Daily Excelsior... Editorial

EDITORIAL

By D K Arora
The interregnum between a scientific India and the traditional one is probably a couple of millenniums. A scientific temper co-existed with scriptures like .....more

Sri Lankan in search of friends for international
ban on LTTE

By Jayant Muralidharan
Indo-Sri Lankan relations, which have been on an even keel in the recent past, are at their warmest at the moment. Both governments have worked out a comfortable equilibrium and there is understanding on bilateral ..more

Manipur heading
towards total anarchy

By Sanchet Barua
An early imposition of President's Rule in Manipur is perhaps the only way to extricate the State from the deep mess it is in. The coalition Government of Mr. W. Nipamacha Singh has given an extremely poor account of its ...more

EDITORIAL

FIRM ACTION

While performance of Delhi police is commendable as they succeeded in solving the Red Fort blast prepetrators within five days, it is just not enough to safeguard our internal or for that matter national security. The revelations made by the nabbed ultra belonging to dreaded Lashkar-e-Toiba outfit puts a very big question mark in the security of the nation and those managing it. It may not be correct to criticise present Home Minister alone for the rapid slide in the security environs. The fact remains this NDA Government inherited very bad legacy when all types of external forces and anti-nationals were allowed to come to India, stay on, consolidate and then strike with a deadly blows. In this context one mentions the statement delivered by the then Internal Security Minister in Narasimha Rao's Government wherein he gave the figure of at least ten thousand Pakistanis who have entered India on legal documents but failed to return. On peristent enquiries made by the probing MPs, the reply given indicated half-hearted approach in as much as he passed on the buck to the State Governments for searching the overstayees for deportation under Foreign Registration Act. For all one knows this decade old figure must have a multiplier effect in as much as many times more Pakistanis entered the country clandestinely. The Left terrorist killed is a Pakistani and the one nabbed alongwith his wife is also Pakistani. Four have since fled. One really does not know if at all they could be found and fished out.

The worst of the game is how such foreigners enter India with gay abandon, establish a business centre, marries woman of his fraternity, then go about gate crashing into Red Fort and escape with as much ease. And all this happens in a span of just six months as this Pakistani came to Delhi in May and escaped the eagle eyes of Delhi police. Thanedar of any area is not worth its salt if he fails to notice such 'subversives' becoming entrepreneurs overnight remaining un-noticed. This clearly indicates that intelligence inputs are slack, thanedars are not doing their job properly and political considerations outweigh national security which inter-alia means full protection to all foreigners even they be subversives. In the end Delhi police closed on them but not before they hurt the national pride deep enough. And they could reach them because their 'contacts' provided them desired inputs. How one wishes that such inputs should flow as a matter of routine and police closes in on them with pre-emptive strikes.

Second aspect related to India becoming largest home in the world to all types of foreign refugees/migrants. More than 20 lakh are in from Sri Lanka. An estimated 1.5 crore have come from Bangladesh and they continue to flow in. There are at least 17000 Afghans settled in the safety and comfort of national capital alone. And to top it all borders are wide open for Nepalese to cross over for any activity without any document. No wonder most of the Pak subversives find bases in Nepal and Bangladesh perfectly safe to infiltrate into India as also smuggle in weapons besides fake currency. Needless to say that even amongst Bangladeshis many are ISI agents and that Government has done nothing to close ISI centres and bases. Same is true of Nepal Government. It is no use having such friends that facilitate our enemy to enter India for terrorist activities. Interestingly, IMDA Act passed during the currency of Congress Government for deportation of illegal entrants from Bangladesh has worked to the advantage of migrants rather than ensure their deportation. The act is so much porous that so far only 1100 are supposed to have been deported. In reality they have again entered India. It is ironical that Government is unable to repeal this Act despite directions from Court and/or modify it so that deportation begins in right earnest.

India is a vast country and anyone can indeed submerge and get lost in its vastness. But corresponding number of police and paramilitary forces in every State are large enough to fish them out. No wonder today Chhota Shakeel and Ibrahim Dawood call the shots in the financial capital. No wonder Pak sponsored terrorist outfits succeed in blasting peace and tranquility of the country and its teeming millions. They are bold enough to say that India should withdraw its troops from Kashmir or else they would strike even PMO's office in Delhi. How dare they go to the extent of boasting that their target is not only annexation of Kashmir but also 'liberation of Muslims' in entire India. So jehad is against India. Let there be no mistake about it.

The Government has failed to enact law similar to TADA at least to deal with foreign mercenaries and Pak subversives. It may be recalled that during run-up to elections to Lok Sabha the then Congress Government allowed TADA to die unceremonious death due to appeasement of particular constituency to subserve its electoral interests when it failed to seek its extension in Parliament in May 1995. Incidentally, TADA was upheld by the Apex Court with some safeguards so that the law is not abused. Ever since there has been total legal void to effectively deal with subversives and their harbourers. State Governments due to their electoral compulsions refuse to have any such law. No wonder foreign terrorists, subversives and their harbourers have field day.

It is indeed a very sorry State of affairs that calls for drastic surgery which has to be multifocal with single-minded pursuit all over the country simultaneously. Kid-glove policy and pusillanimity on such vital issue of safeguarding national security must be given short-shrift and swap places with firm action on all fronts.

GOOD GOING

Ever since launching massive drive to identify illegal connections, PDD functionaries have done a good job in tracing at least 20,000 unauthorised power connections in Jammu district alone. Out of this 3000 have already been regularised on requisite payment and action is in hand to do the same for others. The emphasis of the PDD is on regularisation because it earns additional revenue immediately rather than disconnection. The latter will be enforced if the owners fail to get the connection regularised. The drive is still on and it is hoped that almost all illegal connections would be regularised. This is only about Jammu district. Figures from other districts are not readily available. It is certain that rural and remote areas are not yet touched. Further, many districts in the State are yet to be exposed to this exercise. But based on the Jammu statistics, it is safe to surmise that not less than 2 to 3 lakh illegal connections exist in the State. It has got to be relentless pursuit until everyone falls in line and pays the minimum charges at least. One would like to know figures from all other districts of the State for correct appraisal of the total additional revenue that has reached Government coffers on this account. Another laudable aspect of the ongoing drive to unearth illegal connections is that nowhere force has been used which means staff is pursuasive and tactful even as illegal consumers are fully cooperative. This rapport must continue. In the meanwhile people do expect improvement in power supply with lesser curtailment proportionate to the flow of addition- al revenue. Government will also be well advised to do away with cumbersome payment of tariff in banks. Earlier system must be restored in toto for regular, uninterrupted and good flow of revenue on account of power tariff.

Indo-Russian JV for 100-seater

By D K Arora

The interregnum between a scientific India and the traditional one is probably a couple of millenniums. A scientific temper co-existed with scriptures like the Vedas, Ramayana and the Mahabharat. Probably the pinnacle of scientific achievement was the field of aviation. Epics mention ‘vimanas’ (aircraft). In fact leading the ancient world with technical know-how in our most glorious days, if the scriptures are to be believed, we later relapsed into backwardness, as foreign invaders destroyed our great centres of learning. But mankind's ability to chariot distances in open skies millenniums ago cannot be proved today.

Undoubtedly, the art and science of learning and mastering of aircraft manufacture is a very difficult process. Indian scientists have not been able to master the art of manufacturing large aircraft. They have, however, recently succeeded in manufacturing a two-seater plane called "Hansa 3". This is a product of seven years of hard work and painstaking research.

Today, only a few companies have the know-how for the manufacture of passenger aircrarft. The big two in this area are Airbus, a European consortium, and Boeing, an American company. Whenever our State-owned airlines, Indian Airlines and Air India, have to expand their fleet they have no choice but to fall back on these two companies. But due to lack of finances over the years, neither Air India nor Indian Airlines has been able to purchase the new expensive aircraft from Western manufacturers. As result, their performance has dipped over the years.

However, now the Russians have come forward to share the technology with India. In this direction, the two countries have recently agreed to develop a new generation 35 seater and 100-seater passenger aircraft jointly, thus expanding their cooperation in the field of civil aviation. This decision was taken at the first session of the Indo-Russian working group on civil aviation held last month in Moscow. The two countries have also agreed to explore the possibility of cooperation between Indian and Russian enterprises on production of aircraft parts and units.

It was also decided that the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and the Russian Ilyushin Aircraft Corporation will continue discussions on the joint design and production of new generation 100-seater "IL-214" passenger plane in the country. The Government has also shown interest in co-development, co-production, maintenance and support of Russian origin civilian passenger and cargo aircraft, including the modernization of Russian-built helicopters under service in the country.

The session was co-chaired by the Civil Aviation Secretary, Mr A H Jung, and the Deputy Director-General of Russian space and aviation agency, Mr Y A Bardin.

Russia has laso shown interest in marketing its various civilian aircraft in India, including Ilyushin IL-96, IL-114, Tupolev TU-204 and Antonov AN-38. The Civil Aviation Ministry has agreed to provide assistance in a presentation of the Russian civil aviation industry in New Delhi prior to its participation in the "Aero India 2001" air show to be held in Bangalore February next.

According to the Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Ilya Klebanov, "Russia has developed the most modern aircraft in recent years and the technology of their engines is compatible with those of General Electric and Rolls Royce. The prices of Russian aircraft are cheaper than those offered by other countries".

Aviation experts agree with him and say that Russian aircraft are in no way inferior to Airbus or Boeing products. In fact, Russian planes are much cheaper and have been flying successfully in several countries. At the same time, these are almost the same types of aircraft-be it Ilyushin, Tupolev and Antonov. It may be mentioned that aircraft such as IL-96, TU-204, AN-38 and YAK-42 have the required certifications too.

It is learnt that Russians have offered to supply these aircraft to India either through direct sale or lease. The Russians have also expressed desire to equip their aircraft with western avionics and engines. One of the promising plans of Indo-Russian cooperation in this sphere might be joint production of TU-204 aircraft, including its cargo version, and IL-214 aircraft.

According to aviation experts, the economical index, flight distance and the sound description of Russian aircraft were on the same levels as that of Boeing and Airbus planes. Besides, it was pointed out that through such cooperation Indian specialists would get the necessary experience in producing heavy aircraft.

If India is to become a true super power in the next century, then it must master the aircraft technology. It has already made its mark globally in other important areas such as atomic energy, space, information technology and biotechnology. After successfully having a close cooperation and interaction in military and technical spheres, it is a good idea that both India and Russia are now considering cooperation in the field of civil aviation too. This would definitely give a leading edge to India in the years to come.

Experts feel that the understanding reached between the two countries on exploitation of war aircraft such as Sukhoi-30 MKI, MiG-29 and IL-76 cargo version would come handy in developing close cooperation in the sphere of civil aviation.

In a major step towards closer Indo-Russian cooperation in civil aviation, Mr Jung and Chairperson of the Moscow-based CIS inter-state aviation committee Tatyana Anodina have also initiated and agreement on promotion of aviation safety and joint development and certification of aeronautical products.

This would, if approved by the Governments of the two countries, provide for mutual recognition of air-worthiness certificates issued by the national civil aviation authorities.

The agreement envisaged that the aeronautical authorities of India and the Russian Federation would conduct technical assessment to development an understanding of each other's standards and systems. This would be in regard to airworthiness, approval of aeronautical products, approval of maintenance facilities, flight operations, flight stimulators and training establishments. The authorities shall also prepare implementation products for reciprocal acceptance of the aeronautical products.

The two sides agreed on the airworthiness standards for light aircraft, transport aircraft, engines and propellers. The aeronautical products developed and type certified by one country meeting these requirements should be acceptable to the other. This would enable the Russian operators to procure the aeronautical products developed and certified in India and Indian operators to procure the Russian aeronautical products without going through the process of certification by each country.

The Russian side also agreed to revive its participation in the 14-seater "Saras" aircraft being designed and developed by the National Aerospace Laboratory, Bangalore. At the meeting, it was also agreed that the two sides would continue discussions to expand the scope of the agreement.

With an estimated expenditure of Rs 70,000 crore in the next 20 years in aircraft acquisition alone, the NAL, a premier institute belonging to the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), has undertaken a programme of aircraft design and development in close partnership with industry. A two-seater ab-linitio trainer Hansa, along with Taneja Aerospace and Aviation Ltd (TAAL), is the first in the series.

Currently, India imports most of its aircraft. The CSIR initiative in the civil aviation sector will greatly reduce the cost of aviation. The cooperation with Russians in the civil aviation area would definitely help India reach new heights in the 21st century.
CNF

Sri Lankan in search of friends for
international ban on LTTE

By Jayant Muralidharan

Indo-Sri Lankan relations, which have been on an even keel in the recent past, are at their warmest at the moment. Both governments have worked out a comfortable equilibrium and there is understanding on bilateral political, economic and strategic issues as well as on many regional matters.

This is particularly important in the light of the fact that Sri Lanka is the current President of the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation, which is currently facing a kind of impasse, following India's decision in November last year to seek a postponement of the Nepal summit. While Sri Lanka itself is gently pushing for a revival of the SAARC dialogue process, it fully understands India's point of view in not wanting a summit meeting right now. Indeed, it could be stated that Sri Lanka is India's closest friend in South Asia at the moment.

Regional issues were very much on the agenda when Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Laxman Kadirgamar visited Delhi recently and met his counterpart, External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh. Though he admitted that a summit meeting was a long way off, Mr. Kadirgamar was seeking some assurance that India would not object to meetings of technical committees. In the past, in keeping with their one-point foreign policy, Pakistan officials have used even such meetings to raise contentious bilateral issues and India has let it be known that it would stay away if there were similar such outbursts. Mr. Singh's unequivocal promise that an Indian team would attend a meeting on transportation in Pakistan, therefore, must have come as a relief to other member-countries, and especially to Sri Lanka.

Though India appreciates Sri Lanka's efforts in reviving SAARC, especially as it would not like the organisation to become moribund under its presidentship, some analysts are a bit concerned at what they see as the island country's "over-enthusiastic activism". According to one, "By trying to get SAARC going, Sri Lanka is equating the stands of both countries and almost falling for Pakistan's claim that it is India that has stalled the Association. Sri Lanka should tell the Pakistanis that India is not against any of the other SAARC-related activities, including the preferential Trade Agreement and it is Pakistan that brings up Kashmir at every meeting." According to officials, Pakistan's decision not to award the Most Favoured Nation status to India, as per the WTO agreement, is another example of Pakistan's intransigence to participate fully in multilateral agreements.

However, such concerns have in no way cast a shadow over bilateral ties which are growing from strength to strength. Though Sri Lanka had felt, during the height of the LTTE operations last summer, that India was being hesitant in coming out openly to aid the Sri Lanka Government, it has left no permanent dent in the friendship. The domestic political compulsions of the NDA coalition were well known to the Sri Lankan and there is now a growing admiration for the fact that Tamil politicians with extreme opinions like Mr. Vaiko have been sidelined.

The burgeoning warmth can be ascertained by the fact that not only has India sold arms to Sri Lanka, but the defence and intelligence services of the two countries are coordinating efforts like never before. Both navies are working together to tackle the LTTE's marine presence, while intelligence is exchanged routinely. In its bid to tackle the LTTE - either by negotiations or by military means - India's help and support is vital for Sri Lanka. The Norwegian peace process - which the Sri Lankans insist is merely a facilitation rather than mediation - is being undertaken with the full knowledge of India. Though India has said clearly that it will not involve itself in any initiatives directly, its opinion will have tremendous bearing on the final shape of the negotiations.

Sri Lanka will also need India's backing to push for an international campaign to get the LTTE banned, especially in western countries, where the organisation manages to survive and even thrive.

The case of the United Kingdom is an example of how the LTTE has used local laws to set up a base and raise funds, ostensibly for humanitarian purposes, The "Eelam House" in London, along with many charitable organisation, are fronts through which the LTTE conducts its propaganda and lobbying operations and also raises funds. Sri Lanka has alleged that these funds go towards buying arms, and has called for the LTTE to be banned as well as its fund-raising activities shut down. However, the British Government has always claimed that no British law has been broken. With the passing of a new law, which comes into force next year, Britain will be able to proscribe organisations which are linked with terrorist acts. Sri Lanka's apprehensions arise from the support many influential British politicians give to "self-determination" in other parts of the world - the recent speech by British Minister Peter Hain, who visited Sri Lanka last month, touched upon this theme, which left his hosts bemused and not a little angry.

Though the procedure for banning such organisations is long-winded, many governments feel that Britain can easily clamp down if it wishes to. India too is awaiting to see if Kashmiri groups are banned, and Sri Lanka, which is unsure if Britain will ban the LTTE, hopes to make common cause with India and both countries are bound to work closely on bringing diplomatic pressure on to the British Government. Not that there are no wrinkles in these cozy ties - the Indian request for extradition of LTTE supremo Vellupillai Prabhakaran, accused in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, is still pending, nothwithstanding attempts on the part of both governments to underplay its importance. It may not suit anyone to press for it, and extraditing him may not be a practical possibility, but it is not an issue that will ever go away and the recent controversy about whether India brought it up in Colombo or did not was quite a needless diversion. There is also the constant Sri Lankan worry about the presence, in the NDA coalition at the Centre, of elements who are pro-LTTE. They could raise the temperature anytime, especially when the pressure on the Tigers to sit for talks intensifies. But, at the Government level, India and Sri Lanka are closer than they have been for a long time.

And the effects are clearly visible. During Mr. Kadirgamar's recent visit, India agreed to free Sri Lanka fishermen who had been put in Indian jails after being caught in Indian waters. Yet another manifestation of the close economic links that are emerging is the Free Trade Agreement, which is now under way and is proving quite successful. There is talk of more flights for Sri Lankan airways to fly directly to Bangalore and Hyderabad. For India, what happens in and to Sri Lanka is of vital importance, and the island country can also be a very valuable ally in a region where India has to live with many inimical neighbours. INAV