recommendations. In contrast, in the U.S., the negative wealth effect due to a sharp fall in housing prices as well as stock market was so steep that consumer demand fell sharply. Recovery is still a work in progress.

A combined and well coordinated fiscal and monetary stimulus was feasible as there was policy space. The Reserve Bank of India had been raising interest rates to prevent

overheating of the economy and inflation, which had shown upward movement, had come down and so the RBI could lower interest rates significantly. Tax revenues had been growing rapidly with both manufacturing and services growth rates being in double digits in the preceding years and so there was fiscal space. The fiscal stimulus was not grandiose but aimed at creating demand immediately in the coming months across a wide spectrum, ranging from increased expenditure for Bharat Nirman projects to grants for purchase of buses for public transport in cities.

The world suddenly took note of what appeared to be Indias unusual strength, the ability to achieve high

growth rates on the basis of domestic demand. Historical experience suggests that inclusiveness has been conducive for growth if growth is not to be export led. This was the essence of the American experience for over 50 years in the 20th century till the 1970s, from the time Ford successfully made and sold its cars to ordinary people who also became industrial workers with growing real wages. Larry Summers, the eminent American economist, in an unusual speech in 2010 referred to the possibility of the World in 2030 acclaiming the success of the Mumbai consensus rather than the Shanghai or the Washington consensus; the strength of the Mumbai consensus being domestic demand driven inclusive growth in a robust democratic framework. This was in contrast to the state driven export led

growth paradigm of East Asia, the allusion to the Shanghai consensus, which was no longer feasible due to the emerging difficulties in the West which had no option but to make serious structural adjustments. The Washington consensus of liberalisation, privatisation and deregulation with the faith in the market to deliver the best possible outcomes had crossed its useful shelf life with the global financial crisis in 2008.

Business cycles and recessions have been normal to open free market economies since the advent of industrialisation. Since our transition has been somewhat recent, the reality of recessions has yet to sink into our understanding and discourse. If we

look at IIP numbers, we were in negative growth territory for some months. The reasonable questions would then be: when to expect recovery, what would be its nature, feeble or robust, and how to try and strengthen it? With tight monetary policy in response to high inflation, excess demand should have been squeezed out of the system by now and this seems to be indicated by core inflation numbers. If this indeed is the case, then recovery should, indeed, be around the corner. Credibly signalling fiscal responsibility would hasten lowering of interest rates by the RBI. Becoming more investor friendly would naturally help in turning market sentiment around.

The sharp depreciation of the Rupee is a real blessing at this juncture. It has, in the course of a few weeks, undone the appreciation of the real exchange rate that had taken place due to the difference between our higher inflation rates and those of our major trading partners. This should address the current account deficit as devaluation is a time tested remedy. What is more important, depreciation of this order should be of great advantage to domestic value addition in manufacturing both for the domestic market as well as for exports; with the open domestic market being more important in the current state of the global economy. Indias reluctance to see the advantages of a competitive exchange rate and to pursue it could be a reflection of the weakness of the political constituency for

manufacturing in comparison to that for trade and consumption. Brazil, for instance, has been vocal about the appreciation of its currency due to capital flows. It even attempted measures to moderate this to preserve competitiveness in manufacturing.

Inclusiveness critical

The real discussion needs to focus on how to make the recovery robust enough. Given the international situation, it would depend entirely on the success in promoting domestic demand. Without raising the fiscal deficit, the state needs to find innovative ways to drive much larger investment flows into infrastructure to reduce the competitive disadvantage that exists. Mitigating policy and

regulatory uncertainty and hence risk is what investors seek rather than big ticket reforms, which would benefit over the medium term rather than in the coming quarters. Going by recent experience, inclusiveness would be critical for higher growth. Inclusiveness is not something unproductive that can be afforded with growth but is essential for it. Bharat Nirman needs to be carried further in terms of 24x7 electricity, an essential requisite of the last century, and broad band, the essential requirement of this century. Bridging the divide between India and Bharat could make the difference between a modest recovery and a surge to plus-nine per cent.

(The writer is Member Secretary in National Manufacturing

Competitiveness Council and former Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion in the Commerce and Industry Ministry, Government of India.)

For a robust economic recovery, India must promote domestic demand and drive investment into infrastructure development August 16, 2012

A heritage, all at sea

NAVIN CHAWLA

FADING FACADES:Rapid urbanisation and encroachment by the

sea are putting pressure on the city. (Top) The historic Town Hall building and (above) Subramania Bharatis house. PHOTOS: T. SINGARAVELOU

My family and I have had a long association with Pondicherry (now Puducherry) spanning 35 years. This involved two tenures; in 1979 I held, among a host of charges, the Department of Town Planning; 21 years later I also held the charge of Culture and Ports in my capacity as Power Secretary. Over the years my family and I have made more visits than we can count.

This preamble seeks to explain that while I do not reside there, I, as well as innumerable others drawn there by the

Ashram, Auroville or simply tourism, view it as a very special place with its distinctive Indo-French architecture, its rich cultural history and its spiritual roots. Its heritage therefore belongs not just to those who happen to live there but to the rest of us as well, just as one could say that Ajanta and Ellora, or the endangered tiger, or the Jarawa tribe in the Nicobar Islands, or our oral traditions, belong to all of us and should arouse our concern if they are threatened, either by neglect, accident or design.

It is in this context that the recent decision taken by the Puducherry Public Works Department (PWD) that five of the Government-owned buildings are unsafe must be viewed. The five dwellings declared

unsafe, possibly not restorable and therefore to be demolished and rebuilt, include the iconic house at No. 20, Easwaran Koil Street, where the great Tamil poet and revolutionary Subramania Bharati lived from 1908 to 1918, and where some of his greatest compositions were created and which is today a memorial and a museum. To demolish it is easy; but the structure that will be rebuilt will never be the home of the Mahakavi, it will just be a building robbed of its historicity.

Another building on the unsafe list is the Mairie, the majestic sea-fronted Town-Hall, still called by its French name by residents and tourists alike. Built in 1871, this imposing building faces the sea. In 2001, when I was Culture Secretary, it became the focus

of the first heritage summit that I convened. With sizeable help from the PWD, as also from concerned friends of Pondicherry such as Francis Wacziarg and Aman Nath, we were able to restore the first floor to something of its old glory. It needs to be stated that for almost 150 years the Mairie faced every challenge from the sea. Sadly, over the last three decades Pondicherry has lost its sandy beach on its Beach Road. However, wearing my Secretary Ports hat, I started a dredging programme, and had the satisfaction of seeing the sand returning, slowly but surely, to where the beach once stood.

We took photographs, each week, to record the revival. That effort was later discontinued. After the tsunami of

2004, large cement blocks have been placed there to withstand the waves .Nonetheless there is a vast reservoir of available expertise in the shape of engineers, specialists, conservators and architects in Pondicherry, Auroville and Chennai, who can be pooled together, at no great cost, to restore the beach and strengthen the Mairies foundations, so that this iconic building is given another long lease of life. Nor, it needs to be said, is the Mairie the only building on the Beach Road. There are a whole line of buildings along the promenade, many of them of similar vintage, which face no threat. However, the government needs urgently to convene a meeting and invite available talent both to safeguard the Mairie, and in the long term, to restore the sand to the sea front.

Pondicherry has faced threats before. In 1980-81, there was pressure to build a spanking new high-rise in the middle of the Boulevard Town. Many anxious voices reached the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhis attention. She wasted no time in writing to the then Chief Minister a letter, of which I remember one sentence which read: The character of the Boulevard Town must be allowed to remain inviolate. That put an end to that adventurism.

Population growth

At a time when cityscape is deteriorating and getting replaced by disharmonious flats, the Pondicherry Chapter of Indian National Trust For

Art and Cultural Heritage (Intach), ably headed by Ajit Koujalgi, has shown the way. In close collaboration with the Government of Pondicherry Intach took up, a few years ago, the task of conserving this very same heritage with the twin aim of also boosting tourism. This project helped restore and preserve 10 private buildings under a matching grant scheme. In the Tamil town, facades of a stretch of Vysial Street were restored to demonstrate the charm of Tamil vernacular architecture with their continuous verandas.

This project received the Unesco Asia Pacific Award in 2008. The Pondicherry Asia Urbs Programme also received international recognition in 2010, when the Shanghai World

Expo decided to showcase this project for six months as one of the 50 best urban projects from around the world.

Today Pondicherrys old town is rapidly getting urbanised, its population has tripled in the last 20 years, leading to severe stress on the existing infrastructure, urban amenities, as well as deterioration of the environment and the quality of life. In 1995 there were about 1800 buildings listed by the Intach Chapter as heritage buildings in Pondicherry; today just about half are left. Most of the buildings lost have been in the Tamil part of the town. In the French part, the destruction has been less harsh; from 300 listed buildings in 1995, about 270 now remain. Fifty-one buildings were lost last year alone,

mostly in the Tamil precinct. The damage to the French precinct has been relatively less, but such rapid urban transformation will gradually destroy the fragile heritage of the Boulevard Town as well. The transformation includes uncontrolled changes in terms of land use, property division, demolitions and alterations, urban skyline, streetscape character and high vehicular traffic particularly on week-ends. The Government of Pondicherry needs urgently to review its existing floor area ratio, so that in the next few years Pondicherry does not acquire the character of faceless haphazard colonies that have come up in our metros.

There is, however, among a number of residents and friends of Pondicherry a

realisation that this splendid and unique example of Indo-French architecture and urban planning needs rapidly to be protected. The Chief Minister Rangasamy of Pondicherry has himself addressed the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia last November, proposing that his Government restore 19 Government buildings include the Mairie, the Assembly, the Court, the Light House, four schools and two hospitals, and has sought additional Central assistance funds for this purpose. He wrote of these 20 buildings in his letter that, If conserved, they will get a new lease of life, enhance their utility to the public, raise the tourism potential of the town, and most importantly, and act as a exemplar to the public to preserve their own buildings. Lieutenant

Governor Iqbal Singh, he wrote, was equally committed to this project.

World Heritage status

In my own recent discussions with both the Lieutenant Governor and the Chief Minister, I found both of them prepared to walk the extra mile to help retain Pondicherrys unique heritage.

This is also perhaps the best time to look at the larger picture, and that is in the direction of seeking Unesco World Heritage Status for the entire French precinct. The basic ingredients are all available cultural history, unique architecture and spiritual roots. Pondicherry, with its cosmopolitan flair and multi-cultural population is a

city chosen by Subramania Bharati and Sri Aurobindo and the Mother as their home. It could become a city dedicated to culture, education and spiritualism. There is no doubt that the selection criteria to acquire world heritage status is arduous, but there is no shortage of available talent to prepare these plans. There is no reason why Pondicherry should not be the first city in India to achieve this distinction.

(Navin Chawla is a former Chief Election Commissioner of India.)

Pondicherrys unique Indo-French and Tamil architecture is under threat.

The PWD has categorised as unsafe, and slated for demolition and rebuilding,

the old Town Hall and the house where Subramania Bharati lived August 16, 2012

Not welcome anymore

HAROON HABIB

UPROOTED:Rohingya Muslims who fled Myanmar in June this year being held at a temporary camp by border guards in Coxs Bazaar in Bangladesh.PHOTO: AP Bangladesh, which neighbours Myanmar, has watched with much

interest the Thein Sein governments moves at making peace with ethnic groups in the countrys peripheries. But the ethnic issue that Bangladesh is most interested in Myanmar has yet to address.

Rohingyas, whose population in Myanmar is estimated between 800,000 to 1 million, have faced discrimination in that country since 1982, when by law, they were denied Myanmarese citizenship.

Bangladeshs concerns on this issue date back to 1977. That was the year that saw the first mass migration of Rohingyas to Bangladesh after the Myanmar authorities enforced a controversial national census.

By the next year, over 200,000 Rohingyas had crossed the border into Bangladesh. During 1991 and 1992, more than 270,000 refugees crossed the border again. They all carried stories of horrific violence, forced labour, rape, executions and torture.

After the latest episodes of violence in Rakhine, in which tens of thousands of Rohingyas are reported affected, Bangladesh made it clear that unlike in the past, there would be no welcome for refugees.

Despite repeated international appeals to Bangladesh to open its borders to the fleeing people, the Sheikh Hasina government took the stand that her

overpopulated country, with its scanty landmass and resources, could no longer bear the burden of additional displaced Rohingyas.

Bangladesh is already sheltering 3 to 5 hundred thousand refugees who fled Myanmar in two phases, and despite its best efforts, has not been able to repatriate them, as Myanmar does not accept them as its citizens.

There is a new concern too. Government leaders, including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, have voiced the anxiety that a section of the Rohingyas may have terror links. The Prime Minister has suggested that the international community investigate the cause of the recurring mass exodus from Rakhine. She aired a suspicion

that the fundamentalist Jamaat-eIslami, which has a power base near the Myanmar border, could be involved, after reports that the Islamist party, which opposed the countrys independence from Pakistan, was encouraging the refugees.

The activities of a few Rohingya organisations, including that of the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO), which allegedly have links with terror groups in Bangladesh and outside, have only underlined the concern. The allegations that the refugees are being supported and armed by Jamaat-E-Islami, the fundamentalist party that had violently opposed the countrys independence from Pakistan in 1971, have ensured

there is little public support today for the Rohingyas.

As if to prove Bangladeshs concerns, the Myanmar authorities have also dubbed the Rohingyas as Islamist insurgents.

Whatever the factual position, such allegations have led to considerable antipathy towards the Rohingyas. Locals blame them for various antisocial activities. The refugees migration to the Chittagong Hill Tracts, which is yet to recover from its own burns from a protracted conflict, has also generated insecurities among the indigenous people of that region.

While Bangladeshs earlier hospitality to the refugees is well known, this time the government ordered its border guards not to allow anyone. Foreign Minister Dipu Moni explained that the country had no obligation to shelter the Rohingyas because it is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol. However, the country is party to other international instruments through which humanitarian assistance to refugees may be offered.

Following a recent government order to a few Western NGOs to stop operations in Coxs Bazaar where most refugee camps are located, the United States has urged Bangladesh to allow international humanitarian groups to continue their aid to

refugees. The UNHCR and the European Commission have also requested the country to let humanitarian groups continue. The government, however, is firm about not allowing them to come into the country.

Myanmars pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi called for laws to protect the rights of the ethnic minorities in her maiden speech to national parliament. But the democracy icon has disappointed the human rights groups, both in Bangladesh and outside by not offering stronger support to Rohingyas who are described by the United Nations as one of the worlds most persecuted minorities.

Myanmar President Thein Sen has postponed his scheduled visit to Bangladesh in mid-July to discuss bilateral issues which included the Rohingyas. Bangladesh, as of today, considers the issue Myanmars domestic problem, and hopes it will be resolved soon. But the history of the crisis and its repeated spill-over across the border suggest that those hopes may be belied, unless Myanmar adopts a humane approach to end the crisis.

(Haroon Habib is a Bangladesh writer and journalist.)

Bangladesh, which has seen two massive Rohingya influxes from Myanmar,

has shut the door on the ethnic group this time August 17, 2012

Bridges that widen the gap

DARRYL DMONTE

Economics gone awry:The Rs. 1,600crore Bandra-Worli Sea Link was supposed to carry 75,000 passengers a day, but actually sees less than half as many. Photo: SHASHI ASHIWAL Top decision-makers have been vying to present plans for the makeover of Mumbai. This term smacks of meretriciousness, as if the former

industrial and still financial capital of the country wants to deck itself up and camouflage its squalor. The Maharashtra government is gung-ho about transforming the megalopolis into a world class city and has set up a Mumbai Transformation Support Unit with an office in the business district of Nariman Point.

The harsh truth is that Mumbai the city proper, or Greater Mumbai, comprising some 480 sq km is among the most wretched cities in the world, with the proportion of slum dwellers officially estimated at 60 per cent. That amounts to a staggering 7.5 million out of the 2011 census tally of 12.5 million. Split off, this Jhopdistan is almost as populous as the state of Israel. This is surely, both

in proportionate and absolute terms, the largest number of slum dwellers in the entire world. But they do not figure, unsurprisingly enough, in any official discourse whether by the state or corporate lobbies in the makeover of this mega city.

Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan is keeping his powder dry before meeting the Prime Minister on his visit to Mumbai on August 18. He has some big-ticket projects up his sleeve for funding aid and fast-track clearances. These are the VirarAlibaug Rs.10,000-crore multi-modal vehicle corridor from the northernmost point of the Greater Mumbai peninsula to the much larger Mumbai metropolitan region on the mainland; the identically priced 21-km Trans-

Harbour Sea Link for vehicles from Sewri in the city proper to the mainland; the Rs.14,000-crore Navi Mumbai airport in the twin city; the Rs.16,000-crore Colaba-Bandra Metro line, connecting the southernmost tip of the island city to the first suburb on the west coast; and the Rs.8,000-crore coastal ring road (which term is incorrect, since it does not traverse the congested docklands in the east) from Marine Drive to Malad, hugging the entire length of the west coast .

By any reckoning, no city with the exception of New Delhi has attempted such ambitious Rs.58,000crore projects. But none of them meets the prime needs of this beleaguered metropolis, which are jobs and homes. Even 15 years ago, demographers

estimated that at least 75 per cent of the jobs were in the euphemistically termed informal sector i.e. casual work. Now, the situation is far worse. Mumbai has only grown by six lakh since 2001 because there are no jobs to be had.

The Trans-Harbour Link, the multimodal corridor (partly by road, largely by rail), and the coastal ring road are all for motorists and a very restricted number of buses. By their very nature, buses are meant for shorter distances, regular stops, which a multi-modal corridor and coastal road do not provide.

It is shocking that these three projects cater mostly to motorists, who only constitute eight per cent of the

commuting public. These cars, along with trucks, which are far fewer in number, generate 60 per cent of the air pollution, which is driving away top executives, foreign or Indian, and incinerating any notion of making Mumbai world class like Singapore or Shanghai, let alone an international finance centre, as Mumbai First, a corporate think-tank, has been plugging for.

Politics plays its bit in configuring some of these projects. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority, which is firmly in the grip of the ruling Congress, is gunning for the coastal ring road. It should be the apex planning body for the city, after it developed the new central business district of Bandra-Kurla.

Its model is to develop and sell land mostly by reclaiming land from mangroves, in total ignorance of the ecological repercussions and is the only cash-rich State institution. It has been bypassed in recent years by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), a fiefdom of the Nationalist Congress Party, the junior partner in the coalition. As its name suggests, it is an implementing agency, not a planning body; but it has built some 50 flyovers and the BandraWorli Sea Link in utter disdain of any planning principles.

Even the economics of the new road schemes has gone awry. The MSRDC built the Bandra-Worli Sea Link and wants to extend it northwards: sea

links cost Rs.400 crore per km, five times more than a road on reclaimed land. The Rs.1,600-crore Sea Link was supposed to carry 75,000 passengers a day, but actually sees less than half as many. That, when the toll was Rs.50 one way and Rs.75 return. The slight increase to Rs.55 and Rs.82.50 return has seen a further decline in traffic. Transport experts estimate that if Bandra is linked to Versova entirely by a sea link, as MSRDC is still pushing for, a motorist may have to fork out Rs.440 for a return trip. That will only witness a further decline of users, and ultimately lead to the public subsidising motorists.

The final nail in the coffin for a coastal road, which is a far easier option and may not involve a toll, is its ecological

impact. Apart from destroying the scenic beauty of Mumbais most prized natural asset its coastline it threatens to decimate the mangroves at stretches like Carter Road. This road, and its companion at Bandstand, lie cheek by jowl and have public promenades, maintained by residents, and is the jewel in the crown of these suburbs. August 17, 2012

The earth beneath its feet

SHALINI SINGH

Scandal-hit:A coal mine at Godavarikhani, east of Hyderabad. Experiences relating to coal shortage, power cuts and price hikes make the Coalgate scam directly painful for the common man. Photo: AFP With the Comptroller and Auditor Generals report on coal set to be tabled in Parliament on Friday and the Bharatiya Janata Party gathering its forces for a full fledged attack, the Monsoon session threatens to be a stormy one.

While Coalgate resembles the 2G spectrum scam both in terms of the emerging evidence as well as the governments defence, what makes the issue potentially incendiary is the opportunity the opposition has to drag

the Prime midfield.

Minister

directly

into

In the 2G scandal, the Prime Minister and the Finance Secretary sought spectrum auctions which A. Raja, who was Telecom Minister at the time, refused. But in Coalgate, it was the Coal Secretary who apparently sought auctions despite existing legislation, which the PM, with direct control of the coal portfolio at the time, seemingly ignored or overruled. This is the pivotal difference, though the forensics will only emerge once the CAG report is tabled.

Striking similarities

Both the 2G and the Coalgate scandals chronicle massive losses for the state exchequer with corresponding gain to private parties through the involvement or decision-making of key politicians and bureaucrats. Both spectrum and coal impact the daily lives of crores of Indian citizens. In both cases, the loss arose out of the use of discretionary powers to select and administer the mechanism for the allocation of the natural resource. For 2G, first-come, first-served (FCFS), and for coal, application-based selection was chosen over auctions. In both spectrum and coal, the allocations were made based on an application which required minimum detail, where awards can be justified by officials with scant public scrutiny. Spectrum allocation was guided by the Unified Access Service Licence guidelines

while coal followed captive block selection guidelines. Despite these guidelines being available online, transparency has come under serious question. The selection committees in both cases were bureaucrats from across Ministries/States who still failed to implement any safeguards.

In both cases, the modus operandi and staggering revenue loss estimates were independently assessed by the CAG, adding weight to the allegations. For both, an environment of controversy and suspicion was built based on a draft CAG report which eventually snowballed into a far bigger issue.

Rather than acting suo motu , in both scams, the CBI acted only after directions from the Central Vigilance

Commission registering a preliminary enquiry for coal and an FIR for spectrum. Both were against unknown persons.

Same old, same old

The government has compromised its position by offering the same defence in both scandals, almost in the same pattern and in the same sequence of events.

Under pressure on the issue of transparency and procedure, the initial explanations given by Mr. Raja in his letters to the PM of November 2, 2007 and press releases of October 31 and November 7, 2008, bear striking resemblance to the Coal Ministrys

clarification of May 17, 2012. Both argue the case of transparent selection procedure. Mr. Raja had stated: The department was not deviating from the existing procedure and that full transparency is being maintained by my ministry... Likewise, the Coal Ministry claims: The process of allocation of blocks was equitable, fair and just, which is borne out of the fact that there have never been any serious allegations against the working of the screening committee.

Ten months after the 2G scam, on the eve of Unitech and Swans equity sales, Mr. Raja, under pressure from the press, defended FCFS by arguing the case of public interest and economic growth: The basic aim and principles governing the sector is

proliferation of telecom services in a competitive environment at affordable tariffs for the common people, and especially the rural masses. He also argued that auctions would have led to an increase in spectrum prices and retarded the fall of tariffs which would have been detrimental for the expansion of service. Parroting this, Coal Minister Shriprakash Jaiswal has said administrative allocation was justified as it was needed for the nations growth, its industrial growth and for power production at affordable rates.

The governments next line of defence was that revenue generation was never a priority for telecom. The Coal Ministrys statement of May 27, 2012 also argues: It may be stated that

allocation of coal blocks was never looked upon as a potential source for generating revenue for the central government... The question of maximization of revenue does not arise at all.

In both 2G and coal, the government is insisting its decision not to hold auctions was a matter of policy and government policy is not open to judicial scrutiny.

In both scams, show cause notices were issued to private companies in December 2010 for 2G and June 2012 for coal over two years after the alleged wrongdoing, and only after intense media spotlight on the issues.

The last striking similarity is blaming everything on the previous government. Mr. Raja, Kapil Sibal, Salman Khurshid and even the PM, have all placed the blame for the allocation of 2G spectrum on an FCFS basis in 2008 at 2001 prices squarely on the NDAs Cabinet decision of October 31, 2003. Ditto for Coalgate, where the NDA has been blamed by both Mr. Jaiswal and Minister of State in the PMO, V. Narayanswamy. Mr. Jaiswal has said that during the NDA government the allocation was made without any advertisements and was far less transparent while Mr. Narayanswamy has alleged that senior functionaries of the NDA have also benefited from Coalgate.

Could be worse

Despite the similarities with 2G, however, the UPA is likely to find the going tougher in the case of Coalgate. For starters, it comes in the wake of the 2G scam which, due to the CAG report and the Supreme Court judgement cancelling 122 licences, has already helped entrench the public view of corruption in the UPA government. Secondly, unlike in telecom, where Mr. Raja was in charge, the PM himself had the coal portfolio for the period for which the allegations are being made, giving the PM much less wiggle room than in 2G.

Thirdly, while for telecom, the success story of nearly 700 million subscribers and affordable tariffs helped mitigate

the blow to the common man, onground experience relating to coal shortage, power cuts and price hikes makes the scam more directly painful for the common man. The recent failure of the northern grid twice over, impacting millions across eight States due to the worst ever power outage in over a decade, amply dents any argument that cheap coal is for power for the masses.

Fourthly, a coal scam can be explained far more easily than the 2G scam, allowing for damaging political campaigns with slogans in all languages spreading across Indias heartland. Finally, if allegations that the Coal Secretary did recommend auctions but was overruled or ignored by the PM are established, then the

PM will need to explain why he himself recommended auctions for spectrum in 2007 but refused to implement the Coal Secretarys advice in the same period in the Ministry that he directly controlled. The Cabinets decision to fix the reserve price for the 2G auctions at Rs.14,000 crore is another blow to the cheap coal, therefore cheap power excuse, removing the oft-quoted linkage between the price of a natural resource and tariffs.

The rubber will hit the road anytime now. Will the UPA effectively manage a situation which has the potential to spiral out of control? What will the government do differently this time given that this session of Parliament could become reminiscent of the

winter session of 2010? These are questions that the next few weeks will answer. August 17, 2012

Between Tight Screw and a hard place

PRAVEEN SWAMI

The soldiers severed heads, sawn off at the neck, were placed in two neat rows on an almost spotless white sheet, in a clearing in the lush green forest. The videotape recorded the hunt: the ruthless assault; the torture of the captured troops; bodies being dragged naked, lassoed over the neck,

through the woods. We are not enemies of the people or nation of Pakistan, an unseen narrator intoned over the graphic video footage, we are enemies of this infidel state. To bring gods law to Pakistan, he said, that is our objective.

Four months after that May massacre of 17 Pakistani troops by Taliban jihadists in Lower Dir, reports have emerged suggesting the countrys army is finally preparing for vengeance. In an August 13 interview, the United States Defence Secretary, Leon Panetta, disclosed that Pakistan had committed to launching a longawaited assault against the key jihadist redoubt of North Waziristan. Frankly, he said, Id lost hope that they were going to do anything about

it. But it does appear that they in fact are going to take that step.

No hard facts have emerged on how and when, and if what the Pakistani media is referring to by the code name Tight Screw might unfold. The first shots in retaliation, however, have already been fired: Thursdays Taliban assault on the Minhas airbase home to key elements of the countrys nuclear arsenal appears intended to signal to the countrys military commanders the costs of the war they are on the edge of launching.

The jihadist challenge

Lal Masjid attackers, here we come, shouted members of the jihadist

assault team who stormed the police training centre in Manawan in March 2009. In late 2007, the nebulous networks of Islamist commanders operating out of Pakistans FederallyAdministered Tribal Areas came together in a loose coalition that called itself the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The new leadership had close links to jihadists elsewhere in Pakistan and their clerical patrons. Pakistans former military ruler, Pervez Musharraf, feared that Lal Masjid might prove the vanguard of a revolution. It was to prove a murderous choice, plunging Pakistan into its worst existential crisis since 1971.

Ever since at least 2004, as the Taliban-led war in Afghanistan

gathered momentum, the jihad commanders now grouped in the TTP had begun to establish what scholar C. Christine Fair has called an archipelago of sharia within large swathes of the Pashtun belt. In general from non-elite backgrounds, the new commanders used Islamism as a tool to displace the traditional tribal leadership which had bound the regions peoples to the Pakistani state. The jihadists used the payoffs of the Afghan war ranging from protection rackets, extortion, gunrunning, heroin trafficking to build legitimacy among their communities.

In a thoughtful recent analysis of the Haqqani network, the pre-eminent Islamist warlord empire in Afghanistan and its Pakistani

borderlands, analyst Gretchen Peters has noted that the group was similar to the Sicilian mafia, which emerged in the 19th Century in a period when the Italian state was weak.

From 2004, under pressure from the U.S., Pakistan engaged the TTPs future commanders in battle with humiliating results. Nek Muhammad ground the Pakistan army to a stalemate in South Waziristan, compelling it to sign a surrender of authority thinly disguised as an agreement. Baitullah Mehsud forced a similar agreement on the Pakistani state in 2005. In 2007, Sufi Muhammads Taliban-affiliated Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-eMohammadi seized control of Swat.

Gen. Musharrafs 2007 attack on Lal Masjid was an effort to fight back but it ended up bringing the war in the borderlands to Pakistans heart. In 2007, for example, a bus carrying Air Force officers children was targeted near the Minhas airbase; in 2009, the armys General Headquarters at Rawalpindi and the Inter-Services Intelligence Headquarters were attacked.

Ever since he succeeded Gen. Musharraf as army chief in 2007, General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani slowly de-escalated the war in the borderlands. Like so many similar plans, though, Gen. Kayanis plans to purchase peace came at an unaffordable price. The jihadist networks in Pakistans north-west

gave sustenance, shelter and logistical assistance to insurgents operating against international and Afghan forces across the border, infuriating the U.S.

Faced, finally, with threats of U.S. sanctions and unilateral military action across the border, Gen. Kayani seems to have been forced to give at least the impression of being willing to cave in.

A new offensive

Will he? No one outside of Pakistans circles of power knows precisely what its highest decision-making caucus, the commanders of its army corps, decided to do in North Waziristan at the last meeting on August 11. But it is

clear that the tools for war are in place. Pakistans army, it isnt widely understood, has been a bystander by choice in Waziristan: one infantry division, five brigades, 12 battalions and 11 Frontier Corps units are deployed in the regions northern division, and another division, four brigades, 11 battalions, seven Frontier Corps wings in the south.

Past history, however, suggests Mr. Panettas optimism that Gen. Kayani means business might be misplaced. In the spring of 2010, Pakistan held out similar promises to the U.S.; that October, it claimed to be conducting stealth attacks on jihadists. Then, in May 2011, it again claimed to be planning an offensive which never materialised. Even if it does act, the

record suggests there is no guarantee of even limited success.

From the point of view of Pakistans military strategists, the case for an allout war against its jihadist adversaries isnt as simple as it appears for one big reason: India. Prolonged internal conflict in Pakistan has meant that resources have been drained from the military capacities until recently directed at the historic eastern adversary. Indias economic growth has allowed it to enter a phase of relatively rapid military modernisation, offering it not only overwhelming superiority but also the capacity to target Pakistans nuclear and conventional assets with evergreat precision.

Ever since its 1998 nuclear tests, Pakistan has responded to Indias rise with nuclear expansion. Islamabad is estimated to have been producing over 100 kilograms of highly enriched uranium, or HEU, every year. Each of Pakistans implosion design warheads is estimated to use 15-20kg of HEU, meaning the countrys arsenal of 90110 weapons is expanding steadily. In addition, Pakistan is known to be pursuing plutonium-based warheads. The Khushab plutonium production facility has been operational since at least 1998, and at least three new reactors are being built at the site one of which may already be up and running.

Khalid Banuri, director of Arms Control and Disarmament Affairs in

Pakistans nuclear apex body, the Strategic Plans Division, said last year that the precise number of nuclear weapons Pakistan needs to feel assured cannot be quantified.

Even though the Kamra attack is likely to set off speculation on the threat that jihadists might steal elements of Pakistans growing nuclear arsenal, that isnt the threat. In an authoritative report released in June by the Congressional Research Service, nuclear weapons experts Paul Kerr and Mary Beth Nikitin noted there is a wide expert consensus that the arsenal itself is secure: real-world nuclear weapons, unlike in films, do not have red buttons with helpful press here signs. The real challenge would be

jihadists taking control of the state itself.

India has clear equities in making sure this doesnt happen. The TTP and its al-Qaeda linked allies have made clear their transnational agenda. In a recent interview to journalist Ihsanullah Tipu, TTP second-in-command Maulana Wali-ur-Rahman described the fighting as a final conflict taking place between Islam and Infidel forces, and our struggle will continue till the conclusion, whether it is in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India or western countries.

Exactly what India can do to assuage Pakistani insecurities and thus facilitate its anti-jihadist campaign is, however, less clear. Pakistans

nuclear arsenal already exceeds the size of what is needed to annihilate any large-scale Indian military offensive, as well as most of its cities. Large, dramatic gestures, like a concession on Siachen, might conceivably help assuage Pakistani fears. Indian military and intelligence analysts arent, however, persuaded they will.

India or no India, though, Pakistan will be compelled to make a decision that will shape its future by war or inaction. Major parties like former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs Pakistan Muslim League and Imran Khans Tehreek-e-Insaaf oppose a new anti-jihadist offensive, as do a broad swathe of Islamist groupings and many within the army. Forty eight hours

before the Kamra attack, in a speech delivered to mark Pakistans Independence Day, General Kayani disagreed. We are fully aware that it is the most difficult task for any Army to fight its own people, he said. [But] no state can afford a parallel system of governance and militias. He must now decide how much blood he is willing to spill to defend that proposition. August 18, 2012

No glass ceiling but hard ground realities

AJAZ ASHRAF

Worlds apart:The phenomenon of Muslim Presidents and VicePresidents is a far cry from the poor and aspiring man sporting a skull cap and a beard, fearful of being stopped at police barricades. Photo: AFP Hamid Ansari is an honourable man, erudite as well as personable, deserving in every way to share with Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan the honour of holding the office of Vice-President twice. His re-election, though, does raise an intriguing question: why it is that a political class which is otherwise quite indifferent to the chronic underrepresentation of Muslims in Parliament, the civil service, the police and many other walks of life allows Muslims to reach their natural level of accomplishment when it comes to august but essentially ceremonial

 offices like that of the President and Vice-President?

Look at the statistics. Of the 12 VicePresidents India has had, three of them or 25 per cent have been Muslim. Should one decide to work out the figures on the basis of elections fought and won, and therefore count Radhakrishnan and Ansari twice, the score is an impressive 28.5 per cent. The figures for the post of President are almost comparable three, or 23.07 per cent, of the 13 Presidents have been Muslim, the percentage dipping marginally to 21.4 per cent if one were to count Rajendra Prasad twice for the two terms he served. For Muslims who constitute 13.4 per cent of the population, this amounts to

statistical over-representation in these two offices.

Merit beyond patronage

It also challenges what Indian sociologists consider a truism: that it is only in sports, films and entertainment that Muslims have a presence in consonance with their population. In all these three fields, sociologists argue, patronage and social network are factors contributory in nature, required initially to ensure talent doesnt languish in anonymity. Thereafter, merit becomes the main determinant of success. Even a generous godfather cant win a Shah Rukh Khan his legion of followers, as partial selectors cant possibly bag wickets for a Zahir Khan.

Sociologists must now expand the category of jobs for which there is no glass ceiling for capable Muslims to include the posts of President and Vice-President. But there is a difference. To earn nomination to these two posts, a candidate must have had an extraordinary career in politics or outside it; yet it is also true that his or her religious and caste identities are as vital. Unlike, say, in sports or films, the Muslim-ness of a person, at least to the extent obvious from his or her name, is a factor ruling parties always take into account for sponsoring his or her candidature. Its altogether another issue that Muslim Presidents and VicePresidents like Zakir Husain, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and Hamid Ansari have acquitted themselves admirably in

office, commanding respect beyond their community.

The emerging phenomenon of Muslim Presidents and Vice-Presidents creates two contradictory images of the community. There is the Muslim gracing Rashtrapati Bhavan, holding lavish state banquets, and driving around in an impressive cavalcade; there is the Muslim presiding over the House of Elders and representing India at important diplomatic events. And then there is the Muslim, poor and aspiring, sporting a skull cap and a beard, fearful of being stopped at police barricades, or picked up and implicated in terrorism cases.

The real image

Which of the two images is more accurate can be gleaned from the report of Justice (retd) Rajindar Sachar, who chaired the High-Level Committee on the Social, Economic and Educational Status of the Muslim Community of India. The Sachar Committee report notes, They (Muslims) carry a double burden of being labelled as anti-national and as being appeased. While Muslims need to prove on a daily basis that they are not anti-national and terrorists, it is not recognized that the alleged appeasement has not resulted in the desired level of socio-economic development of the community.

Electing a Muslim as Vice-President is an easier task than ameliorating the

deplorable condition of his community. If asked, he would rather prefer the fate of the Schedules Castes. Constituting 16.2 per cent of Indias population, they have had just one President, but enjoy tremendous state support for their socio-economic uplift. It is nobodys case that the structural backwardness of Muslims is as severe as that of Dalits. Yet the relative absence of Muslims in Central government jobs makes them perceive their over-representation in ineffectual but prestigious high state offices as an example of tokenism. Analysing the data of 88 lakh government employees, the Sachar Committee found only 5 per cent were Muslim. The committee also reported that in 2006 Muslims were only 3 per cent of the Indian Administrative Service, 1.8 per cent of the Indian Foreign Service,

and 4 per cent of the Indian Police Service.

In its defence, the UPA could cite the decision to carve out 4.5 per cent for minorities within the 27 per cent OBC reservation for Central government jobs and admission to educational institutes. Yet, as critics point out, this reservation extends to OBC castes of all minorities, not only those of Muslims. What hope of success can they have against better-educated Sikhs and Christians? Even the implementation of this policy has been stayed by the Andhra Pradesh High Court. This was because the government neither provided evidence of having carried out surveys to justify treating minorities as a separate category within the OBC quota nor did

it refer the issue, as it should have, to the National Commission for Backward Classes. Political expediency best explains the governments poor preparatory work to introduce reservation for Muslims. Announced a few weeks before the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, the Congress hoped to use the carrot of reservation to garner the votes of Muslims and simultaneously ensure there wasnt much time for its rivals to consolidate the Hindus against the measure.

This fear of a Hindu backlash can be discerned in the governments Multisectoral Development Programme (MsDP), which identified 90 districts in which minorities constitute 20-25 per cent of the population for special

intervention. Yet there have been vociferous complaints against choosing district as the unit for intervention, for, it is alleged, funds often get spent in those areas where Muslims are not present in substantial numbers. Advocating the initiation of highly visible, specific Muslimtargeted projects, civil society activist Harsh Mander, in his foreword to the Centre for Equity Studies survey report of the MsDP, notes candidly, I recognise that it is not easy for the countrys leadership to muster the political courage for this. I speculate that political managers of the ruling combine possibly caution against providing grist to the oppositions charges of minority appeasement.

Politics of tokenism

Indeed, the fear of backlash underlies the politics of tokenism the Congress resorts to, further accentuated from the time the Bharatiya Janata Party rose to the pinnacle of power. It is a safer option to elect Muslims as President or Vice-President as the saffron brigade wont find it electorally profitable to mobilise opinion against it. After all, these are ceremonial posts and cant alter the power relations existing in society. By contrast, a reservation policy or economic programmes exclusively targeting Muslims provides the Rightwing parties ample scope to stoke fear among Hindus of their interests being sacrificed or ignored.

From the time the BJP lost power at the Centre, the Congress should have utilised the opportunity to mobilise opinion against the divisive communal politics through a grassroots movement, instead of combating it through flatulent statements and assuming the election of Muslims to ceremonial posts is action enough. Socio-political movements, history testifies, are not only enduring but also expand the popular base of parties and foster new leadership, precisely the requirement of the Congress in North India. Until the party eschews its politics of tokenism for a robust display of political courage to improve the condition of Muslims, they are likely to swing between indifference and ambivalence towards it. August 18, 2012

Strangers in a place they call home

LAWRENCE LIANG

Reaching out:A Muslim student holds a poster urging north-eastern residents not to leave at a railway station in Bangalore on Friday. Photo: AFP One of the underrated pleasures of living in a city is anonymity guaranteed not by the fact that you look the same as everyone else but that no one really cares that you look different. And a truly cosmopolitan city is one in which everyone looks different. I have been fortunate that for the 30 or so years that I have lived in

Bangalore I have not had to deal with the fact that I look different. Save for occasional reminders of my Chineseness, the city has given me enough space to be who I am cinephile, bibliophile, foodie without having to bother too much about questions of identity. It is therefore disconcerting to suddenly step out into public spaces selfconscious of my Mongoloid features. Paranoia is not a grand sensation and it manifests itself in the myriad minute gestures and encounters. It seems unbelievable that the experience of a city can change so rapidly because it is clear to me that the last few days in Bangalore have been precisely about that. A miasma of fear, doubt and anxiety has descended on the city. It is possible that much of this has been fuelled by rumours and hearsay; and

while the rumours may be false the fear sadly isnt.

The large drove of people from the northeast fleeing the city in overloaded trains does not bode well in a country haunted by trains carrying tales of violence from its place of origin.

It was from around August 14 that one started hearing of threats being made against members of the northeast community followed by accounts of isolated attacks. Most of these circulated by way of SMSs, e-mails and through Facebook. Is there a grand conspiracy behind this ecology of fear as some suggest? It is perhaps too early to say and one would do well not to hazard any guesses. But the fact that a mere rumour could result in an

exodus of a large number of people points to a more disturbing trend. Most of the people leaving are migrant workers employed in the hospitality industry, beauty parlours and private security. That a relatively large number of people have not felt safe and secure in a city that they have lived in for many years is symptomatic of a larger problem of integration. While there has been a lot of lip service in the last few days to Bangalore being a hospitable city, perhaps it is time to acknowledge that we may have bestowed the tag on ourselves in a moment of self-conceit. Perhaps it is a much more tenuous compact based on benefits gained from migrant labour without the grant of full cultural citizenship. And perhaps it is time to ask if years of having to deal with quotidian humiliations, passive

aggression directed at cultural practices (dress, food, sexuality) is what is responsible for Bangalores failure to instill a sense of belonging among migrants.

At any rate, this is a much longer term problem that all cities in India will have to address since a host-guest relation is measured not just from the perspective of the host but also by how much the guest feels at home. I am not even certain that a city claiming cosmopolitan status should use the host-guest metaphor. Arjun Appadurai says one of the markers of globalisation is that a very small percentage of people will die in the place they were born in. Cosmopolitanism therefore describes our urban reality as one in which, at

some level, everyone is a stranger, yet we all possess the right not to be treated as strangers. Indians living abroad know this only too well; perhaps it is what Amitav Ghosh meant when, writing about his love for Egypt, he said that it gave him a right to be there and a sense of entitlement.

The more pressing issue at hand, however, is the question of what unfolds in the days to come. Over the past few days there have been impressive efforts at building trust and confidence. Representatives of the Muslim community, the northeast groups and civil society organisations have come together to assuage the fears of people.

While there may be stray incidents of aggression or intimidation, fears of planned targeting of a community do not seem to be empirically grounded. And yet we are on a precipice and things could spiral beyond control. The people returning to the northeast may have left out of fear but once they reach home the fear could easily turn into anger. There is the danger that this rage may be directed against minority or migrant communities in their own States, and of that violence then turning the fiction of violence in Bangalore and other cities into a reality.

The need of the hour is to contain this spillover effect. Politicians of all shades and the media have to recognise the vital role that they play

in diffusing the situation rather than inflaming it. Rumours and riots have always been insidiously linked to each other and we have no choice but to deal with the situation before us with utmost care and responsibility. Centuries of immigrant struggles have won us the right to say that a city can belong to us even if we do not belong to the city. And if we do not care of what belongs to us, we will run the danger of losing it.

(Lawrence Liang is a lawyer at the Alternative Law Forum. A thirdgeneration Chinese-Indian, his family moved from Calcutta to Bangalore in 1981.) August 18, 2012

Judicial appointments & disappointments

V.R. KRISHNA IYER

The Constitution of India operates in happy harmony with the instrumentalities of the executive and the legislature. But to be truly great, the judiciary exercising democratic power must enjoy independence of a high order. But independence could become dangerous and undemocratic unless there is a constitutional discipline with rules of good conduct and accountability: without these, the robes may prove arrogant.

It is in this context that Chief Justice S.H. Kapadias observations, at an event at the Supreme Court of India on Independence Day, underlining the need for the government to balance judicial accountability with judicial independence, have to be reconciled with what Law Minister Salman Khurshid observed about judicial propriety. It is this reconciliation of the trinity of instrumentality in their functionalism that does justice to the Constitution. A great and grand chapter on judicial sublime behaviour to forbid the robes becoming unruly or rude and to remain ever sober is obligatory.

The Constitution has three instrumentalities executive, legislative and judicative. The

implementation of the states laws and policies is the responsibility of the executive. The Cabinet headed by the Prime Minister at the Centre and the Cabinet led by the Chief Minister in the States, are its principal agencies. The rule of law governs the administration.

Parliament consisting of two Houses and legislatures at the State level make law. When the executive and the legislature do anything that is arbitrary, or contrary to the constitutional provisions, the judiciary has the power to correct them by issuing directions under Article 143. The Constitution lays down the fundamental rights, and if the States do not safeguard them, any citizen can approach the Supreme Court for the

issue of a writ to defend his or her fundamental rights.

Thus, among the three instrumentalities, the judiciary has preeminence. But the judiciary itself has to act according to the Constitution and work within the framework of the Constitution.

Felix Frankfurter pointed out thus: Judges as persons, or courts as institutions, are entitled to no greater immunity from criticism than other persons or institutions. Just because the holders of judicial office are identified with the interests of justice they may forget their common human frailties and fallibilities. There have sometimes been martinets upon the bench as there have also been

pompous wielders of authority who have used the paraphernalia of power in support of what they called their dignity. Therefore judges must be kept mindful of their limitations and of their ultimate public responsibility by a vigorous stream of criticism expressed with candor however blunt.

Ultimate authority

Judges are the ultimate authority in the interpretation of the Constitution, and so must be learned in the law and in the cultural wealth of the world. They play a vital role in the working of the Constitution and the laws. But how judges are appointed is a matter of concern. Simply put, the President appoints them, but in this the President

only carries decisions.

out

the

Cabinets

The Preamble to the Constitution lays down as the fundamentals of the paramount law that India shall be a socialist, secular democratic republic which shall enforce justice social, economic and political and ensure liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship, equality of status and of opportunity, and promote among them fraternity, ensuring the individuals dignity and the nations unity and integrity.

Need for clarity

But who will select the judges, and ascertain their qualifications and class

character? Unless there is a clear statement of the principles of selection, the required character and conduct of judges in a democracy may fail since they will often belong to a class of the proprietariat, and the proletariat will have no voice in the governance: the proprietariat will remain the ruling class.

Winston Churchill made this position clear with respect to Britain thus: The courts hold justly a high, and I think, unequalled pre-eminence in the respect of the world in criminal cases, and in civil cases between man and man, no doubt, they deserve and command the respect and admiration of all classes of the community, but where class issues are involved, it is impossible to pretend that the courts command the

same degree of general confidence. On the contrary, they do not, and a very large number of our population have been led to the opinion that they are, unconsciously, no doubt, biased.

We in India have under the Constitution the same weaknesses pointed out by Churchill, with the result that socialism and social justice remain a promise on paper. Then came a new creation called collegiums. The concept was brought in by a narrow majority of one in a 5-4 decision of the Supreme Court for the selection of judges. It was binding on the executive, the decisions of which in turn were bound to be implemented by the President.

Thus, today we have a curious creation with no backing under the Constitution, except a ruling of the Supreme Court, and that too based on a very thin majority in a single ruling. Today, the collegium on its own makes the selection. There is no structure to hear the public in the process of selection. No principle is laid down, no investigation is made, and a sort of anarchy prevails.

In a minimal sense, the selection of judges of the highest court is done in an unprincipled manner, without investigation or study of the class character by the members of the collegium. There has been criticism of the judges so selected, but the collegium is not answerable to anyone.

In these circumstances, the Union Law Minister has stated that the government proposes to change the collegium system and substitute it with a commission. But, how should the commission be constituted? To whom will it be answerable? What are the guiding principles to be followed by the Commission? These issues remain to be publicly discussed. A constitutional amendment, with a special chapter of the judiciary, is needed. Such an amendment can come about only through parliamentary action.

Surely a commission to select judges for the Supreme Court has to be of high standing. It must be of the highest order, of a status equal to that of the Prime Minister or a Supreme Court

judge. The commissions chairman should be the Chief Justice of India.

In the process of selection, an investigation into the character, class bias, communal leanings and any other imputations that members of the public may make, may have to be investigated. This has to be done not by the police, which function under the government, but by an independent secret investigation agency functioning under the commissions control. These and other views expressed by outstanding critics may have to be considered.

The commission has to be totally independent and its ideology should be broadly in accord with the values of the Constitution. It should naturally

uphold the sovereignty of the Constitution beyond pressures from political parties and powerful corporations, and be prepared to act without fear or favour, affection or illwill. It should act independently such should be its composition and operation. The commission should be immune to legal proceedings, civil and criminal. It should be removed only by a high tribunal consisting of the Chief Justice of India and the Chief Justice of all the High Courts sitting together and deciding on any charges publicly made. We, the people of India, should have a free expression in the commissions process.

(V.R. Krishna Iyer, eminent jurist, is a former Judge of the Supreme Court of India)

August 20, 2012

This column is not plagiarised

SREERAM SUNDAR CHAULIA

FOCUS:The Fareed Zakaria saga highlights demands placed on and taken up by celebrity columnists and media personalities who are expected to wax eloquent on varied issues at the drop of a hat. PHOTO: AP The embarrassing revelation that international affairs pundit, Fareed Zakaria, had plagiarised in a recent Time magazine column raises questions about celebrity

intellectualism and the punishing schedule of knowledge production under the medias arc lights. Dr. Zakaria has apologised unreservedly for lifting portions of an essay written by a Harvard University professor in The New Yorker without attribution to the original source. Both Time and CNN revoked his temporary suspension shortly after his repentance, but that does not take away from the serious issue of intellectual integrity in public life.

This saga highlights demands placed on and taken up by well-placed columnists and television personalities who are expected to wax eloquent on varied issues at the drop of a hat. What is the basic rationale behind plagiarism? It is a form of dishonesty

by cutting corners and trying to succeed either due to lack of time, knowledge or articulation power. For a person like Dr. Zakaria, who has distinguished academic training (he holds a PhD from Harvard) and is the author of acclaimed books, it is inconceivable that he plagiarised due to inadequate knowledge or shortage of the right words.

Academicians have to deal these days with mundane forms of plagiarism practised by students who have access to the copy-pasting luxury of the internet, and who cannot beat the bad habit despite repeated coaching about the nobility of using ones own language and thoughts. At the stroke of a few keys of the computer, these web-savvy young people hope to cover

up for their basic deficiencies in knowledge and inadequacy of reading through copying. To be sure, plagiarisers in high schools and colleges are also usually poor managers of their time, which may be frittered away in countless distractions, leaving them prone to the quick-fix of copy-pasting at the proverbial eleventh hour when assignments are due.

Fatigue factor

Even in the case of the highly accomplished Zakaria, there must have been a fatigue factor behind his stooping to such a low. He has a nonstop routine of penning columns for Time and The Washington Post , anchoring a weekly television show on CNN International, interviewing heads

of state and business tycoons, and delivering lectures before universities, think tanks, business associations and global jamborees like the World Economic Forum.

The incriminating paragraph from his Time magazine column, which is almost identical to the original article in The New Yorker , is actually a purely factual one that lists dates when individual states in America adopted gun control laws. Dr. Zakaria did not borrow any big ideas of analytical nature, but merely reproduced verbatim some factoids. This goes on to buttress the argument that he was suffering from severe paucity of time and was unable to balance his conscience and the expectations of

churning out brilliant opinions for the 24/7 news cycle.

A more damaging (though unproven) interpretation of what he has admitted to be a terrible mistake and serious lapse is that his Time magazine column, which is in the eye of the storm, may have been ghostwritten by some callous aide and that he simply signed off on it. It is an open secret that many global thought leaders, who dash from one megaphone public appearance to the next in an endless circuit, resort to fobbing off writings and speeches penned by faceless staffers as their own.

A previous accusation that he had delivered two identical addresses with hardly any difference in content to a

graduating ceremony at Harvard and to a commencement event at Duke University has got wider circulation after the Time magazine scandal broke out. He has also been castigated for quote-stealing from The Atlantic magazine for a column he had written in Newsweek in 2009.

Given Dr. Zakarias extraordinary grasp over the state of the world, such acts of indiscretion can only be attributed to his propensity to take on many more assignments than he can do justice to. The lure of fame, as an opinion-moulder who has to give his two cents on every developing event, and possibly money as a feecharging star public speaker who cannot forego any lectern opportunity is indeed a dangerous addiction.

Cases of leaders

But his minor acts of plagiarism pale before egregious cases like KarlTheodor Guttenberg, the former Defence Minister of Germany, who was stripped of his PhD in 2011 by the University of Bayreuth for substantially copying from another source for his dissertation. Mr. Guttenberg was struggling at that time to juggle the twin act of simultaneously being a rising star as an elected member of the Bundestag (the German Parliament) and producing a doctoral thesis that was original. In April 2012, the then President of Hungary, Pl Schmitt, had his comeuppance when his university revoked his PhD for direct

translations in 197 out of his 215page thesis. Romanias Prime Minister, Victor Ponta, is currently battling claims that more than half his PhD dissertation was plagiarised.

The essence of all these instances is that ambitious busybodies are desperate to pass off as superlative geniuses who can be practitioners, scholars, motivators and a lot more. Dr. Zakaria must be thankful for his already considerable achievements, reorder his commitments and return to what he excelled at original analysis of the world.

As to the millions of students in schools and colleges who continue to fall back on plagiarism to somehow succeed and grapple with high

academic standards, there are painful lessons to be learnt from these scandals of the famous. First, as Benjamin Franklin once said, honesty is the best policy. Even in a crassly materialistic and immoral ambience of contemporary society, where getting ahead by foul means is becoming normal, one must pause and realise that cheating at an early age in life is going to set a person up for a big fall. Second, there are no shortcuts to scholasticism, which rewards only those who read voraciously and take copious notes and annotations in the old fashioned way, even if the mediums have changed from paper and pencil to laptops and iPads.

Technology and access to the Internet should not become excuses for a

pervasive culture of lying, which is the deeper meaning of plagiarism. I am advising my students of international affairs to be truthful and to stay clear of the Zakaria trap, even as they continue to follow and read his extraordinary writings. August 20, 2012

Four bones, three countries

A. SRIVATHSAN

SACRED EXPO:(Top) The relics, as exhibited at the National Museum, New Delhi, and (right) one of the two urns found at Piprahwa.PHOTOS: V.V. KRISHNAN

Four bone fragments of the Buddha housed in the National Museum, Delhi are on a two-week tour of Sri Lanka to enable Buddhists there to pay homage to them. While all relics of the Buddha are revered, these are special. They are part of the trove of 22 bone fragments that were discovered by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in the 1970s in Kapilavastu, Uttar Pradesh, where he grew up as a prince before renouncing the world.

The journey of the relics, from New Delhi to Colombo, and to six other places in Sri Lanka this year, being observed as the 2,600th anniversary of the Buddhas enlightenment, brings up some old questions.

For the two governments, the historical antecedent of the relics is a settled fact, and the exchange of cultural artefacts between the two countries is a continuation of the long history that dates back to the days of Emperor Ashoka.

But Nepal has for years raised doubts about the relics, claiming that the true Kapilavastu lies in its territory, and not in U.P. as Indian archaeologists claim.

After Gautama Buddha died or attained Mahaparinirvana in the 5th century BCE, eight ruling families shared the relics from his body. Among them were the Sakyas, the clan to which the Buddha belonged. They built a stupa over their share in Kapilavastu, the capital city. After the

decline of Buddhism, many stupas and monasteries were abandoned and the one built by the Sakyas too went to seed. When the Chinese pilgrims Fahien and Hiuen Tsang visited India centuries later in the 5th and 7th C.E respectively, most of these sites lay in ruins.

Pepps discovery

It was in the 19th century that Buddhist archaeology began to be properly noticed as British antiquarians set out to pursue the Buddhas trail. In 1898, William Pepp, a planter, while clearing his estate near Piprahwa, a village in eastern Uttar Pradesh near the IndiaNepal border, found a brick dome that contained a sand stone box with five

caskets, relics said to be that of Buddha, and other artefacts. inscription found on one of caskets, though dated to after Buddhas death, established authenticity of the relics.

the An the the the

Based on this discovery and the location with respect to Lumbini, the Buddhas birthplace in Nepal, Piprahwa was identified as Kapilavastu. But there were counter claims. In 1896, and again in 1899, a few archaeologists identified Tilaurakot, a village in Nepals terai region as Kapilavastu. Though they could not find any relics, the presence of a large ensemble of structures and their correlation with the Chinese pilgrims description supported their claim. Tilaurkots case was bolstered

by the disagreement among archaeologists over the decipherment of the Piprahwa inscription.

The dispute continued in the postindependence period. Nepal commenced a series of excavations in 1962 and found more structures around Tilaurakot, but failed to locate any relics. Matters turned in Indias favour in 1971. K.M. Srivastava, an archaeologist with the ASI, following a complaint forwarded to him from the Prime Ministers Office regarding the poor upkeep of Piprahwa, decided to look afresh at the place. He began new excavations and dug deeper to discover two remarkable soap stone urns. One of them contained 10 bone fragments and the other 12, all dateable to 5th century BCE. Besides

this, many terracotta seals with inscriptions found at the site supported Indias claim. This was an epoch making discovery that settled the location of Kapilavastu, Mr. Srivastava said in his report. For reasons that are still unknown, the ASI published the report only 20 years after the excavations were completed.

Nepal refused to acknowledge these developments and persists with its claim. It even nominated Tilaurakot along with Lumbini for World Heritage status. Unesco, which accepted the nominations, declared Lumbini as a World Heritage Site in 1997. Tilaurakot is still on the tentative list. The controversies over Kapilavastu were in the spotlight again last year when Charles Allen published

his absorbing book, The Buddha and Dr. Fher: an Archaeological Scandal .

Evidently none of the contesting claims has worried Sri Lanka. It was the first county to invite the relics and exhibit them in 1978. The exhibition, The Hindu reported then, drew more than 10 million visitors.

Tiruketheeswaram project

The exchange of ideas and objects around Buddhism between India and Sri Lanka go back more than two millennia. In the 3rd century BCE, a mission led by Mahinda, Ashokas son, reached Sri Lanka and converted the Sri Lankan king Tissa to Buddhism. One of Tissas first

requests, as the Sri Lankan text Mahavamsa compiled in 6th century CE describes, was for a branch of the Bodhi tree. The request was accepted, and Sanghamitra, Ashokas daughter, carried the branch to Anuradhapura.

Unlike in 1978, when the Indian government first exhibited the relics at Chennais Egmore Museum, en route to Sri Lanka, this time, in the current atmosphere of political antipathy in Tamil Nadu towards the Sri Lankan government, it evidently did not want to take chances. The relics were flown directly to Colombo.

This brings us to a second question around the lending of the relics to Sri Lanka. In the light of the unresolved Tamil issue, at least one political

party, the MDMK, has objected to it. In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, its leader Vaiko wrote that this was an unpardonable betrayal of Sri Lankan Tamils by the Indian government.

Perhaps it was in anticipation of such criticism that at the same time as the inauguration of the relics exposition in Colombo, India will launch a project for the conservation of the Tiruketheeswaram temple in Mannar.

Indeed, in the joint declaration issued on June 9, 2010, during the visit of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to India, alongside the plans for joint activities by the two countries to mark this years anniversary of Buddhas enlightenment, there is also

the following line: Both leaders also welcomed the proposal for the restoration of Tiruketheeswaram temple at Mannar to be undertaken with the assistance of the Archaeological Survey of India and the College of Architecture and Sculpture, Mamallapuram, with the involvement of the Department of Archaeology of Sri Lanka.

Union Minister of Culture Kumari Selja, who has accompanied the relics to Colombo, will travel to Mannar on Monday to launch the project, to which New Delhi has committed Rs.135 million.

srivAugust 20, 2012

Home is hardly the best

DOLLY KIKON

THE TRAIN TO GUWAHATI:The citizens from the Northeast have long erased from their minds the illusion that all citizens are equal before the law and are therefore guaranteed equal rights.PHOTO: K. BHAGYA PRAKASH We are going home, anxious workers and students from northeast India said to television cameras and mediapersons at crowded train stations in Bangalore, Pune, Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad. The exodus, from metropolitan cities across India, has brought up issues about the dangers of social media, how rumours create turmoil and panic, and the continuous

discussions about giving confidence to the people from the northeast.

Political parties and administrators underlined the ideals of citizenship, equality, and security to remind those packing their bags to reconsider their decision. But the exodus reveals how people are often weary of citizenship ideals and do not trust the state with their lives. The moral of the story: there are multiple visions of Indian citizenship, and the states promises to protect and secure citizens have remained an illusion for the majority of the people who are often swept under the grand narrative of citizenship and equality. Perhaps it was the objective thing to board the trains and go back to the northeast for several thousand workers and students

 objectivity here understood as the ability to experience the world through ones specific embodiment and situated knowledge.

The photographic images of northeast India as a land of festivals, dances, and culture are mythical visions of a political landscape where the state has a terrible record of governance and has not taken responsibility for the existing militarisation of the region.

Northeast India has increasingly become the alluring and charming face of the diversity of modern India, but a closer look reveals the paradox of how it has produced discrimination and racism at the same time.

The majority of those who left for northeast India are, along with other similar migrants, the invisible face of global India: cooks in ethnic restaurants that can whip up cuisine from every corner of country, security guards who protect ATM machines, corporate offices, or industries that push India as a global power, drivers who chauffeur cosmopolitan citizens and corporate executives, or waiters who wear ethnic costumes so that customers can absorb the aura of India. The exodus of these workers from Indian cities reveals their insecurities about being confident citizens, and their position as vulnerable workers with minimum rights in global India.

A majority of those who left told reporters they were going back

home as they boarded overcrowded trains. Invoking home means several things that range from ones home country to the intimate personal places of security. But the home in northeast India they return to, seeking protection and security, has never been a safe place. It is a region poisoned with extra constitutional laws like the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (1958) that has spawned a cosmology that thrives on the by-product of violence, bloodshed and disorder.

Displacement and introspection

This was not the first time and unfortunately, it will not be the last India has witnessed an exodus of ethnic and religious groups within the country. The internal displacement of

thousands is a yearly occurrence in the region. These events should make us realise that the tapestry of Indian citizenship is woven from the lived realities of its citizens, who inhabit the intimate spaces of servants quarters, security booths, and factory lines, and not only by the poster boys of political parties and the liberals wearing starched cotton outfits who sit and spin the ideals of good citizenship and human rights.

The increasing exhortation to northeasterners to become confident citizens is like asking a chained person to run a marathon. Repressive laws, legal impunity to state agents, and the armed conflict have produced a particular image of the state that is bereft of rights and guarantees.

Generally, notions of rights, as enshrined within constitutional provisions or international instruments correspond with some forms of justice mechanisms. The citizens from northeast India, including those thousands who left the beautiful cosmopolitan cities overnight, have long erased from their minds the illusion that all Indian citizens are equal before the law and are therefore guaranteed equal rights. Instead, they seek to understand how such inequalities have been sustained, validated and legitimised by the Indian state for more than half a century. August 20, 2012

Where the mind should have no fear

BRINDA KARAT

The listing of the Protection of Women Against Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill for discussion and adoption in the current session of Parliament is a welcome step. It is also welcome that the government has reversed its earlier unjustifiable position of keeping domestic workers outside the purview of the proposed legislation. Amendments moved on August 7 now include these sections of working women in a sector which has seen the largest increase in the employment of women in urban India.

Vishakha judgment

The Bill comes 15 years after the Supreme Courts historic and farreaching Vishakha judgment given by a bench headed by the then Chief Justice of India, J.S Verma, Sujata Manohar and B.N. Kripal in 1997. Vishakha was of great significance in the struggle against sexual harassment at the workplace. But in the absence of a law and a detailed protocol, the guidelines given by the Court have often been ignored or deliberately misinterpreted by employers, particularly in the private sector. Thousands of working women have had to pay the price for the inordinate, unjust delay in bringing the law, for which successive governments at the Centre are accountable.

In the period since the Vishakha judgement, the intensification of neoliberal policies has had a deep and negative impact leading to changes in the structure of the labour force. This is reflected in the huge increase in the number of casual and contract workers and a decrease in the relative share of regular workers. Even the formal sector is being informalised, putting a large section of workers outside the framework of protective legislation which, in any case, is sought to be dismantled by a pro-corporate government. There is little or no scrutiny of service contracts, particularly those concerning the work and conditions of women workers and employees.

Vulnerability

For example, in the tragic case of Geetika Sharma employed in a business run by a minister it is reported that her service contract had a clause that she had to report to him every evening, indicative of the vulnerability of women employees. Labour contracts for women workers in factories are often highly sexist in nature regarding wage payments and in insisting on single status, not having children and so on. The dilution, if not elimination, of the role of labour inspectors under the Industrial Disputes Act has led to the use of extreme exploitative practices by employers, supervisors and contractors. Thus the Bill to protect working women from sexual harassment comes at a time when the governments macro-industrial and

labour policies have strengthened the very processes which make them vulnerable to sexual harassment in the first place.

There are two important aspects to the Bill. The first aspect is the legal responsibility of the employer, whether government, public sector or private, to provide a safe and conducive environment for the woman worker through implementation of certain clauses and provisions. The onus is on the employer, and if this is not complied with, the employer is liable for punishment including in cases of repeated violations cancellation of licences. This is in addition to any other criminal prosecution provided by any other law. The second aspect is the provision of

concrete mechanisms and processes to enable an inquiry into individual complaints of sexual harassment and time-bound justice that the complainant has a right to through the formation of committees in the institution she works or, in the case of unorganised sector, through the formation of local committees at various levels under the supervision of the District Collector. Both aspects are critical to the prevention of sexual harassment but it also depends on who is to be included in the purview of the law.

The Vishakha guidelines are clear enough and mandate that all workplaces should be included. As is well known, the majority of the female workforce is in the unorganised

agricultural sector. This is where there are problems in the Bill. The Bills definition of the unorganised sector, taken from the National Commission of Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector Report, is an enterprise owned by individuals or self-employed workers and engaged in the production or sale of goods or providing service of any kind whatsoever and where the enterprise employs workers, the numbers of such workers is less than ten. The number of workers was mentioned in the NCEUS definition because enterprises employing over 10 were covered under the provisions of the Factory Act. Thus, this definition of the unorganised sector is more applicable to small or tiny enterprises in manufacturing, trade or service sectors.

Along with this, the NCEUS had very specifically included agricultural sector enterprises and its workers within the unorganised sector. However, the word agriculture or agriculture-related work does not figure in the Bill at all. The specification of workers to be less than ten would effectively remove landlords and rich peasants owning large tracts of land and employing over 10 agricultural workers from the ambit of the law. The Radhakrishna Commission on statistics in the unorganised sector in its report in February 2012 specifically recommended a separate approach to non-agricultural enterprises and workers employed in agriculture. It pointed out that there is no accepted common definition of the unorganised sector.

In such a situation, the definition in the Bill may well lead to the exclusion of a large section of Indias female workforce and will be a grave and gross injustice. Why should a landlord employing more than 10 workers on his farm not be held responsible for ensuring a safe environment for women? Why should a tribal woman going into the forest to pluck tendu leaves not have the right to a conducive environment guaranteed by the Forest Department? Agricultural women workers are the most vulnerable to sexual harassment. It is essential to end any ambiguity in the definition by specifically including farms and agriculture and related work in the Bill. Additionally, at the time of the framing of the Rules, a more detailed Schedule can be included as

recommended by the National Commission for Women and womens organisations.

The Bill also requires clarity on the inclusion of the armed forces and all paramilitary forces within its purview. With the increasing number of women being employed in the defence services, there is no reason why they should be excluded. Further, since the definition of aggrieved woman also includes a woman who is not employed, women who have faced harassment from the armed forces can also access justice through this law. The defence services should therefore be specifically mentioned in the Bill.

Clause 14

The Bill contains a clause which is directly opposed to the Supreme Court guidelines, which had specifically mandated protection of the complainant against victimisation. Clause 14 states that if a complaint is found to be malicious or a woman has produced a misleading document, she is liable for punishment. This will discourage a victim of sexual harassment from filing a complaint because she risks losing her job. Such a clause also ignores the power equations in cases where the complaint is against her superior which in any case militates against her making a complaint. This clause should be deleted, which was also recommended by the Standing Committee.

Protection for offender

The Bill has a specific clause, 16, that prohibits publication of the identity of the accused even if he is found to be guilty of sexual harassment. It is quite astounding that the government should seek not only to protect such a persons identity but also punish those who reveal it. One can understand if the concern is limited to protecting the identity of the victim or witnesses or even the respondent during the pendency of the inquiry. But the clause specifically states the action [after the inquiry] taken by the employer or the district officer under this Act will not be published, communicated or made known to the public, press and media in any manner. Men like Gopal

Kanda, or those in high office guilty of such actions, will no doubt be relieved at such legal protection afforded to their public persona and image by the proposed Bill.

Hopefully, the discussions in Parliament will bring more clarity from the government on these issues.

(Brinda Karat is a member of the Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India Marxist.) August 21, 2012

Dances with dragons

VIRENDRA SAHAI VERMA

China wants to widen the Chumbi Valley by pressing its claims on Bhutans western boundary but that could have implications for India. On June 21 this year, during a meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations Rio+ 20 conference, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met Bhutanese Prime Minister Jigmi Y. Thinley for the first time. The Hindu dated June 27, quoted Wen Jiabao as saying that China was willing to complete border demarcation with Bhutan at an early date.

The history of the Bhutan-China border dispute starts from 1950 when China published a map claiming areas in the west and north of Bhutan though bilateral talks started in 1984.

Twenty-eight years and 19 rounds of bilateral talks have resulted in a package deal offer from China (a) conceding claims of 900 sq.km in the north of Bhutan, (b) insisting on 400 sq.km of territory in the west, (c) offering to establish diplomatic relations, initiate trade and pilgrimage, (d) making it clear that any further negotiations would be on acceptance of package deal with minor adjustments within it.

It is noteworthy that over the years, the Bhutan government had been quite vocal in keeping its citizens and the National Assembly informed of the difficulties in negotiating with China. Regular deep intrusions by Chinese troops right up to Royal Bhutan Army

border posts, road extension work in Zuri and the Phuteogang ridge that overlooks the disputed Charithang valley are in violation of the 1998 China-Bhutan agreement for maintenance of peace and tranquillity, for which protests have been made. Four areas in the western sector claimed by the Chinese are Doklam, Charithang, Sinchulimpa and Dramana pasture land. In the National Assembly, many chimis (district representatives) have claimed that traditionally, the land always belonged to Bhutan and historically there has been no precedence of Bhutan paying taxes to the Tibetan Government for any of the disputed claims. The rich pasture lands in the west are intricately linked to the livelihood of yak herders of the border regions.

From the foregoing, it is clear that the Chinese are unlikely to give up their position in the four areas of western Bhutan except for minor adjustments. It is confirmed by the pattern of intrusions sssssand road building activities by Chinese in areas overlooking this sector that Beijing wishes to gain strategic advantage in the Chumbi Valley and put pressure on India for settlement having settled borders with Pakistan, Nepal and Myanmar.

Vital tri-junction

The narrow and vulnerable Chumbi valley between India (Sikkim) and Bhutan has a single artery from Shigaste, a major Tibetan city, to Yatung with plans to extend a railway

line. The lack of space restricts the deployment of troops. The Chinese strategy of claiming areas in western Bhutan is to widen its shoulders to facilitate military manoeuvres in the Chumbi Valley.

The recent development in infrastructure in Tibet has made it possible to induct a sufficient number of troops with adequate logistic backup at short notice. The limitation is in restricted deployment space; there is no other place on Indias northern borders which severely limits military manoeuvres as the Chumbi Valley does.

The Siliguri Corridor, a vital trijunction between Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal, is a narrow hub of rail,

road and air arteries known as the Chicken neck, the narrowest stretch of which is just about 30 km wide. India is vulnerable in this corridor as it is the only access point to the northeast. The Siliguri Corridor is about 500 km from the Chumbi Valley.

India-Bhutan relations

According to the media, Premier Wen Jiabao had met the Indian and Bhutanese Prime Ministers separately at Rio before making the announcement to the press. Some Chinese scholars have made this comment: Without Indias permission Bhutan would not have thought about establishing diplomatic ties with China.

India-Bhutan relations have been experiencing the winds of change. From 1949 onwards they were governed by a Treaty of Perpetual Peace and Friendship of 1949. Article 2 of the treaty was significant wherein the Government of Bhutan agrees to be guided by the advice of the Government of India in regard to its external relations.

However, much has changed. The isolation of Bhutan is a matter of the past. The nation has changed from monarchy to a democratic set-up. Article 2 had been a matter of concern for the Bhutanese so much so that some of them called themselves half independent. The 1949 Treaty was revised in 2007. Article 2 was replaced

with: In keeping with the abiding ties of close friendship between Bhutan and India, the Government of the Kingdom of Bhutan and the Government of Republic of India shall cooperate closely with each other on issues relating to their national interests. (emphasis added). Neither Government shall allow the use of its territory for activities harmful to the national security and interest of the other. The 2007 Treaty has begun a new era in bilateral cooperation.

Despite the new Article 2, New Delhi will remain Thimpus most important friend and a partner. These figures speak for themselves. Bhutan is the largest recipient of Indian development aid and India accounts for a total of 79 per cent of Bhutanese

imports and 95 per cent of its exports. India trains the Bhutanese army through the Indian Military Training Team (IMTRAT), in Bhutan. Simply put, Bhutans dependency on India will not match with any other country for many years.

Bhutan has every right as a sovereign country to establish diplomatic relations with any country including China. The opening of trade and tourism with China would usher in development and investments from there. However, a lack of discretion may also result in the dumping of goods, undermine a unique culture and affect the policy goal of gross national happiness.

Chinese claims do not seem to have historical evidence. The pasture lands would also deprive the livelihood source of their border people. Western Bhutan is not barren. It may be recalled that in 2006, China-India framed Political Parameters and Guiding Principles to resolve their long-standing border dispute. The important principles that need highlighting are that due interest of settled populations in border areas would be safeguarded and historical evidence and sensibilities of border areas taken into account. These guidelines are worth inculcating by China and Bhutan. The border settlement will require approval by 3/4th majority in the Bhutan National Assembly.

It is hoped that all aspects including Indias interests will be truly considered by Bhutan before accepting the border package. Bhutan should refrain from deepening ties with China beyond a self-imposed minimum limit in their own interest. August 21, 2012

A growing intolerance
ANITA JOSHUA

Pardon the plugging of a piece by Pakistani writer Mohammed Hanif that appeared in Dawn last week. It gives a perspective to the reported episodes of Hindus fleeing Pakistan that needs wide airing.

Hanifs story of a Hazara Shia teenager being packed off to Thailand for his protection (he writes in the same piece about meeting in Mumbai a Pakistani Hindu who had settled for good in the city) drives home the message that it is not just the nonMuslims who are insecure in Pakistan. Non-Sunni Muslim sects are equally threatened. Shias, in particular, are pulled out of buses and summarily executed in broad daylight in various parts of the country. Among the Shias, the Hazara Shias are particularly vulnerable as their distinctive Mongloid features are a dead giveaway. Many have been fleeing the country, seeking asylum in far-off lands. So targeted are the Shias that many wonder if Pakistans founding father Mohammad Ali Jinnah a Shia would have been able to live

there today. Even back in 1948, Jinnahs state funeral was conducted as per Sunni traditions.

Targeted hate campaign

Ahmedis are subject to a targeted hate campaign with lawyers calling for boycotting their products, wall writings inciting hatred towards them sometimes reportedly even inside government buildings and domelike structures on their places of worship (the law of the land does not permit these structures to be called mosques) pulled down on court orders. Hindus have not met that fate, yet.

But, the pace at which Pakistan is getting radicalised, all those who do

not subscribe to the Wahhabi/Salafi/Takfiri school of Islam are being targeted almost simultaneously. When Sufi shrines are bombed, how safe is the average Muslim who prefers Sufism to the puritan Wahhabism, insists on calling the month of fasting Ramzan instead of the Saudi Ramadan and sticks to Khuda Haafiz in place of Ziaimposed Allah Hafiz?

Hindus carry the added baggage of being identified with India. Hindus living in Islamabad claim their neighbours call them Indians because of their faith. Christians, in comparison, have gone out of their way to melt into the crowd by assuming Muslim names. So, a Paul or a Jacob is rare, the preferred names

being Shahbaz, Shazia, Nasreen, Tahira, and such like. According to one estimate, 60 per cent of Christians have Muslim names. The lone Christian member of the federal cabinet who was assassinated last year had been christened Shahbaz Bhatti.

But then the bulk of Christians in Pakistan are in Punjab which has been on the radicalisation trajectory for decades. Sindh, according to defence analyst Ayesha Siddiqa, is fast catching up but the trend has largely gone ignored. Some data was provided by Jinnah Institutes Raza Rumi in a detailed article Jinnahs Pakistan Cannot Be Abandoned on Pakistans Independence Day. In Khairpur, 93 seminaries out of the 117 are not registered with the government and in

Umerkot where many Hindus reside there are more than 400 madrassas, he wrote. This has changed the social fabric of a province known for its religious tolerance.

Given that Pakistan has not been regular with its census, verified population figures are difficult to come by. According to the Pakistan Hindu Council (PHC), there are 7,000,000 Hindus in the country and nearly 94 per cent of them are in Sindh. For the most part, Hindus in Pakistan are well educated and active in commerce, trade and the civil service, is how the PHC profiles the community on its website.

Though there have been reports of forced conversion of Hindu girls from

different parts of the province in recent years, community leaders concede that this was generally ignored because the victims initially belonged to the lower castes. That is how the Rinkle Kumari case of the girl who was allegedly kidnapped by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) parliamentarian, Mian Mithu, and forcibly married to his son was different.

More such cases came to light and three of them were together taken up by the Supreme Court. But to the disappointment of the community, the apex court sent the girls back with their husbands on the premise that they wanted to stay married to them. The girls families maintain they said yes under duress as they had been threatened with dire consequences.

Rinkle Kumari is said to have attempted suicide several times in the past few months.

A further disappointment was that no enquiry was ordered into the actions of Mian Mithu one of the pir s of Bharchundi Sharif. This added to the Hindu communitys fear that the judgment would strengthen his hands as Hindus had exhausted practically all their options. So when reports of largescale migration to India in the name of pilgrimage surfaced, the suggestion by some civil society organisations to petition the court was poor consolation.

Most Hindu organisations contacted maintained that all those going to India this month were part of a pilgrimage

 routine for this time of the year and expected a majority of the families to return. Others claimed that some of the families had shut shop and sold their properties before leaving on the pilgrimage; indicating that they would not return. In Jacobabad home to about a lakh-and-a-half Hindus there was apparently a tearful send-off expecting no return.

Though the community has seen it coming for a while now, there has been an escalation in violence, kidnappings and forced conversions of girls this year. The proverbial last straw on the camels back was the kidnapping and forced conversion of girls, says vice-chairman of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (Sindh chapter), Amar Nath. He insists 50 per

cent of Hindus living in Upper Sindh have moved out, the majority to Karachi. Those with the means have gone overseas.

In his estimate, 3,000 families have moved to India over the past three years. Last year, 300 families went to India on a pilgrimage and 60 of them stayed back.

The religious quotient of the issue apart, the relative prosperity of the Hindus of Upper Sindh also makes them easy prey for the Wadheras (feudal lords) of the province. Hindus who have spoken out have said the Wadheras are targeting them primarily to get them to leave their areas so that their properties can be taken over.

Harris Gazdar of the Karachi-based Collective for Social Science Research maintains that Hindus particularly the most prominent Vanyas are generally known to be moneyed.

Motivated by money

Some of these crimes might be committed by groups with religious motivation, but most such crimes are motivated by money, said Mr. Gazdar. Their being Hindu is relevant because they stand out as being economically successful, and they may not receive the level of protection other wealthy people expect to receive from the state.

The plight of the Scheduled Castes among Hindus is, expectedly, even worse. They often complain that their plight is due to their minority status, and I think that this is a justified complaint. Compared to other migrant ethnic groups into the irrigated plains of Sindh, they have not been successful in gaining upward mobility through group-based solidarity and political leverage. It is therefore hard to escape the conclusion that they being Hindu has marked them out as being not supported and hence easy prey to local power groups. I have a feeling that the upper caste mercantile/professional Hindus do not have strong feelings of solidarity with this group.

Though both the federal and provincial governments have set up committees to enquire into the reports of an emigration and sent out teams to speak to the community, it has failed to instil any confidence; primarily because of the poor governance record of the PPP. This governments tenure has seen an escalation of violence on religious grounds and it does not help those living in fear of the religious right wing that the PPP is the most secular of all political parties in Pakistan. And, Sindh is the PPPs pocket borough.

All religious minorities, including nonSunni Muslims, face persecution in Pakistan. Hindus carry the added burden of being identified with India August 21, 2012

This expensive bulb is fused

SURYA P. SETHI

ON THE BLINK:The 2004 promise to electrify all households by 2009 has now become a target for 2017, but even that is unrealistic. PHOTO: A. MURALITHARAN In his Independence Day speech, the Prime Minister made the statement that when the UPA Government came to power in 2004, we had promised that we would provide electricity to all villages. He then went on to say: Our next target is to provide electricity to each and every household

in our country in the next five years and to also improve the supply of electricity. At best this is an oversight by his advisers/speech-writers and at worst a deliberate attempt to obfuscate what was promised in 2004 and the failure to deliver by a long margin.

The 2004 National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP) of the UPA government categorically stated: Household electrification will be completed in five years. There is no mention of providing electricity to all villages in the 2004 NCMP. The 2004 promise to electrify all households by 2009 has now become a target for 2017. Sadly, there is no supporting data that makes the revised promise even remotely achievable.

Electrification programme

The 2011 census shows that 7.5 crore rural households still did not have electricity compared to 7.8 crore such households in 2001. As for urban households, 0.6 crore did not have electricity in 2011 compared to 0.7 crore of such households in 2001. At this rate, it will take several decades to electrify all Indian households. This dismal performance despite the much touted high GDP growth during this period and the much acclaimed Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidyutikaran Yojna (RGGVY) launched in April 2005 by essentially combining existing rural electrification programmes under a new avatar and raising the outlay. Trickledown economics is simply not working and the governments ability

to design and implement a programme that effectively uses RGGVYs 90 per cent subsidy to deliver the desired outcome remains in doubt.

The files in the Planning Commission will relate a story of how serious issues were raised about the design of RGGVY and its cost estimates. It was repeatedly shown that RGGVY was deeply flawed on several counts and cannot deliver the objective of universal electrification. Alternatives that would, over time, become self sustaining were proposed and though some suggestions were incorporated, the flawed framework remained. RGGVY was presented in 2004 as an outcome of the NCMP with an estimated subsidy requirement of Rs.14,750. Planning Commission

notes pointed out that RGGVY would not deliver the objective even with four times that outlay. RGGVY was given Rs.5,000 crore in the Tenth plan, 28,000 crore in the 11th Plan and the former Power Minister Shinde is reported to have sought Rs.50,000 crore in the 12th Plan for RGGVY. Even if this sum is made available, bringing the total subsidy outlay to Rs.83,000 crore (563 per cent of the 2004 estimate), universal electrification will remain an unfulfilled Indian dream.

Problems

Allow me to highlight a few of the problems with RGGVY. The first such issue stands exposed by the Prime Ministers words from the ramparts of

Red Fort extolling the virtues of RGGVY. He said: And now almost all villages in the country have been electrified. The veracity of this statement can only be established after more detailed data from the 2011 census comes into public domain. But more importantly, the statement, like RGGVY, ignores that village electrification does not deliver household electrification. States that declared 100 per cent electrification in the 1990s had up to 40 per cent households without electricity. Over half the households could still be unelectrified in villages declared electrified 10-20 years ago.

Currently, a village is certified as electrified if 10 per cent of the households are electrified in addition

to electrification of all public structures such as schools, dispensaries, community hall, panchayat offices, etc, and the distribution infrastructure extends to the Dalit b asti , if any. Thus while RGGVY has electrified some one lakh new villages; universal household electrification remains elusive. It was repeatedly pointed out that RGGVYs objective must be aligned with the 2004 NCMP promise and RGGVYs structure completely recast to push universal electrification and not just age-old village electrification.

No revenue model

Another repeatedly highlighted problem with RGGVY was the absence of a revenue model that

ensured its sustainability. Single phase supply designed to meet the average monthly consumption of less than 20 units in rural households cannot be made economically viable without a heavy subsidy burden. The sick State electricity boards are unable to bear this annual subsidy burden. What is needed is to develop productive three phase loads that generate economic activity in rural areas. Such load intensification can make rural distribution more viable through the economic outfall. In fact, the bulk of the infrastructure being laid under RGGVY would need to be significantly augmented/replaced as and when our dream of Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA) is realised. So why not do it right the first time around instead of wasting money on a sham programme

that does not deliver the stated NCMP objective? And before someone blames free power to agriculture, which is indeed a productive load, let me point out that reported agricultural consumption is 19 per cent today and we all know that the actual is much less because agricultural consumption provides a convenient proxy for theft of electricity by consumers required to pay. I support charging for agricultural power if quality power is made available when needed and if the price of the farm output can absorb it.

A third issue that remains unaddressed is where is the primary energy needed to support universal access? Building the rural distribution infrastructure without the ability to energise it is a recipe for de-electrification of the

newly electrified villages as has been the case in the past and is already happening with the newly electrified villages under RGGVY. Our confused policies on coal, gas, hydro and nuclear are coming home to roost and the current decentralised distributed generation schemes based on renewable sources such as wind, solar and small hydro are all driven by the safety of supplying the starving State grids that primarily feed urban loads.

Suffice it to say that alternatives were proposed repeatedly to address these and other shortcomings and while they did not guarantee universal household electrification in five years, they certainly provided a more sustainable framework that would have utilised the money spent better and potentially

resulted in far fewer un-electrified households and actual electricity for electrified homes and productive loads. The primary beneficiaries of the current dispensation have been contractors and distribution equipment suppliers who have all pushed up the cost of rural electrification to unprecedented levels.

In conclusion, let me say that history will likely judge the past eight years harshly given the revelations that hit the news daily and the political mayhem that follows.

But one thing that is becoming increasingly apparent is how poorly his closest advisers have served the Prime Minister. No political consensus was needed to ensure that

sane voices with fresh ideas, of which there were plenty, reached the Prime Minister and were given the time and analysis they deserved, especially in the critical energy and infrastructure sectors.

(The writer, formerly Principal Adviser Power and Energy, Government of India, is Visiting Professor, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore.)

Universal electrification will remain a dream unless the government fixes the flaws in its much vaunted scheme to provide power to rural India August 22, 2012

Imagining a new national politics

YOGENDRA YADAV

There is at last some clarity on the politics of the anti-corruption movements. Baba Ramdevs dramatic call for Congress- hatao and the political turn of the Anna movement have confirmed that a movement aimed at rooting out corruption cannot defer a direct encounter with party politics for very long. The manner in which both decisions were announced left something to be desired. The announcement by Team Anna invited serious criticism that it was a

hasty afterthought, a face-saving device or, worse, a sinister design. Baba Ramdevs flip-flop and final dalliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party and other non-Congress forces irrespective of their own record on corruption were hardly expected to add to his credibility. Yet this clarity is to be welcomed, for it opens an unusual window of opportunity for peoples politics.

Three tendencies

Right from its beginnings last year, the anti-corruption movement comprised three tendencies. One section was staunchly opposed to all parties, all politicians and all forms of politics. More pronounced in the first phase of the movement, this anti-politics

tendency had worrisome authoritarian overtones. The second tendency translated anti-corruption as antiCongress and did not care if its actions ended up aligning with the opposition parties, especially the BJP. Eventually owned up by Baba Ramdev and briefly preferred by Team Anna last year, this tendency has evoked suspicion about the hidden hand of the sangh parivar in the anti-corruption movement.

The third tendency, which has finally prevailed within the Anna movement, though not without dissent, searched for its own, alternative form of politics. While this has generally been understood as forming a new political party, the impulse underlying this tendency awaits more careful elaboration. A formal separation of

this third tendency from the politics of anti-politics and mere nonCongressism may appear to have weakened the popular upsurge and let the ruling class off the hook. Seen in a wider context, however, this development has opened up the possibility of new ideas, energies and allies for alternative politics of peoples movements.

A political vacuum marks the peoples movement sector. Ever since its emergence in the 1980s, the movement sector comprising farmers movements, Dalit movements, womens movements, environmental movements and the movements for information and deepening of democracy is one of the most vibrant spaces in the democratic arena.

These movements are inherently political in that they seek to challenge the settled relations of power. They have quietly shifted the terms of political engagement and brought new issues to the foreground. Legislation and policies like the Right to Information, the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act, the Forest Act and the new Land Acquisition and Rehabilitations Act are a tribute to the power and creativity of these movements.

Yet these movements have not succeeded in posing a direct challenge to mainstream politics. Attempts to establish political parties representing the movements failed to cross the high threshold of viability in our electoral system. These include the Samata

Sangathan and Karnataka Rajya Rayyata Sangha in the 1980s, the Samajwadi Janparishad and Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha in the 1990s, and the Loksatta Party, Womens Political Front, Uttarakhand Jan Vahini and Sarvodaya Karnataka in the last decade. Attempts at forming a grand coalition of these movements in electoral politics did not work in the last two Lok Sabha elections.

These efforts have involved some of the finest activists and thinkers of our time. There have been many creative organisational experiments and ideological innovations. Yet, they remained largely invisible: most educated and politically informed Indians may not have heard about these. Even the most powerful mass

movements failed to translate their support in electoral terms. In order to give effect to their political agenda, these movements remained dependent on the very political establishment they critiqued and struggled against.

During this period, mainstream politics became more insulated from popular struggles and movements. Heres the paradox though: ever since the sudden decline of the Congress in 1989, the third space has expanded while the third force has shrunk. The failure of the Janata Dal in the early 1990s and the collapse of the United Front experiment in the mid-1990s meant that much of the expanding political energy of the third space drifted towards the two poles represented by the United Progressive Alliance and

the National Democratic Alliance. The Left used to be a natural home for popular struggles and movements, but its ideological dominance, moral authority and political presence have been severely eroded. The energy of the third space is in search of a national political vehicle of its own.

This is where the anti-corruption movement offers something of a breakthrough. It is after more than three decades that a movement outside the organised party sector has registered a nationwide presence and visibility. More than the number of people that participated in highly visible protests in Delhi, what matters is that the Anna Hazare-led movement spawned smaller protests in a large number of towns and even villages. A

fairly large proportion of citizens who did not participate in any protest heard about it and sympathised with it. The activists, supporters and sympathisers of the anti-corruption movement constitute a larger pool of potential support for alternative politics than generated by any other popular movement in recent times. After a very long time, a movement promises to cross the high threshold of viability required for creating a national political alternative.

At the same time, this is no more than a promise of a breakthrough. The support was not based on any grassroots mobilisation and was almost entirely triggered by extraordinary media coverage in August last year. Therefore the support

base is very mixed and variable and could well be ephemeral. Besides, a good deal of the support for the anticorruption movement may not translate into support for alternative politics.

Ideological issues

There are ideological issues here. A single issue like corruption could serve as the focal point of mobilisation of otherwise contrary forces in a movement. This was a smart choice: the more classical radical issues do not permit cross-sectional mobilisation, nor do they resonate in popular consciousness. At the same time, corruption understood in a narrow way cannot be the centre-piece of an alternative politics. Minimally,

an understanding of corruption needs to go beyond bribery of individual politicians and bureaucrats; corruption embedded into policies and perpetuated by the system needs to be addressed. There have been legitimate concerns about where this movement stands vis--vis bigger questions like communalism, caste-based injustice, crony capitalism and ecological destruction. Annas movement was wise to distance itself from communal and anti-Dalit positions, but it is to be seen if it can expand its ideological bandwidth to include larger issues raised by peoples movements in the last couple of decades.

The movement also faces serious organisational and leadership challenges. The success of the

movement required a leader like Anna Hazare. The challenge of quick response in the face of sudden success also required decision making by a small and flexible group. This is not suited for making a transition to political organisation. Any form of political organisation would require a clearly established and consultative procedure for mature decision-making. The leadership of the movement would need to reflect the social diversity of the country and the rising aspirations of the hitherto marginalised social groups.

The larger challenge

Finally, there is the challenge of political and organisational vision. While ending the fast, Team Anna

committed itself to creating an alternative political force. But it was soon translated into a new political party aiming at electoral success in 2014. It remains to be seen if this new effort is alive to the larger challenge of imagining and building alternative politics. Specifically, the challenge is to visualise a political organisation that does not replicate the structural flaws of mainstream political parties. The movement also faces the challenge of looking beyond the next election and redefining what political success means. Instead of exposing itself to conventional measures of success in terms of votes and seats, the movement needs to think of its success in terms of its impact on the political agenda and the established political culture. Its success depends not so much on whether it wins an election

but on how much of positive energy it releases into the political system.

In other words, the anti-corruption movement offers a possible breakthrough for creating an alternative politics, but it faces serious mobilisational, ideological and organisational challenges. Fortunately, the peoples movements can complement the anti-corruption movement in this respect. A fusion of the tendency within the anti-corruption movement committed to a political alternative and the stream within peoples movements wedded to the idea of alternative politics is the need of the hour. Such a fusion is historically possible and desirable, but forging it in real life is going to be a very difficult and delicate operation.

Medha Patekar and Aruna Roy, two of the leading and most credible voices in the movement sector, have cautioned against this move. They are not nonpolitical and certainly not antipolitical, but they are not convinced of the merit of turning a popular movement into a political party. Keeping their concerns in mind and yet trying to forge a new political instrument is the challenge of our times. This is the challenge for all those who dare to think beyond the limited political alternatives that we have had to live with. August 22, 2012

Warming signs for the economyInvestments

SUJATHA BYRAVAN AND

BIG PICTURE:Diversifying sources of energy can help reduce supply risks, build climate resilience and reduce emissions. PHOTO: AFP Adverse weather events around the world, such as floods in China, the changing pattern of the monsoons in India, devastating drought in the United States and the resulting damage to local, national and regional economies, are stark reminders that climate change is not a fringe concern of environmentalists, but an issue of profound importance for economic development.

A recent paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by

Hansen and colleagues states that recent incidents of extreme weather in different parts of the world are almost certainly the result of global warming. In India it is difficult to link monsoon variability with climate change using existing models, but the recent trends may be serious warning signs. Warming will also lead to melting of glaciers, drought, floods and sea level rise, all of which will likely cause a number of adverse secondary effects taking place alongside existing development challenges and institutional failures.

For instance, the blackouts that recently disrupted power supply for hundreds of millions of people across North India have been blamed on the coalescence of a surge in demand due

to warm weather, shortages in hydroelectric power, failure of the monsoon and the absence of grid discipline. Some people were able to use generators to survive the worst effects, a reminder that the poor will suffer the most in any disaster. Many scientists now fear that we will routinely encounter such perfect storms in the future, where climate change conjoins with deep social and economic inequalities and failing institutions to deter our ability to cope with problems.

In India

Average global temperature has risen by about 0.5 from the accumulation of anthropogenic greenhouse gases in the atmosphere during the past century

or so. The effect of recent emissions will be manifested over several decades and given current trends, the temperature rise will likely exceed 2. The 2011 drought in Texas cost more than $7 billion. In India, climate variability is expected to lead to crop loss of 10 to 40 per cent and hundreds of billions of rupees in loss of revenue from agriculture with a 2 rise in average global temperatures. Much higher losses are likely if one takes into account other effects, including damage to land and livelihoods due to sea level rise and coastal erosion, morbidity and mortality with increased incidence of disease, forced displacement and property loss from flooding and landslides. Given the scale of the expected impacts in South Asia on livelihoods, human well-being and ecosystems, it is essential that

climate change policies be central to Indias strategic thinking on long-term economic development.

A guiding national climate policy was provided in the 2008 National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), of the Prime Ministers Council on Climate Change, which led to the development of eight climate missions. The approach as described is expected to lead to a directional shift in Indias development pathway.

Suggestions

In a recently completed evaluation of the eight missions by the authors, a concern that arose was that if sustainable development is indeed a

central guiding principle in Indias climate policy, it has not been prioritised in the approaches and outcomes of individual missions. One starting point for the nations climate policy might have been to paint a big picture from which medium-term goals, plans and the missions could have been derived. The fact that these missions were placed in eight separate bins has led to viewing the problems and solutions with sector-specific lenses. However, the multidimensionality of climate impacts makes it vital that India adopts an approach that is interdisciplinary in its character, breaks traditional ministerial boundaries, and learns rapidly from the effects of warming that are ongoing and our successes and failures in dealing with them.

Experts are still learning about subregional impacts of climate change, but we know for sure that reducing emissions is urgent as is reducing vulnerability. We suggest the following processes: first, through a collaborative and systematic method, identify development decisions in different sectors that could lock in structures, technological systems and institutions leading to high emissions pathways, which as it turns out are also generally inequitable, and find plausible alternatives. Second, incorporate increasing climate resilience into decision-making. Climate resilience generally refers to the capacity to respond effectively to climate change. This would safeguard the economy from climate shocks and also protect the poorest and most

vulnerable. How can we do this? A few examples.

Plan cities so that the largest amount of space is devoted to bus users, pedestrians and bicyclists, who already constitute the majority of travellers and whose emissions and oil use are minuscule. By promoting cars, the government promotes the use of oil and locks in unsustainable, low resilience modes. Thus, private vehicles are likely to clog highways or come to a standstill during periods of disaster or when petroleum products become scarce.

Agriculture

Phase out producer subsidies for fertilizers, which reduce sustainability and increase emissions; provide incentives for low-input farming practices that grow hardy local varieties and for successful models such as the system of rice intensification. Similarly, current systems of tube well agriculture promote institutional as well as technological lock-in across multiple domains by forcing crises in the electricity sector, reducing availability of fossil water for emergencies, increasing emissions and reducing incentives for farm-level innovation.

In the power sector, reduce technical losses through grid rationalisation and improving distribution infrastructure (e.g., upgrade transformers and

distribution lines) and expand options for community-scale micro-grids using decentralised generation sources, such as biomass, solar and small hydro. A diversified portfolio will reduce supply risks and build resilience while reducing emissions.

Similarly, building conventional coalfired plants and providing leases for open pit mining in forest areas raise emissions and worsen social inequality. Coal plants last 30-50 years and forests that could store water, bio resources, diversity and support livelihoods are destroyed.

One could go on, but the point is that while the PMs Council on Climate Change provides broad oversight, what is needed is an interdisciplinary body

devoted full time to overseeing decisions being made and ensuring that they follow the two principles of avoiding high emissions lock in and increasing resilience and equity. These principles, tacitly assumed in the framework document, need to be made explicit and employed as a screening tool for future economic policy. August 23, 2012

Everyones talking about rape

HADLEY FREEMAN

Mind the language:Todd Akins (left) comment on legitimate rape

highlights the misogyny in his political circle, which includes VP candidate Paul Ryan (centre), while comments that Julian Assange is guilty only of bad sexual etiquette is loyalty trumping truth. Photos: AFP, AP

Hi there! Wasnt the weekend lovely? So warm and sunny with just a light breeze on which you could hear the gentle whisper Rape ... rape ... rape ... Rape does seem to be in the air these days, what with the Republican party in the U.S., certain devotees of Julian Assange around the world, and lazy comedians in Edinburgh, all talking quite a lot about it without apparently having a clue what it is. So lets clear things up. Welcome to Rape: The Idiots Primer.

It is testament to the determination of some folk to bend reality to their preferred viewpoint that there are so many intriguing words around these days for rape to make it seem, I dont know, less rapey. Two years ago sex by surprise, nobodys favourite pudding (Would madam prefer the apple pie a la mode, the tiramisu or the sex by surprise?), was the hot new coinage in reference to Assange but now theres a whole slew in the mix.

The scientifically challenged Republican politician Todd Akin referred in a now-infamous interview to something called legitimate rape which, strangely, Akin seemed to use to refer to a particularly nasty rape because in those extreme

circumstances the female body has ways of shutting [their reproductive organs] down. Now, leaving aside the question of how on earth a 65-year-old man with six children can be so clueless about female biology, this kind of differentiation between whats a Proper Rape and whats merely a Fake Rape is very popular in certain circles.

The term Akin was groping for was not the contradictory legitimate rape but the tautological forcible rape, the term employed in HR3, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, which Akin co-sponsored, to refer to rapes that involve the woman being violently assaulted, as those are the only rapes that count, apparently. So if youre drugged and dont put up a

fight resulting in you getting a black eye, good news! Your rape didnt count. Bad news! You wont get help paying for an abortion not that youll need one, mind, because pregnancies through rape dont happen, of course.

Eventually, the term was dropped from the bill which then passed but it just so happens that Akins co-sponsor on that measure was current GOP VP nominee Paul Ryan. Akin later apologised for having misspoke about legitimate rape but the truth is all he had done was articulate the ignorance and misogyny rife in his party, as well as the even more common belief that some rapes count and some are acts sluts bring upon themselves.

Its not just politicians. Whoopi Goldberg once said Roman Polanski hadnt committed rape-rape back in 1977, although seeing that a 13-yearold child told how he drugged and sodomised her, Id hate to know what Ms Goldberg considers actual rape.

This week the British Member of Parliament George Galloway took to his video blog, Good Night with George Galloway, to defend Assange, insisting what he is accused of isnt rape (it is), that all he is guilty of is bad sexual etiquette.

This is just a little reminder to all of the Assange fans out there that Assange is not being charged for

anything to do with WikiLeaks. Despite what he insinuated in his Evita-like balcony speech on Sunday from the Ecuadorean embassy in London, Assange is dodging rape accusations from two women. Not WikiLeaks. Women. Same first letter. Different things. Also, while you can contrary to other certain beliefs become pregnant if you are raped, you cannot become pregnant from WikiLeaks. Just to clarify. Next!

Every year in Britain, 400,000 women are sexually assaulted. More hard figures: 99.99 per cent of all rape jokes arent funny (well get to the .01 per cent that are in a tick); 100 per cent of attention-seeking, imaginationdeficient comedians will make at least one rape joke in their lives. Numbers

are fun! As Tanya Gold recently wrote in the London-based Guardian , rape jokes are quite la mode de la saison up at the Edinburgh festival right now, but they have never been out of fashion on comedy circuits. The reliably unfunny comedian Daniel Tosh got in a bit of trouble earlier this summer for making one at the expense of an audience member (Wouldnt it be funny if that girl got raped by, like, five guys right now?) and the only amazing thing about that incident was that he was reprimanded for it.

If edgy comedy is supposed to provide an enlightening perspective on a horrible aspect of life then nearly all rape jokes fail, not least because they are often at the expense of the rape victim. The only funny rape-ish joke

Ive ever heard was from U.S. comedian John Mulaney, who mused on how women see him as a threat late at night, and its weird because, like, Im still afraid of being kidnapped. I find that more enlightening and funnier than Jimmy Carrs What do nine out of 10 people enjoy? A gang rape. It also unlike anything said by Akin, Ryan, Galloway, Carr or Assanges fans shows awareness of the victim as opposed to focusing on the alleged (or, in this case, imagined) attacker. Thats how you talk about rape, see? You remember that the victim is an actual person.

Man, can you imagine the hilarity that would ensue if Carr and Galloway were ever to share a room? I honestly think my reproductive organs just shut

down. Guardian Newspapers Limited, August 23, 2012

Nailing the lie of the land

MEDHA PATKAR

Much at stake:Residents of Patana village in Jagatsinghpur district of Odisha protest against land acquisition for a Posco steel mill in this February 2011 file photo. Photo: LINGARAJ PANDA A few thousand representatives of various peoples movements from across the country have gathered at

Jantar Mantar in the national capital. They are Dalits, Adiviasis, sections of unprotected working class including farmers and fish-workers but they all form one biradari of those who live off land, water, forest. They are the ones who produce, distribute, build, operate, clean, sell, drive and do all that enable society to survive, proceed and progress. But the tragedy is that they have to battle for their own survival. And that is what they do, through non-violent means, against a state that plots to evict them, rob them of their meagre resources, transfer the capital in their hands to corporates in the name of development and then compel them to beg for rehabilitation. Asserting their right to resources and to make their own plans to develop those resources, they are also questioning a development model that

is undemocratic, unjust.

inequitable

and

They are at Jantar Mantar to agitate against the upcoming Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill. They want to convey the message that it is time to review and discard the British legacy of forcible acquisition on the basis of eminent domain of the state and stress the eminent domain of the people who are both at the root of democracy as well as its top. When money and labour, two of the three capital resources for any development project (a dam, industry, infrastructure etc.) cant be taken by force, how can any statutory agency forcibly acquire the third resource land?

While even the British restricted acquisition to government projects termed as public purpose, our elected governments amended the Act of 1894 to legitimise acquisition for private companies and public-private partnership projects. Prime rural and urban land is being acquired, while lakhs of hectares of barren waste land or acquired but unused land is being ignored. The policy has created havoc. In urban areas, basti after basti is evicted in the name of redevelopment, ensuring huge profits for builders and developers. The results are obvious. With more than 18 lakh hectares of agricultural land directed to non-agricultural purpose in 10 years, and the urban land ceiling acts in States having been repealed, houses are beyond the reach of the

middle class. Between 25 and 60 per cent of urban poor live in slums or are homeless.

The recent report of the all-party committee on the Bill appreciates the issues and reservations raised by many of us: no forcible acquisition for private or PPP projects; no acquisition of agricultural land one crop or multiple crop; and bringing under the purview of this Act, all Central Acts used for land acquisition in sector such as mining, highways, railways, ports etc. It also recognises the role of the Gram Sabha and Basti Sabha, in deciding public purpose to planning the project, deciding the R&R and then monitoring it. This is nothing new, but reiterates the framework provided through Article 243 (73rd and 74th

Amendment) of the Constitution, incorporated in 1992-93. If the land allotted to any industry/project is not used for five years, it can go back to the landowner, the report recommends.

Unfortunately, the Ministry of Rural Development is not agreeable to many of these reasonable proposals. Only multiple-crop land can be excluded, it says. How is this possible if, for instance, a single-crop plot is sandwiched between two multiple crop ones? Todays non-irrigated land can be tomorrows irrigated. Rural development should have agriculturists as the prime beneficiaries, not the corporates. The latter are pushing state acquisition through the Ministry of Rural Development for their own benefit. Why should the MoRD or the

government bow before them? The answer lies in the politicianbureaucrat-corporate nexus.

But the movements cant submit to this. They are demanding that the government not act as the property dealer for private corporations. Public purpose itself is defined by the Ministry of Rural Development in a manner worse than in the British Act.

The weakest part endorsed by both the committee and the MoRD is, however, rehabilitation. The number of displaced/affected people since Independence is anywhere between eight and 12 crore (the number is never final as many categories are left out, such as canal-affected persons in dam constructions, and where the

government has no comprehensive record). Up to 86 per cent of this number has been left pauper for generations. Whether it is Bhakra Nangal or Narmada, coastal communities of fish-workers, slum dwellers or victims of industrial development, each State has lakhs of families waiting to be rehabilitated, and still in struggle mode.

The only progressive rehabilitation policy in Sardar Sarovar damNarmada Project could be brought about only through a continuous struggle over the past 27 years by the Narmada Bachao Andolan. Why cant the same provisions become part of the new Act, people ask. The answer is: no political will. Only cash four to six times the market value, as in the

Haryana, Gurgaon or U.P. models is not rehabilitation. Cash was offered by the British as well. It has failed to ensure livelihood. Todays market can be very deceptive and elusive for simple farmers or labourers. Why cant a government ensure an alternative source of livelihood using the same cash instead of destroying and dividing integrated, non-cash-based communities?

In short, the opportunity to democratise and decentralise planning to minimise diversion of land and destruction of agriculture, and to stop uprooting our own people must be viewed with all seriousness. People in every State are demanding an end to these policies. If this cry is not responded to by changing the Bill to

incorporate the committees recommendations and calling for wider consultations for true land reforms, serious conflict can only intensify, for which the present rulers will be forced to pay a heavy price in 2014.

(Medha Patkar is a social activist and founder of Narmada Bachao Andolan and National Alliance of Peoples Movements.) August 23, 2012

Living with the reality of virtual threats

SHASHI THAROOR

The recent revelations of Pakistanbased websites unleashing doctored pictures of alleged atrocities against Muslims in order to inflame passions in India has once again drawn attention to the enormous potential of the Information Age to challenge our security assumptions.

The computer is the instrument of our age; cyberspace is the oxygen of the internet. So much in our interconnected, globalised, and technologically advancing world depends on cyberspace. From our mundane emails to social networking to high priority banking services, government systems, communications, transport, and perhaps most important, our military organisations, all

increasingly place reliance on the World Wide Web and everything connected to it.

To a layman, cyber security means simple things: a password that is not stolen, a message that remains confidential, a child that is not exposed to a stalker or paedophile online. When they type in a web address, that is where they should go and not to a spam site. When they click a link that looks genuine, they should not be cheated by a plausible fraud. Their work online should not be tampered with, and so on.

Four threats

But cyber security ranges across wider terrain. The international relations theorist Joseph Nye has discerned four different types of threats to cyberspace. The most dramatic is Cyber War the unauthorised invasion by a government into the systems or networks of another, aiming to disrupt those systems, to damage them partially, or to destroy them entirely. A specific target is to slow down if not curtail the military systems of the target state: there is no point having excellent missiles and weapons if the delivery systems can be paralysed. And as our military establishments become more and more dependent on sophisticated technologies, the risk of equally sophisticated attacks on them grows.

Nyes second threat is Cyber Espionage. Governments can invade the systems of their rivals to steal sensitive information that would be useful for their own purposes. These attacks are usually hard to discover and the case of Operation Shady RAT, the worlds biggest hacking ever, is rather phenomenal. For five whole years hackers had access to 70 government and private agencies around the world as they secreted away gigabytes of confidential information, unbeknownst to those at the receiving end. By the time Shady RAT was spotted, 49 networks had been infected in the United States alone along with several others in India, South Korea, Taiwan and elsewhere.

Cyber Crime is the third kind of threat, and the most familiar. While this also has military and political implications, it affects the lives of ordinary Internet users more closely. Just the other day, for instance, a domestic aide of mine, recently introduced to the world of email, came up to me looking rather dazed. He had, he said, just received an email that some lady in Kenya had left him a substantial amount of money. In order to access that money he needed to deposit a relatively small but still significant sum (Rs.40,000 to be exact) at a local bank account here, so that the transfer could be facilitated. Such messages come in daily and there are many who fall prey to them. Cyber Crime also includes pornography, Internet stalking, and personality imitation.

Finally there is Cyber Terrorism. This includes websites spreading extremist propaganda, recruiting terrorists, planning attacks, and otherwise promoting terrorists political and social objectives. It also involves the use of hackers by terrorists to debilitate states and governments, much like in Cyber War, with the only difference that this involves a nonState actor. Cyberspace offers a great advantage for the shrouded business of terrorists, making their work murkier than ever to those outside.

As weapon

Cyber attacks are already happening daily, and as we grow more and more connected, the threats also become more complex. Symantec, a leading

international cyber security company, recorded that in 2010 alone there were three billion malware attacks. Of these one stands out especially, pointing to the possible use by legitimate governments of cyber weapons. This was the case of Stuxnet, which attacked five Iranian organisations, all reportedly connected with their uranium enrichment and nuclear programmes. By early 2011 The New York Times revealed, very plausibly, that Stuxnet was the single biggest weapon used in an attempt to thwart Irans nuclear ambitions, and the most sophisticated instrument ever used in cyber space. There is, in a sense, a war constantly on in cyber space, one that is invisible and to which we are all, in the end, inevitably connected.

Earlier this year, a similar highly complicated attack called Flame was discovered in Russia, Hungary, and Iran. Flame had been copying documents, recording audio (including keystrokes!), network traffic, Skype calls, as well as taking screenshots from infected computers. And it was passing all this information collected to the computers controlling it. No security alarm went off on any of the infected computers, which raises the question: are any of our systems really safe? Conventional security measures are all outdated and by the look of it, even the latest protections are rendered obsolete sooner than we would collectively desire.

In those cases, the United States is the likely suspect, but though nothing can

be conclusively established, China has consistently topped the list of official suspects in the world of cyber attacks. The attacks coming from there do not usually aim to destroy or even debilitate as much as to steal information. The Titan Rain attack, for instance, targeted the U.S. military, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the World Bank. Sensitive information stolen was not only related to military matters but also to markets, trade, and business activities. Similarly GhostNet infiltrated Indian government systems and accessed classified information of our security agencies, embassies, and the office of the Dalai Lama, doing the same with hundreds of government establishments elsewhere in the world.

Social networking websites are also increasingly becoming targets, not only because of the massive databases they provide, but also in order to spread malware that infect computers. On Facebook there are 50 million Indian users and even if a small fraction of them click unsuspectingly on a malevolent but seemingly ordinary link, you have that many computers opened up to risk and infection. Cyber attacks, to state the obvious, can be very personal.

Another use of social networks, seen recently in India, is to spread inflammatory material with a motivated agenda, such as the doctored pictures of alleged atrocities against Muslims in Assam and Myanmar that incited violence in

Mumbai and threats of retaliation elsewhere. Though this does not constitute cyber terrorism in itself, it constitutes a new security threat that cannot be ignored.

Indias response system

There are no easy responses to all these phenomena. The U.S. has created CYBERCOM in 2009 as a military command dedicated to cyber warfare. In the civilian arena few countries have a credible equivalent.

Indias own style of dealing with cyber threats leaves much to be desired. It is relatively chaotic and there is a constant insecurity that our cyberdefences are insufficient. This

perception has been underscored by frequent reports of successful invasions of Indian cyberspace. Our approach appears so far to have been ad hoc and piecemeal. There are some 12 stakeholders in protecting the cyber defences of India, including the Home Affairs Ministry, the National Disaster Management Authority, National Information Board and a motley crew of others. They are together responsible for the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team, which is the principal national agency. Such a large number of bosses, I would argue, is not conducive to efficiency. We must be vigilant, but we must also ensure our security measures do not compound the threat. As someone once asked, if Tim Berners-Lee had to ask for permission, would the World Wide Web have been invented? Would

Google have been perceived as a security threat right at the start and been prohibited? Would Wikipedia have come into existence? The chances are they would not have been allowed.

The freedom of cyber space is just as crucial to the debate as its protection is. This is why policy on cyber security is too important to be left to the cyber security experts and too valuable socially to be left to the police. It is not for the gunsmiths to decide who should use the gun and how. The key to cyber space should never be given to those who would place a lock on it. It should be held by the larger moral force of society.

(The author is a Member of Parliament and former Minister of State for External Affairs.)

Cyberspace is too important for its

security to be handed over to those who

want to lock it up August 24, 2012

Eid card from a terrorist

RAFIA ZAKARIA

A 2009 picture of Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud at Sararogha in South Waziristan along the Afghanistan border. PHOTO: AP On August 1, 2012, Hakimullah Mehsud, Amir of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan rallied his supporters asking them to step up attacks on military installations in southern Punjab. He made the statement at a budgetary meeting for top Taliban commanders at which Rs.25 million were allocated for the purpose. On August 13, 2012 he signed a publicity statement for markets in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa reminding Muslims that downloading pornographic materials and ringtones on cell phones is forbidden in Islam. On August 14, Hakimullah oversaw an

attack on an army patrol in Orakzai that killed 35 people. On August 16, 2012, his followers attacked Kamra Air Base, home to Pakistans nuclear installations.

And then, on August 18, 2012, the day most of Pakistan and the Muslim world awaited the appearance of the Shawwal moon that signals Eid ul Fitr, Hakimullah Mehsud took a minute to show the world his softer side. In a mass email received by thousands of members of the Pakistani media, Mehsud sent Eid Greetings. Under a shrewd letterhead of crossed swords, that particularly Talibanesque mix of the martial and the medieval, the wording of the message was poetic: part affirmation and part rallying cry, it acknowledged the suffering of poor

hapless Muslims around the world and rallied them to abandon the shackles of ideological slavery. The Urdu was astute even if the announcement of the impending arrival of the Caliphate predictable. All of it was on stationery exclusive to Hakimullah Mehsud, signed in blue pen and written in black, the loops and whorls of the Urdu letters of his name emblazoned at the bottom of the page over the title Amir of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.

Peculiar terror

Even falling between the mass emailed greetings from friends and relatives and department stores and magazines, an Eid card from a terrorist, I discovered, pulls at the most perverse

of human curiosity. Like the bloody mess of a grisly car wreck that compels us to gape, or the days long coverage of earthquakes and hurricanes and downed planes we regularly digest, the email exerted its own dark magnetism that wouldnt allow the process of deleting and moving on that we award to so much else. I could not but stare at the signature, imagining the mass murdering maniac now with fingers clasped around some sinister pen, typing at some secret keyboard just like ones that live beneath all our fingertips.

In the act of looking at something he looked at, reading something a terrorist wrote and so recently, lies a novel and peculiar terror.

Shock is short-lived even when it is birthed by an Eid card from a terrorist; but horror remains, whetted and coddled by the helplessness of those at the receiving end of anything the Taliban have to give. In the aftermath of the Talibans Eid greetings and Eid carnage, there are only horrific conundrums that all of us agonised Pakistanis or war mongering Americans or questioning Indians are stumped by. Could we look at the Eid card as some hopeful epithet, a clue to the normalisation and mainstreaming of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, who now have budgetary meetings, whose leaders have official letterheads and whose media department drum up appropriately warm and cuddly greetings to scatter among supporters? Or should we weep

at the ease with which a man chased by two armies and a decade long war can now leisurely hop from place to place and circulate mass emails with the untouched ease of a spam marketer selling cheap computers? If militaries and governments and tribal militias and policy analysts have been unable to decide how to respond to the military overtures of the Tehrik-eTaliban Pakistan, their attacks and beheadings and floggings, then how indeed can I or any other journalist squirming before the screen, figure out how to respond to Eid Greetings from the Taliban? August 24, 2012

GM crops are no way forward

SATYARAT CHATURVEDI

We are predominantly an agricultural economy, with the agricultural sector providing employment and subsistence to almost 70 per cent of the workforce. There have been some remarkable contributions from the agriculture sector to food grain production in the last six decades, when from a meagre 50 million tonnes in the 1950s, the country has been able to produce a record 241 million tonnes in 20102011. Despite these achievements, the condition of the farming community is pitiable considering that 70 per cent of our farmers are small and marginal, and there is a complete absence of profarmer/pro-agriculture policies which

has led us to an environment of very severe agrarian distress.

Pros and cons

In this situation, food security has been one of the main agendas of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government and also one that the government has been struggling with. There is a strong opinion among policymakers that biotechnology holds a lot of promise in achieving food security and that transgenic crops, especially, are a sustainable way forward. But given the opposition and controversies surrounding Genetically Modified (GM) crops and the differences of opinion among stakeholders, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture

decided to take on the mammoth task of an objective assessment of the pros and cons of introducing GM crops.

We expect the observations in our report to answer the big question on the role of GM crops in achieving food security. We hope the recommendations will be acted upon at the earliest. The committee felt this was all the more necessary in the light of the Prime Ministers exhortation at the Indian Science Congress about the full utilisation of modern biotechnology for ensuring food security but without compromising on safety and regulatory aspects.

The lessons

In India, the only commercialised GM crop is Bt cotton. Industry and the Central government have painted a picture of success about it saying it has led to an increase in production and that the costs of cultivation have gone down. But the ground reality is starkly different. This was evident during the extensive interactions of the committee with farmers in different cotton growing regions around the country during study visits in March 2012.

Besides analysing the facts and figures provided by government agencies and listening to eminent cotton scientists, the committees consultation with farmers in Vidharbha helped us conclude that the Bt cotton saga is not as rosy as made out to be. In

Vidharbha, the per-acre investment in cultivating traditional varieties, or even pre-Bt hybrids, could be less than Rs. 10,000. That was certainly the case until the first half of the previous decade. But for Bt cotton, even the unirrigated farmer is spending upwards of Rs. 15,000-18,000 or even more per acre. And irrigated farmers complain of input costs exceeding Rs. 45,000 per acre. While the investment and acreage rose dramatically, the per acre yield and income did not increase in equal measure and actually fell after initial years. Indeed, the Union Agriculture Minister spoke of Vidharbhas dismal yields on December 19, 2011 in the Rajya Sabha.

It was clear that at least for the rainfed cotton farmers of our country, the introduction of Bt cotton offered no socio-economic benefits. On the contrary, it being a capital intensive practice, the investment of farmers increased manifold thus exposing them to greater risks due to massive indebtedness. It needs to be remembered that rain-fed farmers constitute 85 per cent of all cotton growing farmers.

Added to this, there is desperation among farmers as introduction of Bt cotton has slowly led to the nonavailability of traditional varieties of cotton. The cultivation of GM crops also leads to monoculture and the committee has witnessed its clear disadvantages. The decade of

experience has shown that Bt cotton has benefited the seed industry hands down and not benefited the poorest of farmers. It has actually aggravated the agrarian distress and farmer suicides. This should be a clear message to policymakers on the impact of GM crops on farming and livelihoods associated with it.

The risks

From the various deliberations to which the committee was privy, it is clear that the technology of genetic engineering is an evolving one and there is much, especially on its impact on human health and environment, that is yet to be understood properly. The scientific community itself seems uncertain about this. While there are

many in this community who feel that the benefits outweigh the risks, others point to the irreversibility of this technology and uncontrollability of the Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) once introduced in the ecosystem. Hence, they advocate a precautionary approach towards any open release of GMOs.

One of the concerns raised strongly by those opposing GM crops in India is that many important crops like rice, brinjal, and mustard, among others, originated here, and introducing genetically modified versions of these crops could be a major threat to the vast number of domestic and wild varieties of these crops. In fact, globally, there is a clear view that GM crops must not be introduced in

centres of origin and diversity. India also has mega biodiversity hotspots like the Eastern Himalayas and the Western Ghats which are rich in biodiversity yet ecologically very sensitive. Hence it will only be prudent for us to be careful before we jump on to the bandwagon of any technology.

The committees findings on the GEAC-led regulatory system for GM crops show that it has a proDepartment of Biotechnology (DBT) and pro-industry tilt. It has also come under the scanner due to its inefficiency at the time of Bt Brinjal approval and for behaving like a promoter of GM crops rather than a regulatory body mandated to protect human health and environment from the risks of biotechnology. The DBT,

whose mandate is to promote GM crops and fund various transgenics research, has a nominee as the co-chair of the GEAC, who gives the final approval for environmental and commercial release of GM crops.

The current regulatory system is shameful and calls for a complete makeover. While the government has been toying recently with the idea of a Biotechnology Regulatory Authority, the committee dismisses this and instead recommends an allencompassing Biosafety Authority. While the committee has also evaluated international regulatory systems on GM crops, it recommends the Norwegian Gene Technology Act whose primary focus is bio-safety and sustainable development without

adverse effects on health and environment, as a piece of legislation in the right direction for regulating GM crops in India.

The committee strongly believes that the problem today is in no measure comparable to the ship-to-mouth situation of the early 1960s. Policy and decision-makers must note that the total food grain production rose from 197 million tonnes in 2000-2001 to 241 million tonnes in 2010-11. A major argument by the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation before the committee in favour of GM crops was their potential to ensure the countrys food security. But the issue of food security is not about production alone; it also means access to food for the poorest. Moreover,

there is no evidence as yet that GM crops can actually increase yields.

The committee, therefore, recommended the government come up with a fresh road map for ensuring food security in the coming years without jeopardising the vast biodiversity of the country and compromising with the safety of human and livestock health.

The committee unanimously feels that the government should take decisive action on the recommendations of this report and rethink its decision of introducing transgenics in agriculture as a sustainable way forward. August 24, 2012

Girl punk, interrupted

KALPANA KANNABIRAN

STORMY BATTLE:Punk is the mask of feminism today. Punk group members, from left, Maria Alyokhina, Yekaterina Samutsevich and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova with a copy of the courts verdict as they sit in a glass cage at the courtroom in Moscow. PHOTO: AP We arestoning youfor blasphemy (John 10:33 cf. Closing Statement of Maria Alyokhina of the Russian feminist punk band, Pussy Riot, at the trial of the band members in a Moscow district court).

We live in an age of so-called trials and in an age of so-called freedom. We resist in differing degrees, but the eerie timelessness of the questions that remain unresolved, and their monotonous repetition in different languages through different methods in different countries, is disconcerting.

The imprisonment, trial and conviction of three members of Pussy Riot, a feminist punk band that spoke resistance politics against the power of Putin has been widely covered in the media. The closing statements of these three young women recall the stormy battles that women have fought feminist battles, even before they had a name and continue to fight across the world. The statements challenge

above all, the reductionist construction of feminism so rife in popular representation across media. This is an attempt to contextualise the echoes of those statements in India.

There has historically been a connection between orthodox religion and its patriarchs, particular forms of politics and state formation, as Yekaterina Samutsevich reminds us. Likewise there has historically been a connection between political orthodoxy and its patriarchs (which mirrors the forms and modes of power of orthodox religion and the structures of authoritarian states, both). While part of the resistance to this (in the form of bhakti, Sufism or religious sects) has located itself outside orthodox religion and in opposition to

it, another significant part has appropriated the cultural symbols of orthodoxy to represent resistance, which has then been used to challenge the repressive state Bangalore Nagarathnammas publication of medieval poet-performer Muddupalanis subversive literary work is an early example on the Indian subcontinent. But after this, there has been a string of writing and performance and story telling by women that has attempted to do precisely this: rupture the seamlessness of a dominant narrative that invests both the power of repression and the power of resistance in patriarchal formations led most times by men, sometimes by women.

Speaking out against repression

The late 1970s and early 1980s for instance saw a number of women writers and political activists interrogating the orthodox patriarchal foundations of resistance movements which rest not on gender alone, but importantly on gender in combination with caste, tribe, religion and class. We continue to have women speaking against the repressive state Irom Sharmila in Manipur; or being trapped by it in insidious ways that need no reason or logic since it wields raw, unaccountable power Pinki Pramanik in West Bengal; or being tortured for tortures sake (that happens too, here) Soni Sori of Chhattisgarh, to name only three. We have of course witnessed the frightening confluence of religious orthodoxy, fundamentalist politics and

state formation in Gujarat and continue to experience the aftershocks of that mass hate crime. In rising to the defence of those who have lost life, liberty and dignity, we are critiquing the ideologies of governance that seem to say, The show can go onthis is democracy. Managing to say this effectively, to make people sit up and listen, is punk in our time put differently, punk is the mask of feminism today.

Whether with the pink chaddi campaign or with the slutwalks in India, we have witnessed an animated debate about what the locations of the real Indian feminism are. In a country where it is still possible for the head of a state police force to go on record saying that women provoke

assault because of the way they dress, clearly the locations of feminism are many, and each is important and contributes in one way or another to the larger picture. The most poignant response to this statement was by 17year-old Varsha, who ended her open letter to the officer by warning him that he would soon wake up one morning to a slutwalk in front of his house ( Deccan Chronicle , December 31, 2011). The officer has perhaps had a few panic wake-ups after reading that certainly a slut walk under your window is something to panic about at least till your force arrives to lock the sluts away!

As a mother of two adolescent daughters, Maria Alyokhina echoes me when she says that what worries her

most of all is that the opinion of the younger generation is not taken into consideration. It is a fact that todays education system does not allow (let alone teach) children to pose the crucial questions consistent with their age.

Have we forgotten somewhere that teaching children the value of freedom is critical to the feminist project? Every religion, in its own way, foregrounds humility as a positive value. Most of our cultures have distorted and translated this into abject obedience that must be branded onto children leaving them scarred for life (ontological humility and existential humility, to use Alyokhinas words). Needless to say social vulnerability exacerbates the denial of basic

freedom and rights. I am reminded here of early radical feminist philosopher Shulamith Firestones observation that patriarchy cannot tolerate liberation for women or for children.

A lesson

If there is one lesson feminism teaches, that is never to lose sense of ourselves as citizens. It is not about this one struggle. It is about every single struggle against oppressive systems, or those that are unaccountable, and therefore dangerous to human security and wellbeing. In trying to convince people that they must campaign for the protection of the only juniper reserve in the Krasnodar region of Russia

against the whims of Medvedyevs wife, Pussy Riot reminds us of our numerous difficult battles to retain control over our forests, our rivers and our environment from Chipko to the campaign against Bt crops; from Narmada to the anti-Posco struggles to Kudankulam and Jaitapur. That feminist politics is a necessary part of the challenge to the patriarchal, corporate-state complex is one aspect of struggles we can never lose sight of that there are women in the forefront of these struggles who determine its course is an important point. In the very act of doing this, through their presence as conscientious resisters, they pose the biggest challenge to the established order. Or as Nadezhda Tolokonnikova says, [O]ur performances are a kind of civic activity amidst the repression

of a corporate political system that directs its power against basic human rights and civil and political liberties. The scope of feminist performance and its habitations, as we see, is infinite.

The way in which the corporate political system erodes basic rights is nowhere more evident than in Chhattisgarh. In following the trials and tribulations of Soni Sori, and in trying so hard to come to terms with our complete inability to bring some measure of justice to her in understanding the predicament of the several like her who remain unnamed and unseen, do Alyokhinas words Prison is Russia in miniature echo our despair? But yet we know that what is on trial is the repressive state, not these women.

And finally to return to the epigraph: the charge of blasphemy is addressed to Christ. In a total inversion it is now used by the Russian Orthodox Church, and certified and attached to the criminal file of the three women who have been convicted. Whether women speak with forked tongue or with guarded tongue, the moment they speak resistance, blasphemy is the charge (hooliganism and religious hatred added on) the orthodoxy will stand the scriptures (religious and ideological) on their head to hold the charge. That is the power of feminism, and Pussy Riot has reminded us of it today. August 25, 2012

Chasing an Olympian dream, in B&W

D. KRISHNAN

PHOTO FINESSE:(left to right) Ben Johnson of Canada, Calvin Smith of the U.S., Linford Christie of Great Britain and Carl Lewis of the U.S. PHOTO: D. KRISHNAN My wife, who had decided to clear the house of all its junk (read as stuff Id accumulated over the years), came up with a packet of photographs which she shoved under my nose and said, You havent looked at these for decades, do you really need them? They stink!

I emptied the packet on the verandah and as I was rummaged through the photographs, the stink turned into a perfume of memories from the past. There were several images that made me nostalgic, but suddenly I came across one that took me back to the 1988 Seoul Olympics, and the memory of a perfect shot.

Though it happened 24 years ago, I still remember the day clearly. It was billed as the race of the century. Carl Lewis, the defending Olympic champion of the 100 metres, was to race against Ben Johnson. The excitement was at fever pitch.

It was a bright day, thankfully, for that meant a photographer could shoot at a higher shutter speed. The race was to begin at around 3 p.m. As it was the most important event of the Olympics, I knew photographers would crowd the venue. I went two hours before to get a vantage shooting position. The official photographers of the games are given the best positions; the rest had to make do with the dugout running around the arena.

There are certain disadvantages to shooting the 100 mts finish from the dugout you are at a lower level than the athletes, the angle is too narrow for comfort and there is always the risk of some official coming right in front of you. Another option head-on was a position, some distance from the finish

but the lens that I had would not cover that distance. I settled for a third option, not a designated position for photographers the first row of the audience gallery just above the dugout, near the finish. From this position I could shoot the finish without an official coming in my way, but it meant sacrificing the 1st, 2nd, 7th and 8th, as the lens I had would not cover all eight lanes.

But I took a calculated risk, as I knew that normally in the final, the fastest qualifiers would be bunched together in lanes 3, 4, 5 and 6. I gambled on the winner not emerging from the first two or last two lanes. In this particular race, the hot favourites, Carl Lewis and Ben Johnson, were in lanes 3 and 6 respectively. The rest with an outside

chance were Linford Christie in Lane 4 and Calvin Smith in Lane 5.

With my naked eye, I watched the start, following the sprinters like that for the first 50 mts.

After that, I put my head to the camera and glued my eye to the eyepiece, my vision narrowed to the angle of view my 400 mm telephoto lens permitted. I do not know the exact details of what happened in the next four odd seconds, but only remember panning my camera supported by a monopod trying to keep Johnson in lane 6 and Lewis in lane 3 in the frame, with one hand constantly focusing those were the pre-autofocus camera days.

The image

I must have shot around 20 frames but the one image of the race that remains etched in my memory till date is Johnsons right hand going up in a sign of victory as he crossed the finish line and an agonised Carl Lewis following.

Those were the days of film and you werent sure if you had captured the right moment till you had developed your rolls. Several decisions had to be made before you chose your film those days. First, colour or black & white. If it was for The Hindu , it had to be B&W, colour for Sportstar . Then, depending on whether you were shooting indoors or out, the ASA, or the speed of the film. Another

important technical factor to be considered was the shutter speed/aperture combination which would give me enough depth of field as I was shooting from the side and not head on and also fast enough to arrest the movement of the fastest human at the finish line!

Taking all those factors into consideration, I decided to shoot in B&W as the photograph would be used in the newspaper; 400 ASA film that would give me the freedom to get the best out of both depth of field and arresting motion, also enough for a leeway if there should be sudden cloud cover!

After the race I was anxious to rush back to the lab to have my films

processed to check the results, but had to wait until the days events were all over as I had to cover the medals ceremony, and other finals.

Waiting in the lab for your film to be processed to check the result is somewhat akin to waiting outside the labour room for your first child to be born. Kodak, which was the official film of the Olympics, had set up a photo centre where you could get your films processed and also get bromide paper, the use of their darkroom and enlarger all for free. They even provided both colour and B&W films free for coverage of the games.

The feeling that you get on carefully checking your film when it is still wet and finding that you have got the

image that you had planned for gives you a thrill that is not experienced when shooting digital. Yes! I had what I had wanted! Johnson with his right hand up in a sign of victory and Carl Lewis following. I couldnt wait to make a print and transmit it to my newspaper.

The race made history for other reasons as well. Ben Johnson tested positive for performance enhancing drugs and was stripped of his title and Carl Lewis was declared the winner. The news came to us early next morning and by the time we could react, Ben Johnson was whisked away to the airport.

Note: The stink referred to is the smell of hypo and acetic acid, chemicals used in the B&W process August 25, 2012

Waiting to happen, a hundred Tri-Valleys

NARAYAN LAKSHMAN

NOT A ROSY PICTURE:A screen shot of the Herguan University website. PHOTO: R. RAVINDRAN In January 2011 Tri-Valley University (TVU), an institution of higher education in Pleasanton, California, imploded spectacularly and left 1,500 or so Indian students on its rolls in

legal limbo, with a number of them facing the prospect of deportation, an uncertain academic future and, in some cases, the indignity of wearing ankle radio tags.

The scam exposed several fundamental flaws in U.S higher education regulation, but the authorities shifted blame to unscrupulous graduate recruiters in Indian states such as Andhra Pradesh, and said conspicuously less about how such shady operators managed to slot many hundreds of bonafide students into even shadier nooks of the American education system.

In recent weeks their deafening silence on the matter has come under renewed pressure after another college,

Herguan University in Sunnyvale, California, teetered on the brink of a similar implosion following charges of visa fraud being levelled against its CEO, Jerry Wang. The similarities between the cases of Wang and jailed TVU boss, Susan Xiaoping Su, are remarkable.

Two loopholes

Quite apart from the fact that Su was a former Herguan employee and was said to have gotten the idea to start TVU there, both she and Wang apparently managed to exploit two fundamental loopholes in U.S. regulations governing university admissions for international students: first, the profound lack of sophistication in the way regulators are

assessing university quality; and second, the job has been entrusted to the wrong people.

Both flaws are related yet separately significant too. Take the second loophole first: the fact that the Department of Education, the only true repository of expertise in assessing what education quality means in the U.S., in not regulating university admissions is setting the system up for failure. Why has this happened? It is a quirk of history that can be traced back to the U.S. Patriot Act of 2001.

The revelation that at least one of the terror suspects in the World Trade Center attacks on 9/11 had entered onto U.S. soil on a student visa and then not even showed up on campus

once, prompted calls for urgent reform in managing student visas. But the solution proposed was rooted more in counter-terrorism than in education.

The Bush administration empowered the newly-formed Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to monitor the gates into higher education in the U.S. In doing so it ignored the rather logical choice of the Department of Education as the better candidate for the job.

A parallel development was the birth of the monumentally deficient Student and Exchange Visitor Programme (SEVP) and its primary monitoring weapon, the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). Together, they are supposed to be the

silver bullet for international student admissions assessments for DHSs enforcement-focussed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Yet, it was through SEVIS that individuals such as Wang and Su were able to supply Indian recruiters with a superabundance of I-20 forms, the basis on which a student entry visa is ultimately issued by U.S. consulates and embassies abroad.

While there is no denying that some of the students knew perfectly well that the work authorisations being made available to them by TVU and Herguan were illegitimate, the vast majority of them did not think it necessary to suspect the actions of an

accredited university official who gave them such an authorisation.

This is where the other systemic flaw in U.S. university admissions regulation, of lax assessment standards, enters the picture. The U.S.s Government Accountability Office (GAO) an equivalent to Indias Comptroller and AuditorGeneral issued a stinging critique of the malaise months ahead of Herguans ongoing collapse. In its report on DHS Needs to Take Actions to Strengthen Monitoring of Schools, published on July 24, 2012, the GAO said, ICE does not have a process to identify and assess risks posed by schools in SEVP.

GAO highlighted that ICE did not consistently implement internal control procedures to assess schools. It was such loopholes that the alleged fraudsters at TVU and Herguan exploited, according to the authors of one of the most in-depth investigations of the dark side of American higher education.

The investigation, by Tom Bartlett, Karin Fischer and Josh Keller of The Chronicle of Higher Education , made it clear back in March 2011, that Indian students had paid a particularly severe price for the weaknesses pointed out by GAO.

In their report titled Little-Known Colleges Exploit Visa Loopholes to Make Millions Off Foreign Students,

Bartlett et al argued that TVU and its peers were quick to realise that India is ripe for exploiting SEVIS loopholes, in part because of the sheer number of students there who want to come to the U.S.

Indians were also most receptive to these pitches by rogue recruiters back home because, although the country has a burgeoning middle class, many of its students still need to work to afford an American university degree, they noted.

The result? Students from India arriving in droves, allegedly working full-time, in low-level retail jobs retail disguised as career training, all for the purpose of being employed for the duration of their studies. In the case of

TVU up to 553 students were said to have been listed as living in a single two-bedroom apartment near the college, whereas in truth they fanned out across the nation, including the states of Maryland, Texas and Illinois.

On the flip side the university heads enriched their coffers and upgraded their lifestyles on the money they had squeezed out of hardworking, middle class students from India.

According to the Chronicles investigation, Su purchased a 6,384square-foot house in December 2010 for $1.8-million and made the 15minute drive to TVUs headquarters in a Mercedes-Benz.

If these were isolated cases of deviant university bosses exploiting vulnerable foreigners, it may be a small measure of solace, as ICE is yet to close off the loopholes that made exploitation on such an eye-wateringly large scale possible in the first place.

Another case

In fact the Chronicles investigations may well have named the next likely candidate heading for regulatory shutdown International Technological University (ITU), which is apparently just down the road from Herguan, literally and metaphorically.

Not unlike NVA, ITU narrowly survived with its accreditation intact after a visit by investigators from ICE in 2010. In fact it went on to take in a number of students displaced from TVUs collapse shortly thereafter. Whether ITUs continued existence is a good or bad development for its students is not still clear.

What is obvious though is that unless the U.S. moves away from its current ham-fisted policy of counterterrorismcum-higher-education, there could be a hundred more Herguans and they will ultimately sour the mood of even the most ardent enthusiasts of the U.S.India higher education partnership.

Unless the U.S. moves away from using counterterrorism methods to man

the gates into higher education, vulnerable international students will continue to be exploited by unscrupulous recruiters August 25, 2012

Finding the will to govern the economy

PULAPRE BALAKRISHNAN

In less than half a decade the mood of Indias economic policy establishment has swung from hubris to dismay. The

trumpeted arrival of double-digit growth did not materialise. Instead we face the prospect of sustained doubledigit inflation. The polisariat , it appears, has run out of tricks. Any argument for greater global integration is unlikely to instil confidence at a time when the world economy is in the doldrums. Equally, the exhortation for more reforms is not likely to inspire many when reforming is what the government has claimed to be doing for two decades by now. To be precise, reforms geared at greater integration with the rest of the world have been the lodestar of the reformer. Actually, the idea that mere integration with the rest of the world would per se raise the rate of growth of the economy never had much purchase with serious economists. While the argument that exporting is extremely important for

India as it is highly dependent on imports is well taken, exports do not get promoted by merely lowering tariffs or signalling to multinationals that youre ready for business.

Infrastructure deficit

So does this mean that we should be reconciled to lower growth and higher inflation? Most certainly not. We have in India recently been witness to something akin to a secular epiphany in the collapse of the electricity grid serving over half the country. No more appropriate example is needed to show us what stands between us and prosperity. In a most immediate sense, it is human negligence abetted by unaccountability. However, in a more general sense, we might say that the

event reveals that more than anything else it is the infrastructure deficit that is keeping us down. For over two decades, China has dazzled the world with not just double-digit growth but trade surpluses that have been reproduced year after year. The unmistakable foundation of this achievement is revealed by the quip Chinas competitive advantage lies in its infrastructure. What has been left unsaid is that the competitive advantage enjoyed by its producers does not lie in low wages or the repression of unions by the communist party, though these are features of its political economy. If low wages could tilt the balance, India would be among the worlds great trading nations.

What is significant to an understanding of the relationship between growth, the degree of openness to trade and economic policy is that our current account deficit today is greater than what it was in 1991. While there is no comparison between 2012 and 1991, principally because our reserves are over 250 times greater, the yawning deficit shows that mere trade, or even industrial policy reforms are insufficient to generate a rise in export growth. Also, a worsening balance of payments has its own negative consequences such as inflationary pressure via a depreciating inflation rate.

Clearly, the reforms that have aimed to integrate India with the rest of the world have not succeeded in making

Indias exports more competitive. It is germane to the argument here that by now trade, measured as exports plus imports as a share of GDP, amounts to more than half of GDP, a feature that the governments Economic Survey of 2012 alludes to approvingly. This share is far greater than what it was in 1991, when the integration of India with the rest of the world was proffered as a panacea . And now, quite apart from the balance of payments, the growth rate itself has settled into levels not much greater than what was achieved in the late 1980s. So why are we in this predicament? Why has growth slipped, and what do we need to do to put it back up there again? For a start, the trade and industrial policy changes initiated in 1991 and classified as reforms barely measure up to a

vision of the growth process. To the extent that quantification is meaningful in the context, they have addressed the problems of just about a fifth of Indias economy.

The flaw in the strategy pursued by governments of differing hues since 1991 is that they have focussed on what they consider the economy while ignoring the vital importance to sustained growth of the ecosystem of production. Originally conceived to understand plant life, the idea of an ecosystem and its relevance to its constituents is fruitfully applied to an understanding of the economy. For the plant biologist it is the ecosystem that is the relevant unit for analysis even for a study of the development of the plants placed within it. In nature, more

generally, the dynamics are determined through repeated interaction between the biotic and the abiotic components of the ecosystem. Plants need water and soil, and water and soil are held together by the vegetation. The parallels with the economy are not far to seek, the two components being the production units, whether farm or firm, and the terrain of production. This terrain is defined by the range of services so crucial for the economic unit to carry on production in an efficient manner. We may refer to them as producer services and they include both visible and invisible ones. A shortlist must contain power, transportation, roads, water and sanitation, waste management and management information systems.

Globally these services are mostly provided by the government. This is hardly so for ideological reasons but because the private sector is either unwilling to bear the risk of investing large amounts in an uncertain activity or to accept too long a break-even period. Along with the production units the arrangement for the provision of these producer services completes the ecosystem of production. The reliable existence of these services is at least as important for the economic progress of a country as are smart entrepreneurs. It is easy to see that even the smartest entrepreneur will flounder if not supported by producer services. For the government to take the view that it has liberated the entrepreneur once it has set him loose from the Licence-Permit Raj is to duck its principal responsibility, which is to

enable an entire ecosystem. While it is not at all necessary to take a dogmatic view that the private sector ought to be kept out of the provision of these producer services, it is certainly the case that right now in India this is largely the governments responsibility. We can see this by evaluating the success of the much vaunted PPP route to the creation of infrastructure. You would find that not very much has been created.

I have focussed on the visible producer services, but the invisible ones are likely to be just as important. One that is egregious by its absence in India is advisory. The world over, governments have taken it upon themselves to provide advice to entrepreneurs. An intuitive approach to

the role of advice is to take cognisance of extension services in agriculture. Extension is the means whereby knowledge of advances in biology and demonstrated best practices in cultivation are taken from the laboratories and research stations to the farm. They have been fundamental to agricultural transformation, even in India during the Green Revolution. In India, public expenditure on extension has declined since 1991. Outside agriculture, small firms desperately require advice on emerging opportunities, marketing channels and sourcing of material. Private consulting firms do exist but are unaffordable to the small and medium enterprise sector which dominates Indias economy. This is why, in most countries local governments have departments for industrial promotion

that supply these valuable services. Something of this sort was implicit in the plan of the Janata government to set up the district industries centres, but it is not clear if they have been governed to perform.

Mystifying

The call for more reforms is mystifying when it is not obfuscatory. It is not clear how pending legislation in the insurance, pension or retail trade can address the deficit in producer services. Of course, some part of the solution to the electricity deficit does require reform, but this is not of the macroeconomic variety. However, this would have to be governance reform, involving the setting of targets, assigning of responsibility and the

consequent seeking of accountability from public servants. The electricity sector is only an example, the entire public sector providing producer services is begging for the same kind of attention. The relevance of improved government for growth is revealed by the near perfect correlation shown by economists to exist between transmission and distribution losses and the growth of state domestic product. So when Indias premier agencies such as the Ministry of Finance and its central bank state that there is little policy space , they must refer to a very limited genre of policy, namely, the macroeconomic. Surely there is space yet for better governance. From the perspective of producer services, improved governance is Indias golden goose. The question is whether the political

class has what it takes to govern this space.

(The author is on the faculty of Economics at the Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram.)

Growth will flounder unless the

government invests in infrastructure development and extension services

to entrepreneurs August 27, 2012

Games? Much more than that

WILFRIED LEMKE

LET THE GAMES BEGIN AGAIN:An August 2012 picture of South Africas double amputee athlete Oscar Pistorius, who will also be taking part in the London paralympic event beginning on Wednesday. PHOTO: AFP During this break in the action between the closing of the Olympic Games and the opening of the Paralympic Games in London this Wednesday, we have a unique opportunity to consider how both

events can improve peoples lives and impact the world.

Some may see the Games only as a cut-throat competition where athletes put their bodies to the limit so they can hear their national anthem played over the loudspeakers, while fans dress in the bright colours of their home countries and count the medals won. However, underneath the bravado of each nation, behind the confident exterior of each athlete and beyond the commercial considerations, there lies the true spirit of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which matches the fundamental values of the United Nations: tolerance, respect, equality, inclusion and peace.

On the field of play, athletes embody these values in a number of ways, from kicking the football out of bounds when a player is hurt to shaking hands or sharing hugs with opponents at the end of a race. Doing so, they show the true spirit of sport, competing on a fair and respectful basis. Athletes also stand for these values when serving as volunteers in their own communities, visiting developing nations throughout the world and serving as Goodwill Ambassadors for the U.N. and other organisations. I applaud those athletes who have truly embraced their responsibilities as role models, leaders and agents for change, as they recognise how their celebrity status can be used to help make the world a better place.

Awareness needed

Athletes are not alone in their capacity to effect change, with the hosts of the Olympic and Paralympic Games also in a unique position to create a powerful global legacy. As host of the 2012 Games, the United Kingdom has embraced this opportunity to invest in the future of their country and the world with the International Inspiration programme. This programme has, according to the organisation, benefited over 12 million young people in 20 countries, and will continue to create sustainable social, economic and sporting legacies throughout the country and abroad. I commend the efforts of the U.K. government, the London Organising Committee and their partner

organisation Unicef in setting the bar so high for future sporting events. The London Games have also been conceptualised as the Games for Everyone, where diversity and inclusion are celebrated and featured in the Olympic and Paralympic Games as well as in the legacy efforts. This publicity and support of diversity and inclusion sends a powerful message around the world that diversity and difference be it in ethnicity, origin, lifestyle, religion or physical ability is not a barrier to progress but can be a driver of it. Also, I am pleased that the U.K., which hosted a precursor of the Paralympic Games in 1948, the Stoke Mandeville Games, particularly emphasised the importance of the Paralympics. Although the Olympics and Paralympics are nowadays part of the single bid a city puts forward

benefiting from economics of scale, still much needs to be done to reach equal prioritisation regarding sport for persons with disabilities. Stakeholders include international organisations, governments but also the media. With regard to the latter, in most countries coverage of Paralympic sport unfortunately still lags behind, while in some it does not exist at all. More public awareness is needed to change prevailing negative perceptions in society, including those towards persons with mental disabilities. In that connection, Special Olympics International and their World Games have made much progress in transforming prejudices and promoting the rights of athletes with mental disabilities for instance.

The United Nations has profound partnerships with the Olympic and Paralympic families, represented by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) respectively, as well as with the Special Olympics, which are all based on the understanding that development, inclusion and peace building goals can be achieved through sport.

Olympic Truce

The Olympic Truce is one example of this partnership. The Truce is a historic part of the Olympic Games; in ancient times, all warring parties laid down their weapons during the Games, providing relief in times of constant

war. This tradition of the Olympic Truce was revived in 1993 by a U.N. Resolution, reminding the world that the peaceful spirit of the Games can be a stepping stone for advancing conflict prevention and peace building objectives.

This past year, the U.N. Resolution calling for the Olympic Truce for the 2012 London Games was adopted and co-sponsored by all of the 193 U.N. Member States, indicating the importance that the international community places on the value of sport for peace. While a concrete universal ceasefire was unfortunately not observed so far, with ongoing conflicts in Syria, Afghanistan, and other countries, the Olympic Truce remains a noble goal and a powerful

reminder of the spirit, ideals and historic potential of the Games. The Truce also reaffirms the actions of many programmes and organisations working towards unity and reconciliation in communities around the world.

Other efforts in the United Nations to support and promote the values shared with the Olympic and Paralympic families include, just to name a few, the work of the U.N. Environment Programme on environmental protection and sustainability, the World Health Organisations contribution to disease prevention and control and the engagement of various U.N. organisations in the educational programme of the Youth Olympic Games.

While I am amazed by the efforts of so many to make the true spirit of the Olympic and Paralympic Games a reality and here I would like to pay tribute to the thousands of volunteers behind the scenes I also dream of the Games having an even greater impact; for there is no event in the world that has the power to bring so many people together, generating excitement and attention that can be harnessed for the good of humanity.

As part of this dream, I see athletes becoming even more aware of their status as social role models and more involved in promoting peace as well as sustainable change. I see gender equality and womens rights making strides through ever-greater female

participation in sports, from the grassroots up to the elite levels. I see the U.N. working even more closely with organising committees of large sporting events to fully harness the power of sport as a driving force towards a safer, more secure, more sustainable, more equitable future.

For now some of it is already reality, some is just possibility. But the efforts of those involved with the 2012 London Games is giving me hope that we are heading in the right direction. I encourage future hosts of sporting events and sport organisations to take up the baton and ensure that every major sporting event leaves behind a sustainable legacy.

(Courtesy U.N. Information Centre for India and Bhutan. Wilfried Lemke is Special Adviser to the U.N. SecretaryGeneral on Sport for Development and Peace.)

The London Games, as both the Olympic and paralympic events, show that diversity and difference are not a barrier to progress but can be a driver of it August 27, 2012

Shades of Afghanistan in the Levant

ATUL ANEJA

For those who have closely followed the anti-Soviet campaign in Afghanistan, the recent events in Syria have a familiar ring. Quite like Pakistan, Turkey has emerged as the frontline state the spearhead targeting the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad. The Central Intelligence Agency is playing its part, and its ominous presence at the nerve centre in the Turkish city of Adana, coordinating the military strikes buffeting the Assad government, has been well recorded. The wealthy Gulf Arabs are also in attendance, with Qatar playing the role of second-in-command to Saudi Arabia, which is bankrolling and channelling the flow of Islamic extremists, drawn from various parts of the globe, into Syria.

Sense of dj vu

Grabbing the headlines, and imparting an unmistakable sense of dj vu , is the story of Syrian rebels being armed with Stinger missiles the shoulder fired super-weapons, whose use by the mujahideen nullified the Red Armys advantage in the air, and eventually proved decisive in atrophying the Soviet Unions military campaign in Afghanistan.

But the comparisons with Afghanistan end here. Unlike the fighting in the Hindukush mountain ranges, the socalled Free Syrian Army is not battling an invading force in the heart of the Levant. The Assad government

evolved out of Syrias anti-colonial struggle, the secular ideology of Arab nationalism and its emphasis on an independent foreign policy. Its aspiration to chart its own course during the post-Cold War era was unacceptable to the United States and its allies. With an eye on a resurgent Russia and China, any enclave of independence Iran, Syria and the Lebanese Hezbollah, being the chief holdouts in the case of West Asia had, therefore, to be smothered with utmost urgency.

Any excuse for a regime change in the region, however farcical and puerile, was acceptable. Thus, non-existent weapons of mass destruction became the cause for a disastrous invasion of Iraq. The mirage of Irans quest for

atomic weapons is quite deliberately being kept alive. Syria, the lynchpin of an alliance whose geographical spread extends from the barren stretches of eastern Iran to the Mediterranean coast of Lebanon, is being primed up as a target of a humanitarian war. The West has been trying to perfect the technique of foreign military interventions on the ground of human rights protection, first in the former Yugoslavia and more recently in Libya. The mainstream international media, the repository of copious reserves of soft power, is an essential ally in accomplishing regime change in non-compliant states.

Both China and Russia, with Libya fresh in their mind, have with great clarity read the unfolding script in

Syria. A commentary on the Syrian situation in Global Times , the Chinese communist party daily, pointed to the compulsiveness that has emerged in the U.S.-led western world to promote the notion of human rights above sovereignty. The daily added: The U.S. launched wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and engineered a war to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi in Libya. In reality, what the U.S.-led defence forces brought to these countries were death, destitution and humanitarian crises. It then concluded that by emphasising self-proclaimed efforts to promote democracy and protect human rights, the West is trying to eliminate dissenting voices and fulfil its geopolitical interests.

Vitaly Churkin, the outspoken Russian permanent representative at the United Nations, has been equally precise in his identification of the core western aspirations in Syria which, in his view, are decisively geopolitical and not humanitarian in their intent. In an incisive interview with Russia Today , Mr. Churkin said: You know, humanitarian intervention unfortunately only sounds humane, but the fact of the matter is that any military intervention for whatever reason is inevitably going to cause more bloodshed. And we know the greatest humanitarians in the world the U.S. and the U.K. intervened in Iraq, for instance, citing all sorts of noble pretexts, in that particular case, non-existent weapons of mass destruction. What it caused 150 thousand civilian deaths alone, to say

nothing about millions of refugees, displaced persons and the whole dislocation in the country. So, dont be duped by humanitarian rhetoric. There is much more geopolitics in their policy in Syria than humanism.

Desperate efforts

So obsessive and desperate has been the drive of Americans and the excolonial powers chiefly Britain and France to topple the Assad regime that they are hardly averse to using al Qaeda to liberate Syria. The presence of al Qaeda was formally acknowledged in May by the U.S. when its Defence Secretary, Leon Panetta, told The Guardian that we do have intelligence that indicates that

there is an al Qaeda presence in Syria.

Several influential Americans have welcomed al Qaedas presence in the anti-Assad ranks operating in Syria. Among them is Ed Husain, a luminary of the Council for Foreign Relations the heavyweight U.S. think tank that is well networked in Washington. He wrote recently that the Syrian rebels would be immeasurably weaker today without al Qaeda in their ranks. He then extolled some of the virtues of al Qaeda that had helped steel the Syrian armed opposition. The influx of jihadis brings discipline, religious fervour, battle experience from Iraq, funding from Sunni sympathisers in the Gulf and, most importantly, deadly

results. In short, the FSA needs al Qaeda now.

Mr. Husain points out that the al Qaeda rank and file in Syria has established itself as Jabhat al-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Front for the Protection of the Levantine People).

More details are now emerging about al Qaedas entrenchment in Syria. The Saudi owned Al Hayat newspaper is reporting that al Qaeda has also permeated the Ahrar al-Sham Brigades. The al Qaeda fighters are the best equipped the only ones with access to satellite internet browsers that function even during power outages and have regular access to the media. Unlike others whose access to finances is often choked in Turkey,

the al Qaeda units are paid regular salaries. Funding for this elite force comes from Syrian expatriates in the Gulf countries in addition to Arab and international charitable societies.

Mr. Husain acknowledges that al Qaedas strategic objectives in Syria go far beyond the overthrow of the Assad regime. Liberation of the Syrian people is a bonus, but the main aim is to create an Islamist state in all or part of the country. Failing to achieve this maximalist objective, the al Qaeda would hope to at least establish a strategic base for the organisations remnants across the border in Iraq, and create a regional headquarters where Mujahideen can enjoy a safe haven. The scenario sounds familiar again the

emergence of a Syrian Taliban providing the bubble of protection to al Qaeda, as it plots the next phase of global jihad.

Mr. Husain accepts that the full blown revival of al Qaeda in a post-Assad situation should worry Washington. But he speciously argues that the unspoken political calculation among policymakers [in the U.S.] is to get rid of Assad first weakening Iran's position in the region and deal with al Qaeda later. But others more familiar with the ways of the Empire contend that the western powers could be quite content if the al Qaeda prevails and Syria disintegrates into pliable mini-states, undermining Iran and paralysing the Hezbollah.

Fighting chance

Despite the heavy onslaught, the Assad government has refused to throw in the towel. The Syrian government has continued to take on the opposition fighters with credible success in Damascus. Aleppo has failed to emerge as another Benghazi a firm base from where a sustained campaign against government forces can be launched. The Iran-Syria mutual defence treaty has been activated and Tehran has threatened to supply SA-8 anti-aircraft missiles to Kurdish rebels in case Turkey persists in arming the FSA with Stinger missiles. Unlike some of its former friends, Russians and Chinese have not abandoned Syria. With its allies standing-by, the Syrian government

might still have a fighting chance of escaping the fate of Afghanistan.

In their eagerness to topple the Assad regime, the U.S. and its allies are actively encouraging al Qaeda, now firmly entrenched in Syria August 27, 2012

Government, leave these kids alone

S.G. VOMBATKERE

ANSWER THEM:The children at Idinthakarai are as aware as the adults

of the dangers of living next toa nuclear plant. PHOTO: A. SHAIKMOHIDEEN The ongoing peaceful protest against the Kudankulam nuclear power plant (KKNPP), which began in the early 1980s intensified after the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. The protests revolve around fears over public safety and health arising from the existence and operation of the nuclear facility.

The protesters, the men, women and children of Idinthakarai and surrounding villages, have consistently demanded transparency and honest public consultation. They do not need high educational qualifications to see through the doublespeak of governments especially by the

Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), its stonewalling and deliberate economy with the truth. The children are as aware as their elders of the detailed reasons for the protests. It requires only a sense of fair play and justice to understand, for example, that the Site Evaluation Report based upon which KKNPP was constructed, is a sloppy non-document that the Central Information Commissioner forced into the open, or that the Safety Analysis Report is being kept secret on specious grounds.

Recently the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) accorded clearance to the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) to load the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) with real fuel rods, even though

this is a compromise on safety because of the vulnerable weld in the body of the RPV. The RPV should have been supplied without any weld. There are several more questions on very serious issues which NPCIL and governments have been stonewalling. But it is not the intention of this article to enumerate them, because its focus is on the role of children participating in the protests. Suffice it to say that children understand injustice, falsehood and prevarication by NPCIL and governments no less than adults.

Brazils example

According to a news report in The Hindu , (School children raise voice against nuke plant,August 14, 2012), around 250 schoolchildren

accompanied by some mothers, visited the Tirunelveli District Collectorate on August 13, 2012, and submitted a complaint petition to the Collector during the weekly grievance-day meeting. Perfectly creditable and lawabiding, one would say, and that too on the day meant for airing public grievances. The children complained that NPCIL, after ignoring the yearlong protest by the elders of their villages, was establishing nuclear reactors near their hamlets without conducting the mandatory disaster management exercise and without public consultations. They have appealed to the Chief Minister and the Prime Minister not to go ahead with this nuclear programme.

Recently, a Brazilian federal court halted construction of the Belo Monte dam in the Amazon region, saying that the indigenous people had not been consulted. It also said, Only in a dictatorial regime does a government approve a project before holding consultations.

But rather than addressing the issues in the childrens petition, the bureaucracy appears to have taken a jaundiced view of the childrens protest itself, and is calling for action against the school authorities who failed to stop the children from being used for a protest. This pre-supposes that children hold no opinions themselves, and have therefore been used by their elders.

Idinthakarais children

It is easy for the government to victimise the school headmasters for allowing children to protest, but the questions raised by the children will not go away. The government would do well do consider some questions, such as: why should children be denied the right to agitate peacefully and in a dignified manner as they have done, for the betterment of their own future? Even if they have been instructed by their elders, is it not creditable that the instruction has been to stay peaceful while bringing their problems to official notice? This is more than can be said for the scheming indulged in by certain politicians, technocrats, bureaucrats and police officials who, as public servants, wield

unaccountable power, and use that power undemocratically, even dictatorially, against the very people whom they are expected to serve.

Peaceful resistance

It is noteworthy that the young adults who are protesting against KKNPP today were children who participated when the protests began in the early 1980s. Some of the children protesting today are their progeny. In times of unprincipled politics and growing violence, the children of Idinthakarai in Tamil Nadu, are an example for all Indians to emulate.

The Peoples Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) is a

movement that protects and strengthens peoples constitutionally assured right to life and livelihood. Its ongoing, exemplary peaceful struggle against the intransigence, intransparency, prevarication and brazen untruths of the DAE, is a source of inspiration to movements across the country, especially because children are actively participating in it. These children are demonstrating the power of peaceful resistance to the State and Central governments in a way that the Father of the Nation would have applauded. Were he alive, he might have even joined the struggle.

The governments and the people who run them would be well advised to learn from Idinthakarais noble

children. They are the hope for tomorrows India that it is possible to live by the Constitution, which today is shamefully being violated by the governments acts of commission and omission.

(S.G. Vombatkere retired from the Indian Army as a major general. He is presently engaged in voluntary work and is a member of the National Alliance of Peoples Movements and the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties. Email: [email protected] )

The protests by children at Kudankulam against the nuclear plant demonstrate

the power of peaceful resistance, in contrast to the hardened, anti-people,

anti-democratic stance of those in power August 28, 2012

Defending the indefensible

ARUN JAITLEY

The parliamentary stalemate continues on one of the greatest corruption scandals in Indian history. Allocation of natural resources has been a subject matter of public debate in the last two decades, particularly with the entry of

the private sector in infrastructure development. Minerals are an important natural resource. The private sector has a great role to play in development of mineral-based industries. However, the policy of allocation of these natural resources has been discretionary, thereby leaving ample scope for allocation on account of corrupt and collateral motives. It is, therefore, important that aware of the characters of polity and governance, discretions be eliminated and objective criteria be introduced.

Competitive bidding

Most tangible resources such as minerals, spectrum, oil and gas must be allocated only through a competitive bidding mechanism. The

discretionary allocation of 2G spectrum resulted in a scam of disproportionate magnitude. It is now proven that Rs.1,658 crore fixed for an all-India licence spectrum in 2008 was not the market value of the spectrum then. Under adverse market conditions, the government itself in 2012 has fixed the base price for 2G auction at Rs.14,000 crore.

There has to be an equitable balance between the interests of the public exchequer and the optimum use of natural resources for economic development.

Whispers about misdemeanours in the allocation of coal blocks have been rife in the last few years. The government took a correct policy

decision on June 28, 2004 that competitive bidding be introduced in the coal block allocation policy. For most of the next five years, the Prime Minister was the Coal Minister. The exploitation of coal blocks allotted between 2004 and 2012 is negligible. For most of these coal blocks, statutory and environmental permissions have not been given.

The Prime Ministers argument that pending change of policy to competitive bidding, allocation was necessary for the growth of GDP is eyewash. None of these coal blocks has contributed to the GDP. They have only contributed to the huge valuation of the private sector allottees and a corresponding opportunity and real cost to the public exchequer.

The Prime Ministers alternative defence is that his government was handicapped by the Opposition from the coal and lignite States to competitive bidding. In any federal polity, it is legitimate for the States to be concerned about the development of power production in their own States. Mineral-producing States have always been concerned about the minerals mined in their States. The Prime Minister overlooks the fact that coal as a major mineral is in the domain of the Central government. His government admittedly overruled the States in 2006. The present Minister of State, Coal, Sriprakash Jaiswal, admitted in Parliament on December 21, 2009 that the majority of States had agreed to the competitive bidding process. Thus to shift the blame to the

States is a very poor alibi. Federalism cannot be blamed for the corruption of the United Progressive Alliance.

The Prime Ministers statement is an assault on constitutionalism and constitutional authority. Instead of respecting the observations of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) and taking remedial action, the Prime Minister has evolved a logic which is in defiance of ethical governance. His governments policy is to subvert the institutions but if they assert themselves, to attack them.

The Prime Minister has no answer for the fact that despite the initial policy decision of June 2004, it was the Prime Ministers Office which circulated a parallel note on September

11, 2004 highlighting the drawbacks in the decision of competitive bidding.

It was the Law Ministry that delayed the competitive bidding by first giving the opinion that administrative instructions were enough to switch over to competitive bidding. They then suggested an alternative that the Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) Act (MMDR) be amended. Over two valuable years were wasted and finally, when the MMDR (Amendment) Bill was approved by Parliament on September 9, 2010, the UPA government took 17 months to notify it. The tenders of competitive bidding have not been prepared yet as the government was so overenthusiastic in continuing the discretionary process in allotment.

When vested interests realised that the doors of discretion were about to be closed, they queued up for allotments through the Screening Committee mechanism.

The Prime Ministers final defence that the Screening Committee mechanism was fair and transparent is repelled by an observation of the CAG in Paragraph 4.1 of its report. The CAG has stated:

It was also noted that the Screening Committee recommended the allocation of coal block to a particular allottee/allottees out of all the applicants for that coal block by way of minutes of the meeting of the Screening Committee. However, there was nothing on record in the said

minutes or in other documents on any comparative evaluation of the applicants for a coal block which was relied upon by the Screening Committee. Minutes of the Screening Committee did not indicate how each one of the applicant for a particular coal block was evaluated. Thus, a transparent method for allocation of coal blocks was not followed by the Screening Committee.

Ordinarily, Parliament is the forum for debate on the issue. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is the forum where CAG recommendations should be considered. Our experience of the recent past in relation to the CAG recommendations in the 2G spectrum allocation have convinced us that the ruling party has decided to

subvert the parliamentary accountability available through the PAC. The PAC has been effectively made non-functional on that issue.

Legitimate tactic

Parliamentary obstructionism should be avoided. It is a weapon to be used in the rarest of the rare cases. Parliamentary accountability is as important as parliamentary debate. Both must co-exist. If parliamentary accountability is subverted and a debate is intended to be used merely to put a lid on parliamentary accountability, it is then a legitimate tactic for the Opposition to expose the government through parliamentary instruments available at its command. Presently, a national debate on

allocation of natural resources is on. Left to this government, it would have distributed these resources for collateral purposes to its own favourites.

The Prime Minister must own full and real responsibility. Let him cancel these 142 discretionary allocations, put them on auction and test whether they had been allocated at a fair price.

(The author is Leader Opposition, Rajya Sabha.)

of

the

The Prime Minister should cancel the discretionary coal block allotments and auction

them to test whether

they were given at

a fair price August 28, 2012

Opposition-ruled States opposed competitive bidding

I seek the indulgence of the House

3. I want to assure Honble Members that as the Minister in charge [for a part of the time covered by the report], I take full responsibility for the decisions of the Ministry. I wish to say that any allegations of impropriety are without basis and unsupported by the facts.

10. The observations of the CAG are clearly disputable.

11. The policy of allocation of coal blocks to private parties, which the CAG [Comptroller and Auditor General] has criticised, was not a new policy introduced by the UPA. The policy has existed since 1993 and previous governments also allocated coal blocks in precisely the manner that the CAG has now criticised.

12. The UPA made improvements in the procedure in 2005 by inviting applications through open advertisements after providing details of the coal blocks on offer along with the guidelines and the conditions of allotment. These applications were examined and evaluated by a broad based Steering Committee with representatives from State governments, related ministries of the Central government and the coal companies. The applications were assessed on parameters such as the techno economic feasibility of the end use project, status of preparedness to set up the end use project, past track record in execution of projects, financial and technical capabilities of the applicant companies, recommendations of the State

governments and the administrative ministry concerned.

13. Any administrative allocation procedure involves some judgment and in this case the judgment was that of the many participants in the Screening Committee acting collectively. There were then no allegations of impropriety in the functioning of the Committee.

14. The CAG says that competitive bidding could have been introduced in 2006 by amending the existing administrative instructions. This premise of the CAG is flawed.

15. [it is] based on a selective reading of the opinions given by the Department of Legal Affairs.

16. Initially, the government had initiated a proposal to introduce competitive bidding by formulating appropriate rules. This matter was referred to the Department of Legal Affairs, which initially opined that amendment to the Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act would be necessary for this purpose.

17. A meeting was convened in the PMO on July 25, 2005 which was attended by representatives of coal and lignite bearing states. In the meeting the representatives of State governments were opposed to the proposed switch over to competitive

bidding. It was further noted that the legislative changes that would be required for the proposed change would require considerable time and the process of allocation of coal blocks for captive mining could not be kept in abeyance for so long given the pressing demand for coal. Therefore, it was decided in this meeting to continue with the allocation of coal blocks through the extant Screening Committee procedure till the new competitive bidding procedure became operational. This was a collective decision of the Centre and the State governments concerned.

18. It was only in August 2006 that the Department of Legal Affairs opined that competitive bidding could be introduced through administrative

instructions. However, the same Department also opined that legislative amendments would be required for placing the proposed process on a sound legal footing. In a meeting held in September 2006, the Secretary, Department of Legal Affairs categorically opined that having regard to the nature and scope of the relevant legislation, it would be most appropriate to achieve the objective through amendment to the Mines & Minerals (Development & Regulation) Act.

19. In any case, in a democracy, it is difficult to accept the notion that a decision of the government to seek legislative amendment to implement a change in policy should come for adverse audit scrutiny. The issue was

contentious and the proposed change to competitive bidding required consensus building among various stakeholders with divergent views, which is inherent in the legislative process.

20. As stated above, major coal and lignite bearing States like West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and Rajasthan that were ruled by opposition parties, were strongly opposed to a switch over to the process of competitive bidding as they felt that it would increase the cost of coal, adversely impact value addition and development of industries in their areas and would dilute their prerogative in the selection of lessees.

21. The then Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Smt. Vasundhara Raje, wrote to me in April 2005 opposing competitive bidding saying that it was against the spirit of the Sarkaria Commission recommendations. Dr. Raman Singh, Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, wrote to me in June 2005 seeking continuation of the extant policy and requesting that any changes in coal policy be made after arriving at a consensus between the Central government and the States. The (then) State governments of West Bengal and Orissa also wrote formally opposing a change to the system of competitive bidding.

22. The Ministry of Power, too, felt that auctioning of coal could lead to enhanced cost of producing energy.

23. It is pertinent to mention that the Coal Mines Nationalisation (Amendment) Bill, 2000 to facilitate commercial mining by private companies was pending in Parliament for a long time owing to stiff opposition from the stakeholders.

24. Despite the elaborate consultative process undertaken prior to introducing the amendment Bill in Parliament, the Standing Committee advised the Ministry of Coal to carry out another round of discussions with the States. This further demonstrates that the decision to seek broader consultation and consensus through a Parliamentary process was the right one.

25. The CAG report has criticised the government for not implementing this decision speedily enough. In retrospect, I would readily agree that in a world where things can be done by fiat, we could have done it faster. But, given the complexities of the process of consensus building in our Parliamentary system, this is easier said than done.

26. Let me humbly submit that, even if we accept CAGs contention that benefits accrued to private companies, their computations can be questioned on a number of technical points. The CAG has computed financial gains to private parties as being the difference between the average sale price and the production cost of CIL of the estimated extractable reserves of the

allocated coal blocks. Firstly, computation of extractable reserves based on averages would not be correct. Secondly, the cost of production of coal varies significantly from mine to mine even for CIL due to varying geo-mining conditions, method of extraction, surface features, number of settlements, availability of infrastructure, etc. Thirdly, CIL has been generally mining coal in areas with better infrastructure and more favourable mining conditions, whereas the coal blocks offered for captive mining are generally located in areas with more difficult geological conditions. Fourthly, a part of the gains would in any case get appropriated by the government through taxation and under the MMDR Bill, presently being considered by Parliament, 26 per cent of the profits

earned on coal mining operations would have to be made available for local area development. Therefore, aggregating the purported financial gains to private parties merely on the basis of the average production costs and sale price of CIL could be highly misleading. Moreover, as the coal blocks were allocated to private companies only for captive purposes for specified end-uses, it would not be appropriate to link the allocated blocks to the price of coal set by CIL.

28. It is true that the private parties that were allocated captive coal blocks could not achieve their production targets. This could be partly due to cumbersome processes involved in getting statutory clearances, an issue we are addressing separately. We have

initiated action to cancel the allocations of allottees who did not take adequate follow-up action to commence production. Moreover, the CBI is separately investigating the allegations of malpractices, on the basis of which due action will be taken against wrongdoers, if any.

30. Although the coal produced thus far from the blocks allocated to the private sector is below the target, it is reasonable to expect that as clearances are speeded up, production will come into effect in the course of the Twelfth Plan. Postponing the allocation of coal blocks until the new system was in place would have meant lower energy production, lower GDP growth and also lower revenues. It is unfortunate

that the CAG has not taken these aspects into account.

31. Let me state emphatically that it has always been the intention of government to augment production of coal by making available coal blocks for captive mining through transparent processes and guidelines which fully took into account the legitimate concerns of all stakeholders, including the State governments. The implicit suggestion of the CAG that the government should have circumvented the legislative process through administrative instructions, over the registered objections of several State governments including those ruled by opposition parties, if implemented would have been undemocratic and contrary to the spirit of the functioning

of our federal polity. The facts speak for themselves and show that the CAGs findings are flawed on multiple counts.

32. This, in short, is the background, the factual position and the rationale of governments actions. Now that the report of the CAG is before the House, appropriate action on the recommendations and observations contained in the report will follow through the established parliamentary procedures.

Excerpts from the Prime Ministers statement in Parliament on the Performance Audit Report on

allocation of coal blocks augmentation of coal production August 29, 2012

and

This Bill for acquisition is not steep at all

JAIRAM RAMESH K. RAJU MUHAMMAD KHAN

In her article in The Hindu , (Nailing the lie of the land, Op-Ed, August 23, 2012), Ms Medha Patkar has forcefully and with reason argued against the devastating consequences of land acquisition. Without getting into the concerns raised with regard to

the larger development model we would like to respond to the issues she has raised with the proposed Bill on Land Acquisition which seem predicated on an understanding of the Bill that is not entirely tenable. A brief response to some of these is given below:

Discard eminent domain: the article argues that since capital and labour are not acquired forcefully then neither should land. The argument seems valid on the face of it but land, unlike capital and labour, is not fungible. In other words, land is finite and immovable. Land for local needs cannot be substituted by the acquisition of land elsewhere. To illustrate; if a road has to be built to connect two towns then land at another location cannot be

acquired for this purpose. To take such decisions the State, which is the ultimate arbitrator of public good, has to be vested with the power of eminent domain. At the same time, it is important to also acknowledge the myriad ways in which the doctrine of eminent domain as present in the 1894 law, is sought to be significantly attenuated in the proposed new law. The State must have a role in acquisition given that land markets are highly imperfect in India and given that there are huge power and information asymmetries between the buyers and sellers of land.

No acquisition of agricultural land: citing the Standing Committee report, the article argues for a complete ban on the acquisition of agricultural land

without distinctions as to single or multi-crop. Again this is not a feasible suggestion as such a sweeping provision will create insurmountable obstructions to growth and development particularly in rural areas. Carte blanche provisions, especially in a law that can only be repealed by Parliament, have to be drafted with caution and in a manner that accommodates need for future growth of the area in question. Each State in India faces unique development challenges and as several States represented before the Standing Committee, many of them regard industrialisation as a key element of their strategy to generate employment. Keeping this in mind, the new Bill retains the restriction on acquisition of agricultural land but leaves the exact limits to be determined by each State

in line with its own development priorities.

The Bill also makes it clear that acquisition of multi-crop land is only to be undertaken as a last resort and under exceptional circumstances. Furthermore if such land is indeed earmarked for acquisition then an equal plot of alternative land has to be delineated for agricultural purposes. In addition, the Bill provides for States to impose ceilings on such acquisitions taking place within the district as a unit.

Definition of public purpose: The article makes the charge that public purpose has been poorly defined in a manner worse than in the British Act. This might be the authors opinion but

it is not representative of the facts. Not only does the new Bill define public purpose comprehensively it also qualifies it by establishing processes whereby such public purpose needs to be clearly and compellingly validated. The Social Impact Assessment Process is one where all those affected (including those whose livelihood has been impacted), including representatives from Panchayati Raj Institutions, are invited to deliberate as to whether public purpose is indeed served by such acquisition. This is then vetted by an independent expert group and finally pronounced upon by the high level committee headed by the Chief Secretary of a State. These safeguards are compounded by the high quorum of consent required (80 per cent).

None of these processes exist under the 1894 Act.

Rehabilitation: the article argues that the Bill is especially weak on rehabilitation. It suggests that only cash is being offered to ameliorate the impacts of acquisition and adds that cash was offered by the British as well. This is inaccurate. Over five chapters and two entire Schedules have been dedicated to outlining elaborate processes for resettlement and rehabilitation. The Second Schedule in particular outlines the benefits (such as land for land, housing, employment and annuities) that shall accrue in addition to the onetime cash payments. In fact, the very industry that the article accuses the Ministry of Rural Development of

sharing some vague nexus with, has been vocal and vehement in its criticism of these R&R provisions stating that the same render the process of acquisition non-feasible.

Another far-reaching provision that the article fails to draw attention to, and one that draws squarely upon the lessons learned from the past displacements, is the guarantee that none of those individuals whose land has been acquired shall be dispossessed unless alternatives, as enumerated in the Bill, are provided for (Section 37). No such protection, enshrined in a statute, has ever been afforded earlier.

Conclusion: as regards the Standing Committee recommendations, which

the article seems to take as the touchstone for its critiques, it may be pointed out that the committee made a total of 28 broad recommendations of which 25 have been accommodated in some form or the other (including the one mentioned in the article regarding the return of unutilised land).

The article is right in its detailing of the lack of justice and parity that has accompanied acquisitions in the past. What it fails to realise is that it is precisely in acknowledgement of such historical injustices that such a legislative revisit is being undertaken. The new Bill is under attack both from progressives like Ms Medha Patkar as well as from organisations like the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the

Confederation of Indian Industry. Therefore, we believe something must be right about the Bill. August 29, 2012

A Kamaraj Plan for our times

GOPALKRISHNA GANDHI

Fifty years are like a millennium in politics. To write about the India of 1962 is to invoke a different universe.

And yet that year compels recollection today. The rose bud fresh on his achkan , Jawaharlal Nehru led his party to a third impressive victory at

the 1962 general elections and stepped into his third Prime Ministership. A seamless cruise to the next elections in 1967 lay ahead for the Congress.

But the months that followed that third return to power, were anything but smooth. Certain things are just not in a governments control, like the behaviour of neighbours. China breached our borders in two simultaneous offensives in Ladakh and on the McMahon Line, shaking the nations equanimity. Also to be shaken, visibly, was Prime Minister Nehru .With a wan frankness he said in a TV interview for American viewers, there is no such thing [now] as non-alignment vis--vis China.

Faith shaken

Shaken, too, were faith in a neighbours intentions, faith in panchsheel and faith in the practicality of non-alignment. There was a clamour for other shake-ups too, like the replacement of Defence Minister Krishna Menon. The Prime Minister was hesitant to move someone he so admired from that sensitive Ministry. Amidst growing public restiveness Lal Bahadur Shastri told him: Panditji jab chhoti ahuti nahin di jaati, tab badi ahuti deni par jaati hai (When a small sacrifice is withheld, a bigger one gets to be demanded). Not much later, Menon was replaced by the nononsense Yeshwantrao Chavan.

Finance Minister Morarji Desai was blunt. The people of India, he said, will have to submit to heavy taxation and with new taxes he introduced the compulsory deposit scheme and the gold control order. These were meant to and did feel tight, very tight. The country was uneasy, angry. Three by-elections to the Lok Sabha held in quick succession saw stalwart opposition leaders Acharya Kripalani, Rammanohar Lohia and Minoo Masani defeat the Congress.

And that is when while others in the party and the government despaired, one man stirred. Kumaraswami Kamaraj was also into his own third term as Chief Minister of Madras. Like a tectonic plate on the move, he

pushed an idea formidably irresistibly northward.

and

Kamaraj proposed, in 1963, to Prime Minister Nehru that all senior Congress leaders holding ministerial office resign and take up party work. Serial wins in elections were alright, he said, but continuous office incumbency was distancing leaders from the fears and feelings, thoughts and travails of the masses. Nehru saw the point and told Kamaraj he would like to be the first one to go. Kamaraj demurred and said no, Panditji, you are unique, you must remain Prime Minister.

In the event, six Union Ministers, including Lal Bahadur Shastri, Jagjivan Ram and Morarji Desai, and

six Chief Ministers, including Kamaraj himself, Biju Patnaik and S.K. Patil resigned from their posts. The freedfrom-office-for-party Kamaraj became, inevitably, Congress president.

How much the Kamaraj Plan revived a dispirited party, polity and nation remains open to debate. Indrani Jagjivan Ram has some valuable negative insights to offer, in her recently published memoirs. But the Plan certainly prepared the nation to face the unexpected and the unwelcome.

At Kamarajs instance, Nehru brought Lal Bahadur Shastri back, as Minister Without Portfolio, virtually as Deputy Prime Minister. This made his

succession by Shastri foregone, when it could otherwise have been fractious. Two years had barely elapsed when Shastri, too, was taken from us. As thousands waited for the plane bringing Shastris remains from Tashkent to land in Delhi, another aircraft descended at Palam airport. And from it emerged, the rough-hewn granite figure of Congress president Kamaraj, dressed in his simple unstarched khadi, angavastram resting on his left shoulder. The gathering at the airport would have clapped in relief and confidence, had the moment not been so deeply sad. At that point in time, Kamaraj simply personified the nations vishvas .

Fiftieth anniversary

As we approach the 50th anniversary of the Kamaraj Plan, the scene of today compels comparison with that of 1962-63.

The basic systems of government and statecraft in a democracy are, essentially, the Cabinet, the government and its political leadership. Only an optimist in selfdeceptive denial would say these are working well in todays India. Cabinets are meant to be colleagueships. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh trustingly heads a moody coalition which is not a colleagueship.

Governments are there to govern. Staving off the Oppositions relentless and mindless obstruction of

Parliaments functioning takes up the governments time, saps its energy. Leadership is about commanding implicit trust, vishvas . The entanglement of senior figures in allegations of corruption has undermined vishvas .

Besides systems, there are imponderables that actuate the human condition, whether in a democracy or in other forms of government. These too are in distress.

With the monsoon playing truant, a serious water and energy crisis glowering at us, prices continuing to be volatile, and purchasing capacity sinking, our economy is in trouble. Investments and job creation in the private sector plummet. And, if this is

not disabling enough, the northeast has been through the most bewildering ethnic tension. Who started the unheard-of internal migration that followed? The truth wears a hood.

The Government of India is prepared, doubtless, to meet certain contingencies. But there is no upper limit to preparedness. One more insufficient monsoon, a border conflagration, a terror attack of vast scale, a natural disaster of higher magnitude than usual, and we will be put to tests we are not really ready for.

So, on this 50th anniversary, one cannot but recall Kamaraj and his plan with nostalgia.

Clearly, status quo is untenable. But merely asking for a Kamaraj Plan II would be too pat and predictable. Had he been alive he would have himself acknowledged that his grand hope of drafting ministers into game-changing party rejuvenation did not work as dramatically as he would have liked it to. Those who gave up their offices tended to sulk into inactivity or waited for the day when they would be reinducted into office.

We do not have a Kamaraj with us today but as 50 years ago, so now, the Congress has as its president one who has shown the power and impact of saying no to office. If the Congress president and our Prime Minister were to re-deploy a dozen or more ministers

for party work and replace them with a new generation of ministers with competence and credit, a new confidence and enthusiasm could emerge in the party and the government and, by extension, in the country, making it better placed to face the unwelcome and the unexpected.

This could be done in the States as well with differential effect.

But if the re-jig (as the media is bound to dub the exercise) is to have abiding effect, a new work ethic will need to be inaugurated under which the new brooms in the Cabinet apply their clean and strong bristles to rid the system of what Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan described as widespread inefficiency and gross

mismanagement of resources, and corruption.

Reinforcement of vishvas

Simultaneously those re-deployed for party work will need to become the alert eyes and ears of the public, proactive spokespersons within the party for the people they represent. This is where such an initiative will be an advance over the Kamaraj Plan. Popular outrage over mis-governance and corruption can, if addressed as it should be, lead to a moral dividend for Indias systemic benefit. Else, it will get co-opted by one-a-day political opportunisms. And if Parliament were to pass, as part of the change, a convincing Lokpal Act, we could see the return to national life of vishvas .

Kamaraj, the un-chaptered and unversed chapter-turner, would have warmed to Basavannas wise 10th century aphorism: What stands must subside; it is what moves on that stays.

(The writer is former Governor of West Bengal.) August 29, 2012

Set in platinum, sharp divides

MALLIKA SHAKYA

FISSURES:Marikana is quickly turning into a battleground for politics of class and culture. An August 23 picture of people gathered there after attending a memorial service for those killed. PHOTO: AFP Half a century after the Sharpville massacre that raised international outrage against apartheid, last weeks shootings at Lonmins Marikana mine in South Africa seemed like dj vu. While apartheid is now safely a thing of the past, the Marikana site of 44 casualties, just 80 km northeast from the capital Pretoria, is a reminder of how inextricably race, class and representation are enmeshed in democratic South Africas trade union rivalries.

At the heart of the strike that provoked police shooting were the mine workers carrying out the lowliest paid but hardest job of drilling the rock underground. The rock drillers earned $500 a month for risking their lives on a daily basis while working in pitch dark pits sometimes 400 metres below the earths surface. There was little or no support for this demand from their trade union, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), which commands a vast membership of over 3,60,000 members and boasts an impeccable record of anti-apartheid struggle since the 1980s, called this strike illegal. Workers attributed this to NUMs revolutionary past getting unforgivably rusty: its founding father, Cyril Ramaphosa, now sits on the board of the London-listed and World Bank-advised Lonmin; its general

secretary Frans Baleni, who earns a comfortable monthly salary of $13,000, allegedly likened the rock drillers strike to sharks attacking under water and hence needing dewatering.

Elitism within trade unionism led a large number of platinum mine workers including the Marikana rock drillers to flock to the new Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), founded by disgruntled leaders from NUM. As the Marikana strike turned violent and NUM agreed to the mine owners call for a heavy handed police intervention, AMCU saw the writing on the wall. On the ill-fated day of the shooting, its leaders went among the striking workers to convey the danger in no

uncertain terms. NUM leaders also addressed the workers, but they felt so threatened by the workers that they refused to leave the safety of a policearmoured vehicle while addressing the crowd. There were no political negotiations and the workers refused to return to work. Within 10 minutes of AMCU leaders leaving the scene, the police fired at protesters.

Animosity

The South African Police Service has maintained that the police acted in self defence. Video footage of a group of workers charging on the police is widely circulating in the national media. True, there were violent clashes between police and striking miners in the days preceding the shooting,

making the police especially paranoid. However, the alternative account is that the workers seen in the footage may have been fleeing since the police had shot on striking workers from behind, out of sight of the media. President Jacob Zuma has now ordered a judicial inquiry into the incident and it will take another four months for a detailed report to be put together.

Beyond the immediate unfolding of events leading to the strike and eventually a massacre, however, Marikana is quickly turning into a battleground for politics of class and culture. To start with, rock drillers are mostly uneducated people from the rural Eastern Cape and the mountains of Lesotho whereas their elected Union leaders are usually educated and

shrewd men from towns. Even though there are two unions to choose from NUM and AMCU the animosity between them has given rise to such extreme opportunism that rock drillers are deeply suspicious of both. In fact, in the days immediately before the shooting, it was reported that a large number of workers had consulted local songomas or traditional healers for substances that would make them invincible to bullets.

Some commentators were quick to attribute this to mob mentality among the striking miners while others see in it the desperate search for the last straw by workers drowning in defeat.

Three issues

What does Marikana say about South Africas current politics of race and class? In the immediate aftermath of the massacre, the NUM was publicly booted out of mine workers gatherings, and its rival AMCU is rapidly gaining ground in the platinum belt. Even then, AMCU and the workers disgruntled with NUM still have a tough battle to fight because NUM is after all an important wing of the liberation party African National Congress (ANC) which has ruled South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994. The NUM-AMCU rivalry is thus not just about the clash of few egos; it puts a big question mark on the legacy of the anti-apartheid movement for todays South Africa.

Second, post-apartheid South Africa saw a small number in the black population quickly rise to elitism thanks to the programmes of affirmative action such as Black Economic Empowerment which sought to redistribute wealth between the blacks and the whites but did little to ensure a meritocratic and progressive process of transfer. The yawning gap between the earnings of the striking miners and their NUM leaders brings home the reality that the end of political apartheid has not necessarily brought social and economic liberation for everybody.

The third issue is of the ownership of natural resources. The striking miners are right to point out that the platinum they extract goes to the accounts of a

few chosen fat cats, most of whom are white, while they themselves risk their lives on a daily basis for a meagre wage and oppressive working conditions. Beyond the immediate issues of trade unionism, the discontent has fuelled the call for nationalising the mines. Indeed, Julius Malema, the radical youth leader of ANC, who carried the banner of nationalisation until he was suspended a few months ago on charges of corruption and incitation of violence, is making a political comeback in the platinum belt.

Trade union politics has never been straightforward. Class is never bifurcated but multifurcated, and its manifestation in the multi-racial and multi-ethnic context is decidedly

complex. Marikana reminds us once again that class theorisations based on the pre-multicultural Europe are bound to be redefined in societies facing the overlapping issues of race and class as well as specialised forms of political elitism. Added to this are challenges of perspectives and interpretations: centuries long portrayal of Africa as the Dark Continent makes stories of witchcraft, mob and police brutalities too tempting a narrative, but underneath lie the threads of national transition and social disquiet that may be common elsewhere.

(Mallika Shakya is Senior Lecturer, University of Pretoria.) August 30, 2012

Warming cousins send out the shivers

MEENA MENON

KINSHIP BONDS:There are signs that Raj (right) and Uddhav Thackeray could be moving towards a political alignment.PHOTO: BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT The massive turnout at the protest march and rally organised by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) on August 21 has at least one party very worried. The possible proHindutva tilt of the MNS, putting it on the same page as its once bitter protagonist, the Shiv Sena, could spell

big trouble for the Congress, already in deep waters with its coalition partner, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

The Congress has gained hugely in the past from the MNS splitting the Marathi vote, and has even been accused of propping up the party for this very reason. But all that would change if MNS starts being viewed as an anti-Muslim force, and makes common cause with the Shiv Sena.

No wonder then that a day before Raj Thackerays rally, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan expressed fears that the MNS was trying to score over the Shiv Sena by hijacking its Hindutva agenda.

For his part, Raj Thackeray vehemently denied in his speech at the rally that he was going the Hindutva way, stressing that his only religion or dharma was Maharashtra dharma read allegiance to the State and Marathi manoos .

The August 11 riots at Azad Maidan where policemen and women bore the brunt of mob fury was interpreted by MNS as an attack on the Marathi people. Raj Thackeray pitched his aggressive stand on Raza Academy and Samajwadi Party leader Abu Asim Azmi as part of the MNSs campaign against North Indians in Maharashtra. By hitting out at Azmi and Bangladeshis (waving a green coloured passport on the stage to leave no one in doubt), he spelt out his anti-

outsider agenda once again. Only this time, they happened to be Muslims.

Whether Rajs tirade means hes turning saffron remains to be seen. The MNS has not been known to campaign on an anti-Muslim plank. Some of its MLAs have been supported with votes from the Muslim community. But with one rally, he managed both to drive home that he is no less a saviour of the Marathi manoos than the Shiv Sena, and creep into cousin Uddhavs Hindutva territory.

Talk of the waning influence of the MNS, along with that of the Shiv Sena, now seems premature.

Transfer

The transfer of Mumbai police commissioner Arup Patnaik after the MNS rally is seen by the party as a feather in its cap. Uddhav has been most approving of his cousins show of strength. But he also acted to reclaim the Senas image as the original Hindutva party. After the MNS rally, the Sena was quick to revive the slogan Garv se Kaho Ham Hindu Hain , a throwback to its 1992 agitation, in the months before Babri Masjid was demolished. In further efforts to recapture the glory days of the Sena, posters have appeared of Bal Thackeray, the caption Ekta Tiger (the only tiger) on them curiously resonating with the title of the latest Salman Khan flick, Ek Tha Tiger.

The Shiv Sena response to the riots at Azad Maidan was restrained Uddhav Thackeray went to pay homage to the Amar Jawan memorial which was targeted by the mob, and made the understated warning that he too could call out the Sena in its thousands. But despite the attempts at differentiation, from the MNS, Uddhavs demand for the resignation of Patnaik and State Home Minister R.R. Patil echoed Rajs and only seemed to underline the point that both have a common agenda.

While talk of an alliance between the MNS and Shiv Sena may also be premature, there are other signs of the two formerly warring cousins warming up to each other.

In July when Uddhav Thackeray was taken for tests to Lilavati Hospital, Raj did the once unthinkable by visiting his cousin at the hospital, and then driving him home. Later too, during Uddhavs angioplasty, there was much camaraderie between the two. That neither Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray, nor Uddhav, his son, are in great health at the moment, could be a reason for the new proximity.

The better performance of the MNS compared to that of the Shiv Sena in the recent Mumbai civic elections is no less relevant. Though the Sena won a fourth successive term, over the years, there has been a steady decrease in the number of seats it wins. On the other hand, from just seven seats in

2007, the MNS pulled together 28 seats in the February election.

This is clearly worrying the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Shiv Senas ally. Already there is talk of a possible BJP-Shiv Sena-MNS alliance in the next Assembly polls. If that happens, it will severely test the Congress. Aside from the partys rocky relationship with the NCP, the police commissioners transfer has seen the government come under attack. Further, the death of Vilasrao Deshmukh has left a huge gap in leadership, which will be felt acutely in the next polls. The last thing the Congress wants now is an alignment of the Thackeray cousins.

[email protected]

Last weeks MNS rally in Mumbai takes Raj Thackeray closer to Shiv Sena much to

the discomfiture of the Congress

August 30, 2012

Separated at birth
SAIF SHAHIN

Much is made these days of the apparent likeness between India and Israel. Both are supposed to be modern

democracies. Both, it is pointed out, are also fighting Islamic terrorism. But this is a superficial comparison. There is no dearth of modern democracies in the post-Cold War world, and no dearth of nations fighting Islamic terror either, post-9/11. For two nations to be considered alike, they ought to be similar in ways that are more fundamental and, at the same time, that also set them apart from other nations.

It is not India but Pakistan that shares a number of such traits with Israel.

Violent partition

Both Pakistan and Israel were carved out through partitions of historically

and culturally unified territories within a year of each other: Pakistan in August 1947 and Israel in May 1948. Pakistan was created by splitting the Indian subcontinent, tearing asunder people who, while belonging to different religions, shared a common cultural heritage and had together fought their war of Independence. It created fissures even within ethnic communities Punjabis in the west, Bengalis in the east and, a year later, Kashmiris in the north. The same happened when Israel was carved out of historical Palestine, dividing Arabs to the west of the Jordan river for the first time.

Two, neither partition was peaceful. Hundreds of thousands of people had to leave their homes in both instances

to become refugees in what, just days earlier, had been their own land. Pakistans creation saw more than 10 million people migrate on either side of the border, many driven away by their neighbours. Nearly a million are believed to have died in the pogroms that ensued. While eloquent espousals of nationalism and patriotism poured out of leaders at bully pulpits, the slit throats of citizens spattered blood in the streets.

Israels creation was similarly gory. More than 700,000 Palestinians were hounded out of their homes by Zionist militias in what the Arabs have since called the Nakba, or catastrophe. Thousands perished. Many migrated to West Bank, Gaza and the refugee camps of Lebanon, Jordan and the

Sinai; many others fled to Europe and the United States places from where harried Jews had been moving to Palestine in preceding decades to escape persecution. One diaspora replaced another, and Arab became the new Jew of the West. The irony was profound.

Three, neither Pakistan nor Israel has clearly defined its borders since its creation. Its not just that their neighbours dont agree with them, but both these nations have themselves stopped short of stating precisely where they want their borders to be. While India categorically specifies the borders it claims in Kashmir, Pakistans position is ambiguous at best. It calls the portion it conquered in 1947-48 Azad Kashmir

(Independent Kashmir), but Pakistans army exercises even more control over the lives of Azad Kashmiris than over the average Pakistani. It even has an Azad Kashmir Regiment headquartered in Punjab.

Israel has also desisted from stating exactly how large or small it intends to be. For more than 20 years, even the Palestinian Authority has recognised the so-called Green Line which defined Israeli territory until the 1967 war as the international border subject to a two-state solution (that would create a Palestinian state). Israel itself, however, does not recognise the Green Line anymore. Nor does it say where it would draw its own Line, all the while grabbing more land in the West Bank for Jewish settlements.

Four, both Pakistan and Israel have fought wars of aggression against neighbours. The India-Pakistan conflicts of 1947-48, 1965 and 1999 were the result of Pakistani aggression. It also waged a proxy war in Afghanistan in the 1980s, a misadventure from which it is yet to dissociate itself. Israels wars are still more numerous. It attacked Egypt in 1956, Lebanon in 1982 and 2006, and Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza on numerous occasions. Gaza remains under Israeli siege even today.

Dominated by religion, military

Five, being born in blood and bred in wars, both Pakistan and Israel have

developed societies and polities that are dominated by religion and the military. The green uniform has been at the helm of Pakistans affairs for nearly half its independent history, and lords over politicians even when not formally in charge. Its hand has been strengthened by the appropriation of Islam as a political ideology, and the nation is effectively run by a nexus of generals and mullahs.

Israels military has similarly clawed its way into the heart of the nations society and politics in the name of protecting its Jewish character. Making a name for yourself in wars is the surest way to a successful political career, ministerial posts and prime ministership. Just like Pakistan, Israel

seems to be run by a league of generals and rabbis.

Six, both Pakistan and Israel nurture exclusivist national identities, concerned more with who does not belong to them than with who does. Created as a homeland for Muslims, Pakistan has always treated Hindus, Sikhs and other non-Muslims as second-class citizens. But that isnt all.

Various categories of Muslims migrants from India, Ahmadis, Shias, Baluchis and so on have also found it difficult to integrate into Pakistani society and are perpetually blamed for all its social and political ills.

Israel was created as a homeland for Jews, and it treats Arabs as secondclass citizens. But many Jews too black Jews, Sephardic Jews, Mizrahi Jews, Russian-origin Jews and so on face rampant discrimination. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis of Jewish ancestry are simply not considered Jews by law and struggle to be a part of Israeli society.

Benedict Anderson has called nations imagined communities, comprising people who share a deep bond of unity even with those they have never met or do not personally know. But Pakistan and Israel exhibit an extraordinary lack of imagination in the construction of their nationhood. Exclusivist identities, religious chauvinism, military dominance and a history of

belligerence have rendered them societies that are perpetually at war with their neighbours and with themselves. Their own uncertainty over their borders betrays this existential insecurity.

That is where India differs from both these nations. Imagined as a country of infinite communities, we have largely remained true to this founding principle. Muslims running away from riots in Gujarat or Assam, Biharis fleeing persecution in Maharashtra and Northeasterners escaping prejudice in South India are still exceptions in a nation that culturally and constitutionally believes in diversity. This belief, more than anything else, is the source of our national identity.

Let us hope that is how, and who, we remain.

(Saif Shahin is a doctoral research scholar in political communication at the University of Texas, Austin, U.S.)

India and Israel are often likened to each other, but it is Pakistan that Israel resembles the most August 30, 2012

Setting hounds on the watchdog

RAMASWAMY R. IYER

This article will not go into the detailed factual content of the Comptroller and Auditor Generals recent reports but will deal with some of the general points that figure in the fierce controversy now raging.

CAGs mandate

The word audit has not been defined in either the Constitution or in the CAGs Act of 1971, and the word accountability does not occur at all. We have so far been going by 150 years of history and tradition as well as current international practice. The Honble Manish Tiwari, MP, ( The Indian Express , August 28, 2012) attaches no importance to them.

Perhaps he thinks that the audit of the CAG in India today should be governed by a much narrower idea of executive accountability than that adopted by British Auditors General in the colonial period, or by the Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) in many countries today. In his view, the CAG should do no more than check whether expenditure has been authorised, vouched and accounted for. For an audit function so defined, there is hardly any need for a constitutional authority, much less one that swears an oath to protect the Constitution and the laws. Mr. Tiwari should therefore try and get the Constitution amended to delete the Articles that provide for a CAG (148 to 151). Until that happens, we have to go by existing provisions, history, tradition, and international practice.

Questioning policy?

There is no basis at all for Mr. Tiwaris accusation that the CAG has formulated his own policy. He has only gone by policy prescriptions recommended internally at various levels within the government. Leaving that aside, and in general terms, is it appropriate for the CAG to question government policy? The answer is a clear no. Policymaking is the prerogative of the government. The CAG would readily assent to that statement. However, hypothetically speaking, if there is no clear record of a considered policy decision; or if in the making of policy the financial implications were not taken into account at all or wrongly estimated; or

if the policy has the effect of conferring benefits on some individuals or groups to the exclusion of others; then these are matters on which the CAG has not merely the right but the duty to raise questions. Again, if the audit of the implementation of a policy brings to light deficiencies in the policy itself, the CAG must point this out. In some cases, the statement that this is a matter of policy is merely an ex post facto defence.

Allocations vs competitive bidding

The Prime Ministers statement in Parliament deals with this at some length. It appears that the UPA did favour an auction procedure but was unable to implement it for various

reasons. This does not invalidate the point that such a procedure would have been the better course; it merely argues that the delay in adopting that route was unavoidable and therefore not blameworthy. This explanation will no doubt be put forward by the government before the Public Accounts Committee when it takes up this report. However, the Prime Ministers statement also says that some State governments argued that auctions would have resulted in an increase in coal prices and therefore in the cost of electric power. This is a clear admission that under an auction procedure the revenues to the government would have been more. If so, the non-adoption of the auction procedure implied a subsidisation of the recipients of the allocations, and if so, was there not an element of

discretionary patronage attendant risks?

with

its

Notional or presumptive loss

There is a dilemma here. If the report were to make a bland statement that an alternative procedure would have yielded more revenues to the government, or would have meant less discretionary patronage, that would give no indication of the financial dimensions of the decision or the importance of the matter. Putting a number on it brings this home. On the other hand, when a number is mentioned, the discussion tends to focus on it and not on the issues involved. There is no easy way out of that dilemma. All that one can say is that the notional number should be

carefully estimated, making the assumptions and methodology clear. That is what the audit reports do. They do not claim that their figures are definitive. The assumptions can be questioned; the methodology can be questioned; the resulting number can be questioned; what cannot be questioned is the procedural or substantive lapse to which the figure points.

Surjeet Bhalla ( The Indian Express , August 22, 2012) thinks that future streams of revenues or profits should have been discounted to net present value (NPV). This has been echoed by others. This is a fallacy. NPV calculations are relevant for comparing future benefit streams with present costs, not for comparing future with

alternative future. The two futures can both be taken at current prices or at constant prices. Alternatively, instead of aggregating future flows, we can compare the two cases in terms of potential annual flows. In other words, instead of saying that the potential revenues forgone or benefits conferred will amount (hypothetically) to say, Rs10,000 crore over a 10-year period, we can say that there is a recurring annual revenue sacrifice or benefitconferment of Rs1,000 crore. In either case, no discounting to present value is called for. Further, let us assume that future flows are discounted to NPV and that gives us a figure of Rs 40,000 crore instead of Rs1.8 lakh crore. Is that a low figure? Does it reduce the unacceptability of the arbitrary decision-making? What matters is not the number but the procedural lapse or

governance failure that it points to. Pratap Bhanu Mehta makes this point persuasively in his article in The Indian Express on August 20, 2012. The Hindu editorial of the same date also stresses the significance of the audit reports.

Mr. Bhalla argues that windfall gains to a private company should be offset by the taxes payable to the government. This implies that flawed decision-making is of no consequence because some of the benefits improperly conferred on particular parties will come back to the government by way of taxes. Unfortunately a similar point occurs in the Prime Ministers statement.

To Mr. Bhalla the substantial reduction of a large notional loss figure initially mentioned in the light of the explanations given by the government is an indication of how wrong the earlier figure was, and not evidence of openness of mind and a willingness to give due consideration to the points put forward. This makes nonsense of the entire procedure of exchange of drafts and comments. Not only is the figure put on the objection reduced in the light of comments and explanations, but quite often, the tentative objection itself is often dropped. This is a well-established procedure. Changes, even drastic changes, are inevitable in this process. This is a sign of procedural soundness and fairness.

May one add that throughout Mr. Bhallas article there is a superciliousness, scornfulness and abusiveness which one finds deeply offensive. One wonders what drives this real or simulated anger.

The Finance Minister argues that the coal blocks have not yet gone into operation, and so the question of profit or loss does not arise. This is a non sequitur . At the time of decisionmaking on allocations it has to be assumed that the recipients will make use of the allocations, and a decision has to be made on that basis. The fact that there could be delays in that use in some cases cannot be foreseen at that stage. In fact, if augmentation of energy generation is the objective, and if there are serious delays in the

utilisation of coal block allocations, the question would arise whether the recipients intention was merely to block some mines pre-emptively. That would show up the decision-making in even poorer light. In any case, the proper course, as pointed out by some in the Opposition and Left parties, would be to cancel the unutilised allocations and invite fresh bids.

The concerted campaign to discredit a constitutional functionary is very disturbing. This article has been written in the hope that it will provide a proper perspective for the ongoing debate. (Ramaswamy R. Iyer is a former Secretary, Water Resources, Government of India.)

If the audit of the implementation of a policy brings to light deficiencies in the policy itself, the CAG has the right and the duty to raise questions