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EDITORIAL Indian polity parrots the theme of Unity in Diversity. One really does not know whether they engage in self-deceit or it is sheer hypocrisy. It is also not certain how far this theme sells within the country what to talk of other countries. Tell us any party or any activity which reflects unity of purpose. All political parties, be it regional or national face acute problem of dissidence. Every State is a rival to the other. Every citizen happens to be self-centred rather than country-centric. Same is true of the bureaucracy where cutting each others legs is a way of life for that upmanship exercise. If you are great, I am greater. If you are greater, surely then I am the greatest. This is as much true of lunatics, fanatics, fundamentalists, elitists or the intelligentsia. They are all super in their respective right. And why not? After all Indian Constitution guarantees equality under Article 14, even if it be equal but opposite. There is such animosity present even amongst ministries. Shiv Sena Chief thus bemoans that his party has not received good portfolios in the NDA Government and that he could bring down such Government anytime of his choosing. So let it be. The million dollar question is that of so-called Unity in Diversity. Who coined this phrase? Surely not the Englishman. If it were so the same would have been incorporated in the Oxford or Chambers or other English dictionaries. To that extent it appears to be the brain child of some utterly-butterly Indian brand of leader who strongly believed in the adage, ''See no evil. Hear no evil. Speak no evil''. Go from Kashmir to Kanya Kumari or .....more |
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1947: When all seemed lost Mother-in-law in the Jail By Dr. Jitendra Singh Why Yoga Education? By Prof S K Bhalla ''Father, they have shot mother Teresalina'' By Predhuman K. Joseph Dhar Anantnag produces
hashish worth 60 crs annually By M L Kotru Washington-Jalan
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EDITORIAL Indian polity parrots the theme of Unity in Diversity. One really does not know whether they engage in self-deceit or it is sheer hypocrisy. It is also not certain how far this theme sells within the country what to talk of other countries. Tell us any party or any activity which reflects unity of purpose. All political parties, be it regional or national face acute problem of dissidence. Every State is a rival to the other. Every citizen happens to be self-centred rather than country-centric. Same is true of the bureaucracy where cutting each others legs is a way of life for that upmanship exercise. If you are great, I am greater. If you are greater, surely then I am the greatest. This is as much true of lunatics, fanatics, fundamentalists, elitists or the intelligentsia. They are all super in their respective right. And why not? After all Indian Constitution guarantees equality under Article 14, even if it be equal but opposite. There is such animosity present even amongst ministries. Shiv Sena Chief thus bemoans that his party has not received good portfolios in the NDA Government and that he could bring down such Government anytime of his choosing. So let it be. The million dollar question is that of so-called Unity in Diversity. Who coined this phrase? Surely not the Englishman. If it were so the same would have been incorporated in the Oxford or Chambers or other English dictionaries. To that extent it appears to be the brain child of some utterly-butterly Indian brand of leader who strongly believed in the adage, ''See no evil. Hear no evil. Speak no evil''. Go from Kashmir to Kanya Kumari or Jaisalmer to Nagaland. It is diversity in its purest form. Habits, food, clothing, living, language, culture or any other facet of life. Everything dis-similar. Within the same State, different regions have diverse style like in Jammu & Kashmir. One is yet to find any semblance of unity in the three regions of Ladakh, Kashmir and Jammu. It is just diversity. In Kashmir itself there is manifestation of variety that reflects only mixture of opposition- the moderates, the fundamentalists, the ziarat-pasandis. Within the militants there is the pro-Pak brand, the renegade brand, the mercenaries and now there is that variety of 'moderate militants' gaining momentum. Within Jammu, you have the protoganists of Dogri, Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi each working at cross-purpose. In Ladakh having just two districts, Kargil and Leh tend to throw their respective lot in different directions. It stands best manifested in creation Leh Hill Council to the exclusion of Kargalites. No more proof is needed to declare that it is diversity in its purest form sans any semblance or even blend of unity. In the political hierarchy, one can mention Congress party which is 114 year old. It got fragmented although all of them claimed to be real Congressmen. Congress (S). Congress (J), Congress (I) and that latest addition of Nationalist Congress Party of Sharad Pawar as if other brands are anti-nationals. The less said about Janata Dal, the better. It is there for everyone to see how many brands have cropped up from within, some even solo showman like the Chander Shekhar brand. And the left over is all set to horizontal divide as between Sharad Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan slated to float new party. It is just diversity. The latest in BJP with reference to UP is all gamely in as much as any leader failing to surface in a disciplined party that can keep the party united. It is as well diversity par excellence. If ISI exploits the divide none can blame them. |
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1947:
When all seemed lost Today is Rajinder Singh's death anniversary We as a nation have fought wars with Pakistan in 1947, 1965 and 1971, Kargil and of course, the Chinese aggression in 1962. The wars of 1947, 1965 and 1971 were unique in their own respects, since one thing was common in between them. They were all for 'Kashmir'. Each war give us new heroes, who filled in the spaces left by the old battle hardened warriors who can forget the exploits of General Harbaksh, Field Marshall Sam Manekshaw, Gen P S Bhagat, Gen Ki Candeth, Gen Jaggit Singh Auroro who were all great in their own respects. The art of warfare down the ages right from the time of Alexander, Hannibal, Ceasar, Napolean, Duke of Malbrough, Fredriech the Great has changed, but all in a war is directed towards one important thing and that is "Victory." 1947 was a crucial year in the Indian political as well as military history. Two nations were created from one big mass of land. There were controversies and contradictions as they had to be and among many such paradoxes where no immediate decision could be made was 'Kashmir' ruled by Maharaja Hari Singh. Jinnah had his eyes firmly set on it and he did make some firm assertions and boisterous statements such as 'Kashmir is in my pocket' was no surprise. So when 'Jebal Tariq' decided to launch the raiders backed by Jinnah inspired Pak regulars the heat was really on. Such an action was not really anticipated by the Maharaja and when Muzaffarabad was taken in one stunning strike the alarm bells were ringing in the State. For sure more was in the offing. There were forces at the disposal of the Maharaja, but they were inadequate and confidence level was down and out. Confusion had set in and there were desertions too. The Maharaja had confidence in his man of the hour and he was Brigadier Rajinder Singh, also the top man in State armed forces. He summoned him in the middle of the night and gave him the orders. Kashmir was to be defended and Uri was the place designated to be held till last man and last round. From then on, it was not to question - why? It was but to do or die..... Into the Valley of death went the gallant Brigadier and his die hard bunch of 100 men. Soon they were eye ball to eyeball but it was not the Brigadier who would blink first. It was the enemy who got mesmerized by the fabulous display of courage put up a GARHI by captain Pirthi Singh and his Platoon. The raiders overran the Platoon defences but not before they had suffered their share of casualties. The next in line was Uri. The enemy did not put in an attack on the defensive position, but some raiders entered the village. Screams from the inhabitants and sounds of firing had indicated that the village had been ransacked. Unfortunately there was nothing that a small force could do, without jeopardising the defence of the road which was the important factor. Perhaps the Brigadier must have said to his men. 'I think we'll be facing a situation that could well lead to a general war. We have an obligation to do what has to be done, but to do it in a way that gives a chance to Srinagar to decide as to what has to be done eventually. It's going to get hard with each day but we have to get harder. The cat and mouse game continued from 23rd October 1947 to 26th October 1947. The skirmishes were tight and hard fought as the action rapidly shifted from Uri to Mahura to Rampur Buniyar and finally to Rampur Buniyar temple. How they held on and kept fighting will remain a mystery. It was jsut pure raw courage at display. A small force of about 100 men and the Brigadier himself at the command of it were obviously no match for the wild hordes who came in waves. They easily outflanked the State forces and established road blocks in the rear. The withdrawing forces of the Brigadier had to clear the road blocks before falling back to Baramulla. But this was not to be. The Brigadier, was mortally wounded. The driver of his vehicle was killed, his men carried him on their backs for some distance, but realising that evacuation to Baramulla was out of question, and would only endanger his men, he ordered them to hide him under a culvert and to make their own way to Baramulla to continue the resistance. That was the last heard of the gallant Brigadier. Militarily the entire operation went smoothly. Obviously, a bare 100 men stood no chance against the awesome 5000 men. The only way out was to delay the advance. Had the enemy been given a free run, everything would have been lost. Hectic political activity was on both in Srinagar and New Delhi. It was the question of accession and finally when the Maharaja did sign the Instrument of Accession, the Indian Forces rushed in to salvage the situation and drive away the raiders. But it was all due to the fanatastic delaying action augmented by some dare devil rearguard strikes which gave the precious time to the Maharaja to scrutinize his options, though there were not very many at that juncture. So it was Rajinder Singh who saved the day. Had he not done so who knows may be the geography of J&K would have been different and so could have been the history since partition. Brigadier Rajinder Singh was a successful man. He had three lives; public, private and his professional life. Never did he mix the three. He knew the rules of professional game by heart, more importantly he played it within the laid down parameters. When he set about for the dangerous shooting showdown with the tribals at Uri he knew that all possible odds were against him. He perhaps also knew that the greatest test of courage on earth is to bear defeat without losing heart. He was a man of courage and was also full of faith". He did, what was to be done....Buy time, the 'giddy time', which had run amok at such a fierce pace. The rest is history now. |
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Why Yoga Education? By Prof S K Bhalla Since ignorance is bliss perhaps many people are happily unaware that UGC has decided to help ten Universities in setting up Yoga Departments. It has been stipulated that the expenditure on this novel project should not exceed Rs. 10 Lakh per varisty for the remaining 9th Plan period. Plans are afoot for the recruitment of one Professor, one Reader and two to three Lecturers. In its bid to enlarge the present status of Yogic Science existing in Higher Education UGC has decided to augument it by establishing the full-fledged Department of Human Consciousness and Yogic Science in certain academically serious Universities. The Department will award not just undergraduate the Post-Graduate Degree's but also M. Phil and Ph.D. degree. 10 such departments have already been proposed and on receipt of deserving proposals their number could be inceased. The laudable programme of UGC highlights a hither - to forgotten fact that complete education involves taking into account all the components of a person as "the development of attentive awareness is a basic necessity". The quality of attentive awareness stresses a complete harmony between body, emotions and intellect. This link can be established and further developed only from Yoga and related disciplines. According to Paramhamsa Satyananda "Contemporary methods of education allow parents to give all the necessary comforts of life to their child, but what they get in return is, at best, a degree holder and egoist, a beautifully polished but undisciplined animal." It is here the importance of Yoga in education comes in since neither our education is job -oriented nor self-oriented. Education in the real sense has to take care of all levels - physical, mental and spiritual. Today our society is at crossroads and such departments are necessary to deal with enigmatic life in a more positive, systematic and balanced way. Yoga must be a compulsory subject in school and college curricula for teaching the younger generation to live a correct life in a world endangered by un-controlled growth of technology. A quick glance at educational scenario will reveal to an impartial intelligent Judge that such issues have eluded us in the past and shall continue to elude us in the future also since the whole educational affair is restricted to short-term populist gains and a well away propaganda exercise. Educational issues require not only fine turning at regular intervals but also a constant vigil by those how are genuinely involved in those issues. Here it shall not be out of context to remind the readers that at the time of inauguration of Gymanasium on 20-11-'95 by Mr. A. Mohan Das Moses, Advisor to then Governor of J&K at Govt. SPMR College of Commerce, Jammu here was a project to start a Yoga centre, but the move was stalled owing to the approaching retirement of the tallest and visionary Principal of the College, Prof. K L Bhardwaj and for the new incumbents it was not something on the priority list. |
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''Father, they have shot mother Teresalina'' By Predhuman K. Joseph Dhar These were the words of sister Presella, an Italian nun who served Kashmir. October 27, 1947, by 1030 hours, swarms of Mujahidin for Pakistani leaders and blood thirsty barbarians for the entire civilized world, aided and abetted by the Pakistani Army and led by two ex-Indian National Army Officers descended on St. Joseph's Convent, Baramulla enclosures to get rid of the ''Kaffirs''. The so-called ''Kaffirs'' were conspicuous by their absence. They broke their way in and their savage behaviour was an indication of the things to come. One of the sisters hurried to inform Mother Superior followed by Mother Teresalina and Sister Philomena one of the lay nurses. As soon as Mother Teresalina, the deputy, saw them raising their weapons to fire on them she threw herself in front of Mother Superior but was felled, wounded by three bullets. Again a wild cry ''Kill all these kaffirs. We have come to liberate the land of them''. Sister Philomena was shot dead. Hearing the sound of firing, a British officer Colonel Dykes whose wife and three children were in the hospital shouted out vainly to stop the firing and not to hurt these ''Missionaries of Mercy''. But all in vain. He too was shot dead as his wife killed as well. Such was the savagery of these Barbarians. Of these heroic martyrs of the Pakistani invasion which is part of history now was mother Teresalina, who has come all the way from Spain to serve the people of Kashmir, majority of whom being the Kashmiri Mussalmans. Born to Don Vincent and Donna Isabal on June 13, 1918, she was christened Juaquina Zuburi. Her parents called her affectionately Jokine. Three of her sisters had already become nuns of Notre Dame. Jokine left the school at seventeen and soon found the Lord calling her to serve the suffering humanity. The idea of becoming a religious sister went on weighing heavily upon her young mind. There came the Spainish Civil War which forced her family into exile. She laid her idea under the carpet waiting for the things to settle down. When the storm of the Revolution settled down, she had no hesitation in revealing to her parents as to what was on her mind. In December 1940, when she was hardly twenty two, Jokine Zuburi entered the Institute of Francisan Missionaries of Mary Pampeula. On June 13, 1941, she was received into the Institute and was given the name of Mary Theresalina. After two years of Novitiate she pronounced her vows of chastity poverty and obedience. Her first assignment was to Madrid. After making her final religious profession and commitment on June 13, 1946 she longed to serve India and expressed this desire of hers to her superiors, which to her great consolation was accepted. BARAMULLA CARNAGE In April 1947, she received the assignment to serve her dream-India. She wrote in her diary :''If you know the joy and gratitude I feel towards our Lord! At last my greatest desires are fulfilled and I am going to where I always desired to go-India. This is where our Institute was founded and I too shall carry my little grain of sand''. It is pertinent to State here that the Religious Institute to which she belonged to had been founded in India by Mother Mary of the Passion; Setting off from Barcelona on April 28, 1947, Mother Teresallina and two others proceeded from Ceylon to Rawalpindi and finally arrived Baramulla on August 10, 1947. She was appointed Assistant Superior and she brought a new spirit into the community and the hospital with her joyous enthusiasm. Why and how were the Missionaries of Mercy killed? Rt. Rev Msgr George Shanks, the then Prefect Apostolic of Jammu and Kashmir spoke to Mr Melvell de Mello of All India Radio in October 1956: ''Early morning October 27, 1947 when I celebrated the Community Mass for the Sisters, shouts of tribesmen and sounds of gun shots could be heard all around. Within a short while the tribesmen converged on the mission compound, climbed on the wall of the conclave and raided simultaneously the hospital, convent, chapel and the residence of priests. They slashed the door of the hospital with hatchets. In fury one of the tribesman stabbed a Hindu woman patient to death. Then murdered Mrs Dykes a woman patient preparing to go home that evening with her new born baby. Colonel Dykes rushed to where his wife was staying shouting : ''Do not kill the sisters. ''Within seconds he too was gunned down''. ''Mother Superior came running followed by her assistant Mother Teresalina to the rescue of the inmates of the hospital. They were intercepted by the raiders, snatched of their belongings. Horrified at this, Sister Philomena, a lay nurse ran out of the wards. As they made their way into the Baby Ward of the hospital they were surrounded by the raiders who shouted aloud'' Kill them. They are the enemies of Allah. They are the kaffirs '' A gun man raised his rifle. Mother Teresalina quickly jumped in front of her superior. Three bullets made their way through her body. She fell down in a pool of blood crying : ''Oh, Mother I am dying.'' A fourth shot wounded Mother Superior and the fifth killed Philomena. Violence continued unabated. Mr Baretto, husband of the resident lady doctor was shot dead next. Dr Baretto turned to these wild creatures: You have killed my husband?'' ''Yes, came the answer,'' now you all infidels shall be despatched to the bottom of hell which all the Kaffirs dserve. ''They were lined up after dispossessing them of their possession. A miracle happened. One of the raiders detected something glittering in the mouth of one of the sisters. Sensing the glitter coming out of a piece of gold one of the raiders rushed to pick it up with the point of his dragger. There ensued a struggle between the two. The sister was not ready to dispense herself with this as it was the cross. Soon a command was heard: ''Stop. stop.'' It was the order of Major Yakoob, a Pakistan Army officer. The Major came to their rescue because he had been educated in a Catholic institution at Peshawar and he wanted to repay his debt of gratitude to the Catholic Sisters.'' ''The Dying Mother Theresalina went on saying to the attendants who wanted to administer on her Morphine: ''No, sisters, I donot need anything. Please let me suffer was mush as is possible so that my suffering would bring relief to all those people who are suffering at the hands of these murderers. Only ask Jesus to give me the strength to suffer till the end. ''At about 10'O'clock she left for her heavenly abode to join her Lord whom she loved. I gave her the final blessings and absolution. ''What was great in her is that like Lord Jesus Christ. She also prayed for the forgiveness of her killers.'' The burial site of Mother Threselina and all others is marked by two small crosses which can be seen even today, after 53 years, a reminder of what the liberators of Kashmiris can do and how much they love Kashmiris. They donot spare those even who come to serve the Kashmiris. |
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Anantnag produces
hashish worth 60 crs annually By M L Kotru Narcotics-more precisely, traf-ficking in it - is the very life blood of terrorist movements the world over. The huge amounts of money generated in some of the narcotics producing countries far exceed of the country's GDP. The Burmese, the Thais, the Lao and even the distant Colombians will tell you of the mind boggling sums that accrue to the drug cartels annually. Nearer home in Afghanistan, it's the narco money that largely keeps the Taliban regime going. So much so that the fundamentalist Islamic clerics running the country encourage growing poppy and hashish. In Pakistan it's the narco mafias who call the shots from Torkhum on the Pak-Afghan border of Karachi. Some Indians too, have lately taken, to cashing in on the narcotics boom. In Himachal Pradesh and even in parts of Uttar Pradesh farmers are now cultivating cash-rich narco crops. And Kashmir, by-all available accounts, is a jump or two ahead of the other two; not that poppy/hashish growing is new to the State. What's new is the spurt in is growth during the past two decades. That some of the Kashmiri product finds its way to Bombay and Kathmandu is the least worrying part of it. It has been an ongoing thing. The most disturbing part of hashish cultivation in Kashmir is that a large part of the money so generated is going to various militant outfits. To make the situation worse there has been a substantial increase in the consumption of hashish among the young. Now, you would say this is a universal phenomenon, particularly in societies which are afflicted by political instability or are faced with a Kashmir like situation. The danger here, though, is that the intake of small doses of charas in combination with religious fervour make the local youth, particularly in some parts of the Valley, more vulnerable to fanatical inducement to "fight the system", "break the shackles of occupation" or, at its worst, to "take to arms to fight the Indian security forces." Narcotics, as the dictionary has it, "are substances which when swallowed, inhaled or injected induce drowsiness, sleep, stupor or insensibility" - all ingredients, which, in combination with deep religious motivation, make reckless killers out of youth rendered "insensible" by the intake of, say, charas. So, it is with these thoughts at the back of my mind that I am retailing the tale that follows. On my four visits to the Valley these past few months I visited Pahalgam thrice-before and after the massacre of Amarnath yatries. On all three occasions I remembered my host had chosen to take the longer route, via Anantnag town, avoiding as I learnt later, the shorter less congested bypass which takes you directly from Bijhebara to Pahalgam - the road via Salur. The Salur road passes through some of the most beauteous terrains, the hills rising on one side and a host of streams, some off-shoots of the Lidder, on the other. The Salur bypass built by Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad also allows you moments of some carefree driving, that's when you are not passing through some congested villages. It's some 30 odd kilometers long and takes one to Langanbal, just short of Pahalgam. On none of my previous visits had it occurred to me to ask why we were taking the longer, crowded route. On my third visit earlier this month to Pahalgam, we once again left the bypass and instead headed towards Anantnag and thence to Pahalgam. It was just before reaching Bijhebara that I suggested that we take the Salur road I was promptly ticked off. "No, not at all. Never. "But why don't we", I insisted somewhat meekly. It's shorter and more picturesque. "It's out of bounds," I was told. For a moment I thought the Security Forces might have put it out of bounds. Perhaps for the duration of an operation. No, it was no the Security Forces. I was told. They are there at a new places but the road stands barred to traffic, except to that emanating from the villages along the long stretch. By whom, I asked. By the Khan brothers. The Khan brothers, two of them, I was soon to learn the self-styled militant commanders incharge of the area and it is their writ that runs here. Why should they be interested in putting the road out of bonds to civilian, Pahalgam - bound traffic, I asked rather naively. "You don't know, this is the richest stretch of land in the Valley, right from the Bijhebara bridge to Salur and beyond." How come, I asked. By now I had travelled back in time, to 1978. It was in 1978 when I was writing on India for Sunday Times of London that I had my first encounter with this region. It was then part of the Anantnag district and I am not sure whether it continues to be that or is now part of some other newly created district or who knows, may be, even no man's land. The Sunday Times was doing an indepth piece on hashish cultivation in the region extending from Afghanistan to the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan and to Kashmir and beyond. I had been asked to investigate the Kashmir part of the story. One of the first things that had struck me then was that as soon as you crossed the bridge from Bijhebara towards Salur the scene changed drastically. There was prosperity in the air. The mud and thatch structures of the past had made way for solid brick and mortar houses, with shining tim roofs. They ran along the length of the road, on both sides. The shops looked busier than in the neighbouring areas. The taxi driver-cum-guide had by then drawn my attention to the standing hashish crop, mile upon mile, in the orchards, in walnut groves and even in fields where normally they grow rice. The driver had informed that some cultivators had shifted from paddy cultivation to more rewarding hashish crop. The then District Commissioner of Anantnag had confirmed that the district produced hashish worth Rs. 60 crores annually. That was in 1978. He was helpless, he had confided, because political bosses had declared some sort of an amnesty. The other bit of information he parted with was that agricultural labour was hard to come by. The labour had turned to more remunerative hashish growers who paid between Rs. 25 to 30 per head per day against the Rs. 10 paid by the regular farmers. Additionally, the hashish labour would get one litre of milk a day to serve as an antidote as they went about rolling the green leaves in their palms and scrapping off the residue (charas) each time it was formed. A sip of milk between the rolling sessions helped. The charas thus produced was collected by buyers from the city acting on behalf of smugglers. I will leave my 1978 experience there and talk about what I learnt from a Srinagar English daily a fortnight back. That will also tell you why the Khan Brothers - Arbaz and Shahbaz (obviously assumed names) will not let go of their fief. The brothers, when not preaching secession are busy collecting the produce which, I don't have to tell you, has a ready market. And besides, with many local youngmen having taken to the drug, they are a handy prey to prop up the Khan's strength. Hashish cultivation according to the report has now extended from the Salur-Bijhebara sector to Pulwama and a conservative estimates put the area under hashish cultivation in the two districts at over 20,000 acres involving over 50,000 people. The residents, have their own explanation for the boom in hashish growing. They will not say it brings them four or five times the money which a rice crop would. They blame recurring floods and dry spells and government's inability to help them to turn away from growing the contraband. They admit that it may be unIslamic to grow hashish but they must, if only to keep the home fires burning. If in the process their old hamlets have made way for comfortable "bungalow type" houses it must be the will of Allah. The Khan brothers for their part are encouraging them to continue growing the contraband. They offer them protection. In the ready availability of the contaband lies the key to the Khan's own prosperity and of the cause which they seemingly espouse. If that means terrorising people into a life of crime, so be it. The simple argument advanced in favour of hashish cultivation is that each villager can earn upto Rs. 16,000 per kilogram of charas, the average yield from a kanal of land. "How much rice will you get from the same kanal; it won't last you and your family for even a month." They magic works. The result is that more and more land is going under hashish and what's more the local politician is there to help them out, that's if the two Khans somehow don't want a direct confrontation with authority. The local administration says its determined to put an end to the contraband business but with little or no conviction. For, the gains from cultivating hashish far outweigh the risks of a confrontation. For one thing, the police is said to be hand in glove with the hashish growers. And besides, the local police is as much in awe of the two Khans as the villagers are happy with their presence which assures them of more prosperity. It's another matters altogether that ten per cent of the youth in district have become drug addicts. The Khan brothers meanwhile continue to rule the roost in this noman's land which suddenly finds itself in the midst of a boom, albeit an isolated one. What has helped the Khans to establish their supremacy in the region is the relative isolation of the area, caused initially by the terrorists by blowing up a vital link bridge. The bridge brought movement from Salur side to Pahalgam to a halt. The bridge has since been rebuilt, but the time it took to be rebuilt gave the Khans the opportunity to consolidate their hold on the area, protected by its high ridges and deep gorges. The people could probably have stopped them from their depredations, but given their own taste for easy (hashish) money and tearful of the terrorist guns, they seem to have chosen to live and let live.
Washington-Jalan
prescription Reserve Bank Governor Bimal Jalan has fallen into the trap of macroeconomic stability. This prescription fails if world capital continues to evade the developing countries for reasons other than economic stability. Then we fall into a trap. Domestic investment suffers because of macroeconomic stability, and foreign investment does not come for other reasons. There was a need, therefore, to draw up a contingency plan for building our infrastructure. This, unfortunately, Mr Jalan fails to do. The midterm review of the monetary and credit policy released by Mr Jalan stresses the need for the Government to control the fiscal deficit by curbing expenditures. The underlying philosophy is one that was evolved by the IMF, World Bank and the US Government and is known as the "Washington Consensus" against the backdrop of the Latin American debt defaults of the 1980s. These experts held that the problem originated in government profligacy. The Latin American Governments had borrowed heavily from the global capital markets and used the money far grandiose projects like the Olympics in Mexico City and for paying hefty salaries to government employees. The leaders siphoned off a lot of money from the state coffers and deposited in the Swiss banks as their personal fortunes. The problem was not that the developing countries were borrowing money for investment but that they were misusing it. The Washington experts came up with "macroeconomic stability" to deal with this situation. The leaders of the developing countries were corrupt. Instead of providing capital to the developing country governments for investment, they said, it should be provided through the private route. The leaders would then not be able to bleed the money out of their economies. Thence came the prescription that the governments should be forced to contain their fiscal deficit and cut down their expenditures, including those for infrastructure. The resulting stability would make those countries attractive for foreign countries as previously but private investors would see that it was not misappropriated. The developing countries would get the capital that they needed and global capital would get the security of good governance that it sought. The developing countries and global capital would thus establish a mutually beneficial relationship. All would live happily ever after! This is precisely the message that Mr Jalan has for the country. "It is necessary to build up strong expectations on the fiscal front, " states the midterm review. There is a catch in this Washington-Jalan consensus, though. The flow of global capital is not a function of macroeconomic stability alone. A host of unrelated factors can affect these flows. The increase in US treasury interest rates has led to the flow of global capital into that "safe haven". The buoyancy in the Nasdaq till about a year ago had led the flows in that direction. A war like Kargil can change the perception of the investors with respect to security. Sanctions can be imposed for exploding a nuclear device. And there is competition between developing countries to reckon with. Other worse placed countries can offer better terms like lower tax regimes to attract them. Most of these reasons have been recognised by the RBI in its Annual Report. It is, therefore not certain that foreign investment will come if macroeconomic stability is established. The question that Mr Jalan fails to answer is this. What happens if foreign capital flows do not take place despite macroeconomic stability? India has followed substantially, if not fully- The Washington prescription. Government expenditures, specially public investment in infrastructure, has been prudently controlled. If our fiscal deficit has not declined, it has not increased either. Our external debt as a percentage of GDP has reduced. Inflation is lower than it was in the 1980s. Yet, after the mid-1990s, foreign capital inflows have remained placid. So also our rate of economic growth. The prescription given by Mr Jalan now is to further control Government expenditures, persevere in macroeconomic stability and remove the remaining roadblocks to foreign capital inflows. It is like giving a higher dose of antibiotics to a person suffering from malaria. The problem is uncertainty of global capital markets and we are trying to solve it by strengthening macroeconomic stability. In the short run this approach would certainly lead to further reduction of public investment and a decline in growth rates. Whether this translates into a long run increase in growth would, of course, depend upon the perception of global investors. If this long-run fortuitous circumstance does not arise then we would be doubly condemned. Neither domestic nor foreign investment will take place. Then there is the problem of political feasibility. Mr Jalan counsels the Government to reduce the expenditures on its employees. This is easier said than done. And Mr Jalan should know. The record of the Reserve Bank in controlling its own salary expenditures appears no better than that of the Government. Consider the figures. In 1992-93 the Establishment Expenditure comprising mostly of salaries was 7.32 per cent of RBI's total expenditure. In 1997-98 they had bloated to 17.82 per cent. In 1998-99 they declined. Instead of worrying about the more than double increase since the early 1990s, the RBI Annual Report for that year states that "the higher expenditure in 1997-98 was mainly due to an ad hoc provision of Rs 220 crore made towards leave encashment liability in respect of retiring employees". The RBI is happy that it has managed to double those expenditures since the early 1990s! Charity, Mr Jalan, begins at home. If the RBI cannot contain its own salary expenditure, it has no business advising the Government to do so. Certainly it would be wonderful if a lean and efficient Government as well as the RBI could be established. But given the stranglehold of the bureaucracy, it was necessary to come up with a contingency plan. There are two problems with the Jalan prescription. First, what if the Government's salary expenditures cannot be controlled? These Mr Jalan utterly fails to answer. His prescription then becomes a strategy for non-investment. To be fair, in its Annual Report the RBI also calls upon the Government to reduce the financial burdens by "plugging leakage and misappropriation". But it dose not seem to dawn upon Mr Jalan that the very raison d'etre of macroeconomic stability arose from the inability of the Government to control these leakages. If the Government is to control these leakages, then the very logic of macroeconomic stability would get thrown out. If the Government spent Rs 2 crore and built a road worth Rs 2 crore then there was no problem to begin with. The problem had arisen because Rs 2 crore was spent to build a road of Rs 1 crore. The wise men of Mumbai should consider loosening the monetary policy and increasing Government expenditures in infrastructure even if the leakages and government salary expenditures are not controlled. These are the compromises that we have to make in the face of the political realities. Certainly it will lead to some inflation but that is a small cost in comparison to the nondevelopment that the Washington-Jalan prescription leads to. INAV |
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