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EDITORIAL Former Chief of Army Staff and Governor of Jammu & Kashmir State Gen K V Krishna Rao is right on course when he mentions that Kashmir is not the 'Core Issue' as parrotted by Pakistan. According to him even if Kashmir issue is resolved to the satisfaction of Pakistan, she will continue to persist in all types of machinations to weaken India by means fair or foul. It is to be noted that Gen Rao is an expert on guerrilla warfare having remained Governor of Nagaland during the most turbulent period there. He has also authored a well articulated book on guerrilla war which has more or less the same contours as proxy war unleashed by Pakistan in Jammu & Kashmir State. His credentials as an expert and wide knowledge of Pakistan's. ...more Almost all constituents of National Democratic Alliance barring BJP have asked Prime Minister to roll back stipulated price hike in Fertilisers and supply of rations from PDS outlets. They have pointed out that these hikes are anti-poor and to that extent unacceptable. BJP which is the major alliance partner stands isolated on this issue. Partners like DMK, Telugu Desam,...more |
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Our lent is God's Lent Women's rights deserve
attention The Indian Rural Development Report is 40 years overdue. A report on the lines of the United Nations Development. ...more Undue concern Fiscal deficit denoting the gap between the government's total expenditure and non-debt receipts _ replaced the once..more Left cooks its own The Left parties are gearing up for the forthcoming Budget session to mount pressure on the BJP-led coalition . ..more |
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EDITORIAL Former Chief of Army Staff and Governor of Jammu & Kashmir State Gen K V Krishna Rao is right on course when he mentions that Kashmir is not the 'Core Issue' as parrotted by Pakistan. According to him even if Kashmir issue is resolved to the satisfaction of Pakistan, she will continue to persist in all types of machinations to weaken India by means fair or foul. It is to be noted that Gen Rao is an expert on guerrilla warfare having remained Governor of Nagaland during the most turbulent period there. He has also authored a well articulated book on guerrilla war which has more or less the same contours as proxy war unleashed by Pakistan in Jammu & Kashmir State. His credentials as an expert and wide knowledge of Pakistan's psyche stands duly manifested in that as Governor of J&K he succeeded in marginalising militants to such an extent that peaceful elections could be held not only for Lok Sabha but also State assembly. His four-fold strategy of creating a formidable counter-insurgent outfit that rid south and north Kashmir totally from the menace of Hizbul Mujahideen and other Pak-sponsored outfits, establishing civil authority in terrorist dominated regions, isolation of militants from the people and above all many pro-people welfare measures brought the situation towards near normalcy. To that extent his analysis of Pak designs is more authentic, authoritative and pragmatic than any other contemporary analysis. When he mentions Kashmir not being the core issue as far as Pakistan is concerned there is enough of material to support his understanding of the situation. It is well recorded that some sort of joint plan was devised by Pakistan and Uncle Sam to cause balkanisation of India by weakening its social fabric, subverting economy creating large scale anarchy and communal riots and blasts all over India. The plan was initiated by the Pak army dictator late Gen Zia-ul-Huq who wanted to avenge loss of eastern wing of Pakistan (Bangladesh) with the active military involvement of India and open support to Mukti Vahini. He also was sure that regular war with India could never go the Pak way and it is the cheap proxy war that could yield better results. It is to be noted that most of the ongoing proxy war is almost at zero cost to Pak exchequer as it is funded by either petro-dollars from Pan Islamic countries or narco-dollars realised through transborder narcotic activities. Contrarily, it has been a very costly affair for India with almost half a million forces of all hues tied down to the border State. The latest figure reveal that cost of maintaining formidable garrisons in Kargil alone is Rs 10 crore a diem. And the cost of maintaining our hold on Siachin Glacier continues to be inhibitive. The cost factor stands duly substantiated by enhancement of defence budget by whopping 13000 crore in a single year and promise of more to come. One also has to take cognisance of Home Minister's statement of having smashed many ISI modules in India. But how many times more still remain functional. Pakistan has as well established formidable centres in Bangladesh and Nepal for export of terrorists and sophisticated weapons to India. It is recent history when Punjab was exposed to most sinister form of terrorism totally funded and sustained by Pakistan. One can as well mention the Bombay chain blasts of March 12, 1993 that took a heavy toll of nearly 1000 lives and destroyed property worth thousands of crores. There is unflinching evidence of ISI support available to 30 terrorist groups operating in India (J&K 12, Punjab 10 and north eastern states 8). Add to it terrorist groups like Peoples War Group active in central India and AP besides Maoist brand causing mayhem in Bihar. One can as well take cognisance of large scale ingress of 500 and 100 rupees counterfeit notes being sent to India by Pakistan through Nepal, Lahore bus and Samjouta Express couriers. Such counterfeit currency is not only in large circulation in J&K State but virtually all over India. The intentions are quite clear that weakened Indian economy can be easy prey to Pak antics of causing balkanisation of India. From the above it is evident that Pakistan's hostility towards India has never been Kashmir centric. It is totally India-centric. This was made abundantly clear during the Lashkar-e-Toiba meet near Lahore whence its sponsors who are openly backed by Pak Government mentioned their goal of hoisting Pak flag on Red Fort. It is pertinent to mention that this outfit is dominating terrorism in J&K besides Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. If Pak intentions were Kashmir centric there was no need to spearhead terrorism in Punjab, north eastern States and other parts of India. Gen K V Krishna with all his experience while dealing with severest type of insurgency first in Nagaland and then in J&K State is right on course when he exposes Pak designs in their totality and aimed at weakening India to cause its fragmentation. His advice to the powers that be must be taken very seriously when he coins the slogan, ''Prepare or Perish'' and not to trust Pakistan, be it the military or democratic rulers because all successive Governments in Pakistan since independence continue to be controlled and conditioned by Pak Army. Almost all constituents of National Democratic Alliance barring BJP have asked Prime Minister to roll back stipulated price hike in Fertilisers and supply of rations from PDS outlets. They have pointed out that these hikes are anti-poor and to that extent unacceptable. BJP which is the major alliance partner stands isolated on this issue. Partners like DMK, Telugu Desam, Samata Party, Trinamool Congress and even Chautala's INLD have put the Government on notice and seek withdrawal of these hikes forthwith. Earlier to this the Government has succumbed to similar pressure when it did not announce the proposed hike in kerosene and LPG. Incidentally, these parties which are the ruling combine must understand that they are speaking not the poor man's language but the one being propounded by all opposition parties. Populist measures have no relevance in liberalised economy. These parties are aware about the large deficit financing which happens to be the mother of all ills that afflict our economy. Last year it was decided to peg it down to 4% of GDP. In reality it touched 5.6% which by any reckoning is very much on the higher side. The budget now announced envisages deficit at 5.1% and given the chemistry of current economic and security compulsions deficit could touch 6%. This could be the worst possible news for any nation as regards economic growth. Subsidies have eaten up the vitals of our economy like never before. This cannot be sustained anymore and subsidies have to be phased out. In this context one tends to have a dig at Finance Minister for enhancing the quota of TPDS rations from 10 kg to 20 kg which is out and out populist measure. Two states have already announced that they won't hike the issue price of rice under TPDS. These are Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Obviously, they want to have full hold on their traditional vote pockets. The burgeoning deficit if subsidies are not checked could land up the nation in dire financial straits. Economy in any case should not be blended with political expediency. NDA is committed for liberalisation and it thus follows that all alliance partners fall in line. |
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Our lent
is God's Lent Today is Ash Wednesday. For the entire Catholic world this day marks the beginning of Forty Days of Fasting, Prayer, Penance and Forgiveness. This day is a reminder of to what God said to Adam when he transgressed His Command : "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread; Till thou return unto the ground, for out of it wast thou taken, for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." (Genesis 3:19). What does God give up for Lent ? I realise that, to some ears, this suggestion that God gives up anything may sound strange. In traditional categories, any change in a perfect being would only be a change for the worse. Therefore God cannot change. This was, at least, St. Thomas Acquina's argument in the Thirteenth Century AD. Even the voluntary self-limitation of diety may indicate some lack, some incapacity some distance between God's own existence and true fullness of being. Other theologians disagree. I am of the opinion, most of the contemporary writers would agree that God suffers with us. Our lent is God's lent. The great French Catholic Philosopher Jacques Maritan wrote in 1950s : "We need to integrate suffering with God, for the idea of an insensitive and apathetic God is revolting to the masses." Even earlier in the century, the American process philosopher, Alferd North Whitehead, presented God as "the fellow-sufferer who understands." And in a famous and oft-quoted statement, the German Protestant theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote from confinement in a Nazi prison camp that : "Only a suffering God can help." A suffering God, it is argued, can more fully enter into lives. A suffering God cares enough to come near and feel our pain to heal our pain. What then shall we say about God's suffering, and how does it help make sense of this Time of Lent ? We can rest our comments under two headings and of, course, for further understanding revisit St. Thomas Acquinas. The two main headings are :a) Scripture; b) relation between love and suffering. Scripture. We can begin in no better place than God's first words to Moses : "And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. And I am come down to deliver them out of the land of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with honey and milk..." (Exodus 3:7-8). The word for "Know" here ("I know their sufferings") is the same Hebrew word used in Genesis when Adam knew Eve. It signals intimate experience personal acquitance. Such does God know the sufferings of the oppressed as internally related to human misery. There are many references in the Scriptures to God's suffering. "And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. "Later on, the behaviour of Israel occasioned suffering of its own. The prophet Isiah proclaims : "I will recount the steadfast love of the Lord has granted us and the greatest goodness to the house of Israel-according to the abundance of his steadfast love. For he said. "Surely, they are my people; and he became their Saviour. In all their afflictions he was afflicted." (Isiah 63:9). Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, God is quite literally compassionate (one who suffers-with Israel) Hosea affirms this when God cries : "How can I give up you, O Ephraim ! How can I hand you over, O Israel ! My heart recoils within me, my compassion grows warm and tender." (Hosea 11:8) God suffered when the world was young. Many places in the Jewish Scriptures find God beginning exasperated questions with the words : "How long ?" Let we consider these instances : "How long will this people despise me ? And how long will they not believe in me ?" (Numbers 14:11) "How long shall this wicked congregation murmur against me ?" (Numbers 14:27). To take together these functions simultaneously as accusations and laments of one who is eminently patient. God is not only suffering, but long suffering. So too is Jesus Christ in the Christian Scriptures : "How long am I to bear with you ?" (Mark 9:19). Patience is a wearied waiting born of the loving conviction that the other is worth the wait. St. Paul makes patience one of the marks of love in his great hymns in I Cornthians, Chapter 13 (Verse 4) : "Love is patient." He says (Catitas patients est in the Vulgate). The Latin is significant as a reminder that patience is derived from the same root as to suffer (patior pati etc). Patience is a kind of suffering, all of which is perfectly compatible with what Paul says three lines later : Caritas, Omnia suffert" (Love bears or suffers all things.") Love and Suffering. All great faiths that seek to tell the truth about human existence must make room for the reality of suffering in our world. Christianity, incorporates suffering in a deep way. The very symbol of faith is a dead man on an instrument of torture. Christianity, obviously, does not stop here, but says that Jesus Christ's suffering on the cross did something and does something that is incalculably good. Thus, St Paul in Romans (5:8) says : "God shows love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us." And Jesus says in Mark (10:45) : "The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Both of these verses show a link between loving service and suffering. Let we consider the First Century AD Roman Stoic Philosopher Epictetus. His advice is founded on the distinction between things that are up to us and things that are not up to us. The latter is a set including everyone else, our possessions, and even some matters concerning the health of our own body. Detach yourself from everything not up to you. Epictetus advises, and all will be well. "You can be invincible if you do not enter any contest in which victory is not up to you", he says. Self-sufficiency and insulation from attachment and commitments bring freedom and happiness. Desiring anything not upto us inevitably leads to pain and disappointment for any of these things can be taken away suddenly. Do not mourn the death of your child or spouse, for these things were not really up to you. Insulate yourself from everything not of yourself and cultivate self-sufficiency : "If you kiss your child or your wife, say that you are kissing a human being ; for when it dies - it dies - you will not be upset." In short, Epictetus is saying that if we do not love, we will not suffer if we did not love, we would not suffer when something happened to the object of our affections. Suffering comes out of loving. Epictetus's significance for present purposes is that he provides the mirror image of Christianity. Where Epictetus says that if we do not love, we will not suffer, Christianity pivots in the opposite direction and claims that if we do not suffer, we will not fully love. Love would not be love were it not prepared to feel pain over the misfortunes of the beloved. St. Thomas Acquinas. St. Thomas Acquinas writes in the Summa : "Charity signifies not only the love of God, but also a certain friendship with God; with implies, besides love, a certain mutual return of love, together with mutual communition. "The goal of friendship is the well - being of the friend. The good of other becomes a paramount concern. St. Thomas Acquinas terms this "Benevolence." Yet he is explicit that benevolence is a necessary but not sufficient condition for friendship. More is needed. St Thomas writes : "Neither does well-wishing suffice for friendship, for a certain mutual love is requisite, since friendship is between friend and friend : and this well-wishing is founded on some kind of communication. "When applied to Creator and Created, that is an extra-ordinary claim bespeaking an intimacy. We consider its implications. Since God has all perfections, God simply cannot be an inadequate friend; only an inadequate friend would fail to attend to the sufferings of the beloved. One canot be remote or unconcerned with the sufferings of one's friend. Thus does Acquinas say that God "endeavours to dispel the misery of the other, as if it were God's own." In addition, God does not even look upon our sufferings from a distance, as it were, but identifies with them in a most intimate union. "Since he who loves another looks upon his friend as another self, he counts his friend hurt as though he were hurt himself. ‘Such is the depth of God's regard for human misery, according to St. Thomas Acquinas. In the Crucifixion, God gives up God's second self and hence God's very self. Lent anticipates and remembers this and thereby configures us to God in our members. God's Lent of giving up God's self is our Lent of giving up our very self. God takes up human suffering by taking in human suffering. God heals by becoming infected. In becoming infected with human suffering as fully as God does, God shows God's love most fully. If God's Lent truly is our Lent then we are left with both an example and our mission is to do what God did and is therefore bound up with suffering on behalf of others, for such is the only way for love's light to shine in our world. Those who love a world in tears must cry. St. Paul says : "Weep with those who weep. : (Romans 12:15). Those who love a world in pain must suffer. |
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The Indian Rural Development Report is 40 years overdue. A report on the lines of the United Nations Development Programme's human development report should have been brought out as a decadal effort, if not once every five years, to tell us about the status of the rural people if we believe in the dictum that Indian lives in its villages. No that the National Institute of Rural Development, the apex institute for training, research and consultation, has come out with the first ever report, it can only be commended and one can take solace in the fact that the institute wants to make it an annual feature. The development of a Social Development Index and an Infrastructural Index for National Sample Survey regions will give us standards on which to evaluate our progress in the future. The report rightly suggests that unless the "individual and the community" become the "focal point of development" rural prosperity through a participatory development process may remain a dream. But this brings in the whole question of empowerment of the masses and devolving decision-making power to the community a challenge for policy-makers and administrators in the country. The report says that strengthening the Panchayati Raj institutions should be looked upon just as a means to achieve the ultimate end of empowerment of the community. And one knows the fate of even the PRIs struggling to get real powers from the state machinery. The report accepts the harsh truth that not much can be expected from the government in the shape of additional grants for this sector, particularly in the days of structural adjustment and free market economy. But the report does not leave it at that. It points a finger at a number of areas where the government can still raise significant amount of funds for the social sector like reduction of excessive expenditures on the bureaucracy, both administrative and political, non-productive budget expenditures and, most important, 'concealed subsidies particularly to the non-poor segments of the population." Thus it puts the ball squarely in the government's court for it to take action. According to the report, more than a third of the Indian population in the nineties were poor. Agrarian reforms begun in the 50s remained "unfinished and long overdue"; direct anti-poverty programmes achieved only "limited success". It makes a scathing attack on the system and blames it for all ills. To quote from the report, "central to the overall failure are excessive reliance on a top down centralised bureaucracy and scarcity of funds. It is paradoxical that a bureaucracy created to govern to colonial-feudal system was entrusted to implement agrarian reform and elements of all those policies that were inherently anti-feudal, progressive and democratic." It goes on: "An elaborate system of patronage, thriving on the disempowerment of the poor and hapless, distributes largesse to a chosen few at the cost of multitudes. As for the funds, rural development, meaning the development of about half the country's population, has attracted less than tenth of the expendable funds at any time. An acute urban bias is all pervasive." There is no mincing of words here. Trying to put even liberalisation on an even keel, the report says that economic growth per se is not the solution. The objective has to be the well-being of people. Without a positive thrust towards any socio-economic transformation of marginalised groups, growth may bypass the poor and "safety net" schemes may only remain short term 'palliatives". The report warns that goals like participation of the poor in governance, reduction of inequities, social cohesion, control that the poor exercise on their lives and empowerment are "no longer considered important in the wake of the new philosophy of liberalisation." Several economic measures too have been suggested in the report. The most important and logical one seems to be "mainstreaming of poverty concerns" of different ministries under the supervision of the Planning Commission so that they do not work at cross purposes. While the Government of India has been spending a lot of money in implementing several rural development programmes, they are based on a belief that "spending money is in itself a necessary condition for poverty alleviation." The problem with this belief is that it 'underplays' the role of non-monetary policies and the impact on the lives of people. A solution suggested by the report is the possibility of localising tax collection, transferring funds to districts from the Centre or a transfer from the state under a different Finance Commission or a new statutory authority. INAV |
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Undue concern over fiscal deficit Fiscal deficit denoting the gap between the government's total expenditure and non-debt receipts _ replaced the once famous concept of budget deficit as the focal point of attention in the early 90s, when the country was faced with external payments problems and the IMF insisted on monitoring this gap quite closely. Though we are no longer under strict monitoring by the IMF, this concept of fiscal deficit continues to rule the roost in view of the extraordinary importance attached to it by international rating as well as lending agencies. Thus, we notice successive finance ministers striving to show some decline in this magnitude, though not in absolute terms but as a percentage of the GDP. Often they effected a reduction through questionable means. For instance, budgetary allocations to infrastructural and social sectors were severely cut. The current infrastructural constraints and our low ranking in the human development index can be traced to it. The practice of reckoning the proceeds of disinvestment as revenue also arose due to the finance minister's desire to claim some degree of success on the fiscal front. If the market was not responsive to disinvestment, the questionable practice of cross-holdings by the PSUs was resorted to. Finance minister Yashwant Sinha has, no doubt, succeeded in curtailing the fiscal deficit through the instrumentality of cross-holdings by the oil majors. But the net resources of the government sector, including the PSUs, haven't increased even by one paisa. In fact, due to the failure of the government in oil sector reforms in the face of increase prices of oil in the international market, there is re-emergence of deficit on the oil pool account (OPA), which is hurting domestic oil refineries. The finance minister is not willing to forego his revenues on imported oil in view of his concern for fiscal deficit. But how does it matter for the economy if the growth in fiscal deficit is restrained by allowing a deficit on the OPA to bulge? Any reduction in fiscal deficit merely by resorting to some form of financial engineering is not going to help the economy. For example, Mr. Sinha sought to effect a reduction in the measured magnitude of fiscal deficit by keeping 75 per cent of the net proceeds of small savings collections (representing the states' share) out of the budget. The recent revision of GDP figures also led to a reduction in fiscal deficit as a percentage of the GDP from the earlier estimated level of 6.1 per cent to 5.5 per cent in 1997-98 and from 5.6 to 5.1 per cent in 1998-99. At these revised levels, the fiscal deficit in 1997-98 and in 1998-99 are not only lower than the levels registered in the first and second halves of the 80s at 6.3 and 8.2 per cent, respectively, but also lower than the levels attained in the heydays of reforms by Dr. Manmohan Singh. Under these circumstances, it is not clear why there is hue and cry about the prospect of fiscal deficit rising. It is not logical for the finance minister to adopt an alarming stance regarding high fiscal deficit and, at the some time, to claim that our fundamentals are strong. In fact, the slowdown observed in industrial growth in the better half of 1997 and 1998 was possibly due to this extremely sensitivity towards fiscal deficit. The concept of fiscal deficit shouldn't be allowed to have a strange-hold on the process of budget making, as it can bring harm to the developmental process. The richer countries may afford to sacrifice growth in favour of price stability; but we cannot. So, the finance minister would be well-advised to shed some of his sensitivity towards fiscal deficit. INAV |
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Left cooks its own reform agenda The Left parties are gearing up for the forthcoming Budget session to mount pressure on the BJP-led coalition government for increase in income tax ceiling to Rs. 1 lakh, restriction on MNCs' entry into the country, end to disinvestment of PSUs and their revival, besides a comprehensive review of the impact of the ongoing economic liberalisation process. As opposed to economic liberalisation and disinvestment, the Left parties the Communist Party of India-Marxist, the Communist Party of India, the All India Forward Bloc, and the Revolutionary Socialist Party will aggressively take on the government on several other issues. "The government cannot be allowed to liquidate public money in the name of making use of non-performing assets (NPAs)," sources said. According to them, the Left parties were of the view that liberalisation policy of the government was ruining the country's economy and Congress governments in the past as well as the BJP-led government were responsible for the mess. "We have not seen any difference between the economic and industrial policies of the former Congress governments and the present BJP-led government," they maintained. In an effort to "expose the failures" of the new economic policy (NEP) adopted by the Congress government in the early nineties, and later "briskly followed" by the BJP-led government, the Left parties appear to be determined to ask the government during the next budget session to bring out a (white) paper on the status of NEP. The Left camp pointed out that even after several years of NEP, the Centre did not know what impact it had on the country's economy as there was no study done by it. The Left parties also wanted the taxation policy changed by getting concessions for unskilled workers and the middle class. "We want income tax ceiling to be raised to Rs. 1 lakh from the present Rs. 60,000 for the purpose. The unrealistic ceiling has unfortunately put even unskilled workers in the tax net. The middle and working classes have been affected badly due to the erratic income tax system," they further said. These parties were of the view that the loss to be incurred due to increase in the income tax ceiling should be compensated by increasing corporate taxes. They were also concerned over the government decision not to provide assistance to sick PSUs, saying "We want the government to provide adequate financial assistance to sick PSUs like IDPL so that they resume production." The government has laid guidelines for wage revision of PSUs for a period of 10 years, which the Left parties want to be reduced to five years and that the Union Finance Ministry should ensure its proper implementation. They further demanded amendment in the Sick Industrial Undertakings Act (SICA) so that it contained a provision for giving assistance to sick PSUs rather than creating conditions for their closure. The Left parties are also expected to raise issues concerning infrastructural development, small sector industrial units, dilapidated condition of traditional industries like handloom, jute, coir, engineering, etc. Sickness in the industry is also a cause for worry. The Left parties pointed out that despite adoption of NEP, more than six lakh middle or small industrial units were either sick or closed. They were also concerned about exports, which are not picking up. They stressed that without increasing imports, balance of payment could not be maintained. Decline in the rupee's value, increase in population below poverty line, and decline in the rating of India in the UN statistics, which has slipped to the 127th position from its earlier 123th position, are some areas to which the Left parties plan to draw the government's attention. INAV |
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