Daily Excelsior... Editorial

EDITORIAL

Ageing Jyoti Basu which has a very long innings of 24 years as Chief Minister of W. Bengal opts out in favour of his younger....more

ATR Aircraft widens
market in South Asia

By D K Arora

France-based regional aircraft manufacturer, Avions de Trans-port Regional (ATR), has been constantly increasing its presence in South Asia, including India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Nepal......more

A joint step towards
Eurasian prosperity

By K V S Rama Sarma

Consumer movement :
Yet to take-off

By Navin Chandra Joshi

In the wake of the services of some categories of medical profession-als having been covered under the consumer protection law in the recent past, the Government is now considering......more

EDITORIAL

ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES

One has to cross many barriers to get elected either to the assembly or Lok Sabha. It is no kid-play. Politics may have become cheap in this country but not the democracy which continues to assert its supremacy one election after another. There is no denying the fact that electorate too has matured to judge these individuals and parties. People have punished those who failed them. Even stalwart like Indira Gandhi was defeated at the husting by small-weight Raj Narain and that too by massive majority of 4 lakh votes. There are hundreds of examples whence either the margin of victory gets gradually reduced or non-performers get outrightly defeated. There could be ingress of many extraneous factors like yearning for change, bad performance and sometime even negative vote. There is that category of fence-sitters who make all the difference between defeat and victory. Sometime the margin either way is even less than 100 votes. Good performers with pro-people policies can be sure of getting re-elected. There is that incumbency factor as well when the Government in power has to take many unpopular decisions that might have hit the electorate below the belt. All said and done, it is safe to surmise that people are not fools. You can befool one person once or two persons twice. You can't fool all the people all the time.

While the phenomenon may be uniform all over the country, one can be specific about elected representatives of Jammu and Kashmir both for assembly as also Lok Sabha. There is a very strong feeling of resentment amongst the people that their elected representatives have not redeemed their pledges made in their respective manifestos. It is as much true of the ruling party stalwarts as those of the opposition. If only they have been performing and faster on delivery by reading the pulse of the people correctly and in time they were sure to get rewarded at any future trial at the husting. Contrarily, heavy punishment awaits them. As things stand people are disillusioned as hardly any of their problem has been solved. Some problems fall within the ambit of the State while there are others where only Centre can do something. But people cannot approach them directly. Their voice is through the elected representatives. The latter thus ought to be continuously and patiently listening. People are not interested in mere rhetorics and criticism or mutual recrimations. To put the record straight, at State level BJP MLAs continue to use their lung power against the ruling clan but to no avail. At the central level both BJP and NC are there in the NDA Government. The State has 6 MPs, two from Jammu region and three from Kashmir while one from Ladakh. Out of these six, two are central Ministers. Yet none of the accumulated problems of the people have been taken up in right earnest to mitigate hardships. If anything problems are getting compounded by the day. This happens when NC is part and parcel of Central power apparatus. It is here that people tend to view the performance of their representatives as negative. For instance power supply in the State has gradually deteriorated and abnormal curtailments have been made a rule and way of life rather than doing anything concrete to increase capacities of transformers and transmission lines. If only representatives were sincere, they could have utilised their respective constituency funds when other allocations remain elusive. But they have not done it. Earlier, there are reports of constituency having lapsed. This is one grey area where our MLAs and MPs should have done more than mere criticism. MPs have every right to approach Centre for giving project specific special grants to upgrade transformers and other infrastructure. They can even prevail upon the Centre to supply power at reduced rate. They can go to the extent of seeking one time waiver. The fact remains they do nothing other than mutual recrimations, each blaming the other. The people are thus annoyed for failing them. They are not concerned with tall claims of many achievements; they are more bothered about why their problems remain unattended. So it makes no difference to them whether it is BJP or NC. In their esteem they all happen to be chips of the same block. Punishment is thus inevitable for both the parties at any future trial at the husting unless they make suitable amends immediately. They must analyse why people are angry, disillusioned and deeply hurt. Some days back it was stated that people do not appreciate their 'good performance'. It is so because elected representatives tend to take everything for guaranteed and in the process forget to whom they owe the musical chairs or seats in the august House.

Our elected representatives must take their job seriously henceforth. MLAs/MPs are public servants and at no time they should ignore genuine aspirations of the people. It is their sacred duty to mitigate hardships of the people rather than compound the same. In democracy, elected representatives are fully accountable to their respective electorate. To that extent it is their paramount duty to serve them purposefully and in business like manner. Gone are the days when cheap rhetorics and slogans could see them through in the election. The sooner this aspect dawns on our MLAs and MPs, the better for them. BJP MLAs/MPs should ensure that full justice is done to their constituencies. Same is true of the Kashmir and Ladakh elected representatives.

EMULATE BASU

Ageing Jyoti Basu which has a very long innings of 24 years as Chief Minister of W. Bengal opts out in favour of his younger team mate. For quite sometime he has been seeking retirement but his party (CPM) found itself incomplete and incompetent without Jyoti Basu. He is old and sick and yet the party is in no mood to let him have the well-deserved rest in the sunset hour. It is the law of nature that old replaces the young. It has been going on since ages. But here in India somehow the choice falls on those who are too old to govern meaningfully. Unfortunately, our Constitution holds no brief on retirement of politicians. They are considered fighting fit until their last. This is anti-thesis of nature. Whether the party compels them to stay on or the individual refuses to call it a day is tantamount to the same result, the result of ageing and forgetful leaders at the helm. As age begins to tell upon the faculties both mental and physical, it is the appropriate time to ponder over this aspect. The age of the minister, Chief Minister or even the Prime Minister should invariably be no more than the age of retirement of Apex Court Judges. It is certain that one does suffer from many disabilities as the age advances. If that were not so every Government servant should have been allowed to continue until the last call. It is precisely because they have inherent drawbacks both physical and mental that retirement becomes inevitable. None can escape from it even if hundred percent fitness certificate is produced. A healthy minister is definitely more vibrant and buoyant. One can recall the Kamraj Plan under which all ageing and senior Congress leaders submitted their resignations. That theme should have been a regular feature of our dispensation. It is the duty of the Chief Minister to groom the younger lot while the going is good and entrust them the responsibility of governance. It is as much true of the Prime Minister. India has vast potential of well groomed leaders in all the parties. The role of the ageing ones ought to be advisory in nature. A young and vibrant democracy like ours definitely needs young leadership. Jyoti Basu has set the precedence. Others should emulate him. It would be the best service to themselves as also to the teeming millions of this country.

ATR Aircraft widens market in South Asia

By D K Arora

France-based regional aircraft manufacturer, Avions de Trans-port Regional (ATR), has been constantly increasing its presence in South Asia, including India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Nepal.

During the first six months of the current year, ATR, the French-Italian consortium, has sold nine turboprops in Australasia from the total sale of 32 aircraft. In the South Asia region, Necon Air of Nepal is adding one used ATR 42-300 to their fleet, flying in Nepal and over the Himalayas. South Asia Airways of Bangladesh has ordered three ATR 42-300, which will be operated in Bangladesh, starting this month. Air Mandalay of Myanmar will be operating two ATR 42-300 to complement the ATR 72 they have at present. What is significant is that South Asia is opening up to the regional turboprops with the three new countries opting for ATR turboprops. ATR aircraft are currently flown by 96 airlines globally.

In Australasia, Air New Zealand (New Zealand) too have bought an additional ATR 72-500 to add to their fleet of seven ATR 72-500 already in operation. In India, Jet Airways, a private carrier, has been operating five new ATR 72-500 aircraft. The turboprops, which were put into commercial operations from October 15, 1999, from the nucleus of JA's modern regional aircraft fleet for its domestic feeder network. The destinations being served on ATR network are Bangalore, Bhavnagar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Cochin, Coimbatore, Delhi, Diu, Goa, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Mangalore, Mumbai, Porbandar, Tirupati, Udaipur and Vishakhapatnam. A Jet spokesman said, "The airline has responded to the needs of passengers by increasing the air links in the country which is a very significant part of infrastructure. This is our humble contribution to the society at large."

The regional services by the airline would also help development of new markets, which will result in an improvement in trade and commerce, and growth of tourism industry, which is the second largest foreign exchange earner in the country. The feeder operations would enable the airline to earn a revenue of Rs 100 crore in the current financial year.

Keeping in mind the success of 64-seater turboprops, Jet Airways has placed order for three more such aircraft. Unfortunately, the State-owned Indian Airlines is still dithering over the purchase of ATRs, despite clearance from its Board some time back. For lack of a decision on purchase of new aircraft for over four years now, the Indian Airlines fleet has been dwindling and its market share has been constantly falling. It may be mentioned that the Prime Minister, Mr A B Vajpayee, has been emphasising on the need for induction of 50 seater aircraft to connect all district headquarters with the State capitals. How soon his dream would be fulfilled has to be seen.

Out of the 32 ATRs sold so far this year, 10 are new (four ATR 42-500 and six ATR 72-500). From the 22 pre-owned ATRs placed, 19 are ATR 42s and three are ATR 72s. ATR is increasing its strong presence throughout the world with the orders of nine ATRs in Europe, nine ATRs in Africa five ATRs in Latin America and nine ATRs in Australasia. Two operators, which are undisclosed at this stage (one operator in Europe and one in Asia), have also agreed to purchase the new ATR-500 aircraft for a total of one ATR 42-500 and two ATR 72-500. Since the beginning of the programme, ATR has sold a total of 623 new aircraft, of which 363 are ATR 42s and 260 ATR 72s.

ATR is a world leader in the market for 40-to 70-seater regional turboprop aircraft. Commencing with the ATR 42, which entered service in 1985, ATR has developed a family of high-wing, twin turboprop aircraft. In 1996, in order to respond to increasing demands for comfort and performance from the operators. ATR launched a new generation of aircraft designated the ATR 72-500 and ATR 42-500. ATR's family concept provides savings in training, maintenance operations, spare parts supply and cross-crew qualification.

Being the latest version of the popular ATR 72-500 features the new six blades propeller system and new cabin interior design. These pressurised aircraft offer significantly reduced cabin noise and vibrations as well as increased passenger comfort appreciated by all passengers.

According to ATR Chief Executive Officer, Mr Antoine Bouvier, the aircraft's new Pratt and Whitney Canada PW 172 engines improve performance especially in terms of take-off and landing capabilities in hot and high conditions. The twin-engine ATR is recognised by airline operators around the world for its low operating costs and good performance. In Europe this year, Air Dolomiti (Italy) has bought a further three ATR 42-500, bringing its total fleet up to 20 ATRs. CSA (Czech Republic) is adding an ATR 42-300 to its fleet of four ATR 42. Airliner (France) has ordered an ATR 42-500 which is flying for Air France. SLM (Italy) and Cretan Airways (Greece) are joining the long list of ATR operators with respectively one ATR 42-300 and two ATR 72-200.

In Africa, Khalifa (Algeria) has ordered four pre-owned ATR 42-320 and three new ATR 72-500 for their regional operations in Algeria. DHL Aviation Africa (Zimbabwe) is the launch customer for the ATR 42-300 cargo with an order for two aircraft. Ross Air will operate these aircraft.

In Latin America and the Caribbeans, Aces (Colombia) has ordered three ATR 42-500 to complement their ATR 42-320, the ATR 42-500 performances being well adapted to the ACES operational requirements. Aero Caribbean (Cuba) has ordered one ATR 72. The total number of ATR operated in Cuba is now seven ATR 42 and the ATR 72 would be delivered in 2001. West Caribbean (Colombia) is another new ATR operator with one ATR 42-300 operated around San Andres Island.

Earlier this year saw the historic merger of three European companies to form the first-ever-transnational company that is known by acronym EADS. It arose from the merger between Aerospatiale Matra SA (Paris). Construcciones Aeronauticas SA (CASA, Madrid) and Daimier Chrysler Aerospace AG (Dasa, Munich).

The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) is an equal partner in the ATR consortium with Alenja Aerospazio (Alenia) in the regional aircraft segment. With pre-forma revenues of more than 22.5 billion Euro (1999), EADS is the third largest aerospace company in the world. The company has approximately 87,000 employees working at 90 sites in Germany, France and Spain. -concluded

A joint step towards Eurasian prosperity

By K V S Rama Sarma

After the American safari, came the Russian roulette. Though the American adventure turned out to be a mere merry-go-round goodwill visit to distant cousins in the midst of presidential election festival, with no concerete results to report home, Mr Vajpayee and his hotel-full of delegation had confirmed to Uncle Sam that Indians had arrived in America. Columbus could not reach the Indians but Indians have reached Columbus.

The only disconcerting feature was that no one except political animals took notice of the guests, including the American media, which is yet to recover from the shock that Indians not only do not live on tree-tops in jungles but also have become great experts in information technology. Since Indians forests are depleting, Indians are migrating to America. The Vajpayee team might have spent a million or two dollars of precious foreign exchange, a small fraction of what we earn from Americans, anyway.

There were no such attitudinal and mindset problems when Russian President Vladimir Putin came to New Delhi. This karate expert looks more like an Interpol inspector than the head of a once-superpower, now fighting bankruptcy. The Russia he has inherited is similar in some basic ways to the Russia Lenin had got after the palace coup in St. Petersburg which eventually turned out to be the first Red revolution. The country was in a shambles and it took the new inexperienced Russian Reds years to bring about normalcy.

The Russians truly paid in blood to build up their nation into a superpower. Like vodka, their ideology had its own heady taste and offered a real challenge to scotch-addicted capitalism. For four decades, the two sides played ball chosing the venue at will as others watched in tension and trepedition. India was one of them, though it was both a victim of the merciless cold war and also a beneficiary.

But all that collapsed and strangely it took less time for the Soviet bloc to collapse than to build it up. It is over a decade since that happened. Moscow, that was once a place dreaded by enemies and loved by friends, is still to recover from the shock and find a new basis to rebuild the superpower status. Mr Putin's predecessor, Mr Yeltsin, had tried hard to grapple with it but with no success. The baton has now been passed on to Mr Putin. He came to Delhi with a mission to search for a viable basis for Delhi-Moscow relationship that can be depended upon in times of crisis just as the Indo-Soviet friendship was when the Russians walked into Hungary, Czechoslovakia and lastly Afghanistan. For India too, it is a vital matter.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, New Delhi had lost a trusted friend who could be banked upon in all seasons. Today India is certainly moving closer to America, but it cannot say with confidence what would be the attitude of Washington in a crisis nor could it be sure of help if it is involved in a war. The Americans will probably not let down India but the kind of guarantee that even Pakistan enjoys with them is not available to New Delhi.

China being China, its relations with India will always be fragile and crack-prone. That leaves only Russia, since European powers like Britain, France and Germany do not count any more in the global power game. But the problem with the Russian giant is that it is now flat on the ground and must get up to play any worthwhile role.

Mr Vajpayee and Mr Putin discussed ways to establish a viable basis for their bilateral relationship. The 12 strategic alliance agreements is the first step in the overall task the two countries have before them. Ironically, even Americans would have a serious interest in this. A properly set up Indo-Russian relationship can, to a large extent, take care of the strategic interests of America in this vital region. Right now, and it will probably remain so for quite some time, this part of the world-Eurasia- is crowded with four major players- Russia, China, India and Japan and is afflicted by the militant Islamic threat.

Making matters worse, the Central Asian states which till recently constituted the Soviet bloc are depending increasingly on external forces and resources, even for survival. Their economies, are in a bad shape and their political systems are in utter confusion, their future too is just about as bleak as their worsening economies.

As can be expected, these Central Asian states have become breeding grounds for militant Islamic forces posing a threat to Russia, China and India, the three powers, which alone can maintain political and strategic equilibrium in this region. If these countries lapse into turmoil, the political map of this region would be similar to the one that existed when Constantinople fell five hundred years ago. That certainly would not be a happy augury for America and Western Europe or for Japan either.

Of the four major powers of the region, while India is a dedicated democracy, Rusisa is yet to get its feet firm as a democratic nation, China continues to be a controlled State for all practical purposes and Japan is a democracy guided by monarchy. Again, of the four, only two countries- India and Russia, have a record of close and mutually trusted relationship.

Russia and China too were close for a while during the revolution in china, but their relationship was always uneasy, and broke down the moment China developed an ambition to become an atomic power. Though they are again friendly. It is basically because China wants a market for the goods made in its northern parts bordering Russia, and Russia wants goods cheap.

It is difficult to envisage how these two can get along as equals, given their national characteristics and the unwillingness to set aside their pride and prejudice. After all, it was not the ideology that divided Moscow and Beijing; it was the personality clash between Stalin and Mao. Even in the early days of the Chinese revolution, Mao did not want any supervision of the revolution by Comintern and worked hard to have it folded up after the M N Roy mission to China.

No different is the story of the Russia-Japan and China-Japan bilateral relations. This explains the inability of any two or more countries to come together and form an axis. All these decades, strategic alliances had been formed on negative basis against a common enemy. This situation has changed now and since no particular country has shown the tendency to be hegemonistic or trying to dominate, it is possible, mercifully, to attend to common threat externally and concentrate domestically on developing a viable political structure, that is, democracy. The common threat three of the four powers of the region face today is terrorism which, like in the medieval times, is of religious nature and, as history has shown, can put the clock back by a thousand years if it wins.

Russia is facing this threat in Chechnya, India in Kashmir and China in Sinkiang. Beijing seems to be under the impression that its close ties with Pakistan would help check the religious terrorism in Sinkiang, but it is mistaken, having not experienced this menace before. If this fight against terrorism becomes the main agenda for Russia, China and India, they would also get support of America and in the process all of them will not only save the world from another religious holocaust but help the mineral-rich Central Asian States to survive and prosper. Since American stakes in this mission are, as strong as Russia's, China's or India's promotion of democracy in Russia and China should get second priority.

Since political stability cannot last without economic viability, greater flow of goods and services among these nations would help achieve unity of purpose and genuine interest in each other's welfare. A good example is America-Japan relationship. Seen from this perspective, Mr Putin's visit is very significant. He and Mr Vajpayee have taken the first step for a peaceful and prosperous Eurasia.- CNF