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EDITORIAL Deeper study of the Pak history ever since its creation indicates that it continues to engage in self-destructive pursuits rather than learn any lesson from its past mistakes. It has only one point programme-harping on Kashmir and promoting fundamentalism. It has also the habit of looking westwards for advice although history is replete with instances that even western mentors have dumped Pakistan when it failed to subserve their global interests or did not remain pliant enough to do things at their beck and call. Pak rulers continue to live on the false hope of annexing not only Kashmir but ......more Although health sector gets lion's share of State budget besides many centrally financed schemes, it is ironical that things refuse to look up. There is lack of perspective, planning and foresight. Be it the building, machinery, diagnostic equipment or even drugs these continue to invite adverse comments by the day. There was that news of a single supplier enjoying massive clout with the powers that be against whom no action was ...more |
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Displaced Pandits-II From B L Kak If India agrees to talk to Pakistan, will peace be possible? By N. B. Menan Little poison is not Illegal Trade of Human
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EDITORIAL Deeper study of the Pak history ever since its creation indicates that it continues to engage in self-destructive pursuits rather than learn any lesson from its past mistakes. It has only one point programme-harping on Kashmir and promoting fundamentalism. It has also the habit of looking westwards for advice although history is replete with instances that even western mentors have dumped Pakistan when it failed to subserve their global interests or did not remain pliant enough to do things at their beck and call. Pak rulers continue to live on the false hope of annexing not only Kashmir but also cause total balkanisation of India. Prime Minister Vajpayee has made it abundantly clear that such reveries would remain as such for ever because India has the will to do things and wherewithals to thwart Pak evil designs. Historically, Pakistan has been created on two-nation theory. Its founder Mohd Ali Jinnah however visualised Pakistan as a secular entity where Muslim majority character would facilitate development of Islam and its tenets that prescribe eternal brotherhood and hatred for none. But soon after its creation it was bloodshed and unprecedented exercise in ethnic cleansing where religious minorities were targeted for elimination and/or total discrimination as unequal citizens of Pakistan. Till this day, it has not given up this course and in the process compulsive hostility towards India and whatever it stands for has been adopted as a State policy. To realise its ill-conceived dreams it has gone to the extent of adopting another evil i.e. jehad as part and parcel of State policy. These twin evils are self-destructive that have the potential of eating up and consuming Pakistan itself, whatever is left of it. As on date this compulsive hostility and treatment of erstwhile East Pakistan as its colony and its subjects as slaves has cost it dearly. Instead of territorial gains, it resulted in total loss of entire eastern wing which has done well as a democracy when compared to theocratic Pakistan. This hostility has made it play-boy in the game of western powers. They used Pakistan as their launching pad against communism. Once the cold war ended, they dumped Pakistan as a nation of no consequence. There was renewed interest in Pakistan when Uncle Sam wanted to have control over the Golden Route via Afghanistan to access vast oil reserves in the CIS Republics like Tajikistan, Kryghistan, Uzbekistan etc. But rapid Talibanisation of Afghanistan has proved stumbling block and in the process Pak utility to western countries become less. They yet keep it in good humour with the hope that Pakistan could possibly be weaned away from Chinese influence to provide them window for overseeing Dragon's teeth. With that hope also not materialising, America starts distancing itself from Pak which is advantage India. Musharraf fails to realise that if Benazir can be dumped, Nawaz can be shabbily treated, Zia-ul-Haq is made to leave the good earth so unceremoniously, Musharraf also cannot survive except on Uncle Sam's terms. Another lesson which Pak rulers refuse to learn is from promotion of fundamentalism. Today, such religious bigots have become so strong that not even the military ruler dare go against them. They give the dictation for Musharraf to follow. Today, even if Musharraf orders stoppage of aid to jehadis, the latter could cause havoc within Pakistan because gun-wielders need firing practice. If not outside, it is alright for them to strike within. This aspect is already manifesting abundantly with sectarian killings in all major towns of Pakistan where even mosques are not spared. There is thus visible prospect of triple back-lash. First, from the heavily equipped terrorists promoted by it. Second, from the military itself. Third, from the people who are in no mood to tolerate any more nonsense. So Musharraf is caught in cobweb of its own making particularly when it faces international isolation as well. It stands duly substantiated since none in USA thought it expedient to talk to Musharraf during his visit to New York. Now USA makes it amply clear that before Kashmir is discussed, Pakistan must begin to respect LoC, cease transborder terrorism and then go about seeking dialogue. This is a setback that average Pakistani finds difficult to digest. Add to it another bombshell leaked out with a design which foresees India and America in military alliance with the sole objective of destroying Pak nuclear potential during the next 12 years and in the process dismantle Pak itself. Nuclear Pak is feared as the most rogue State and greatest proliferator of nuclear regime. America just cannot absorb such weapons getting into hands of Talibans, Libya, Iran, Iraq or any terrorist outfit. Pakistan is considered irresponsible, more so because its entire nuclear and missile weaponisation is through clandestine means and it could pass it on as such to any State. Russia also considers Pakistan quite a rogue for exporting terrorists to Chechenya. Peoples backlash is bound to increase as the economy dips further. Today Pakistan has got the ignominous label of being a country of drug-trafficking and host to all terrorist organisations. Its shattered economy cannot look up unless it comes out of compulsive hostility towards India. Terrorists bred and fed by it will not allow Musharraf or any other Pak ruler to wriggle out. The result is chaos, anarchy, penury and deprivation. Pakistan must not only read its own history but also world history which proves the adage ''Those who live by the sword also perish by the sword''. Perhaps, Prime Minister Vajpayee's words convey everything when he says, ''Talks with Pakistan alright. But what do we talk. Do we discuss weather or ask about the welfare of each other's family members''. Karachi agreement, Tashkent Agreement, Shimla Accord, Lahore Declaration, Washington Declaration etc all given short shrift by Pakistan and yet there is no sign of giving up compulsive hostility. Although health sector gets lion's share of State budget besides many centrally financed schemes, it is ironical that things refuse to look up. There is lack of perspective, planning and foresight. Be it the building, machinery, diagnostic equipment or even drugs these continue to invite adverse comments by the day. There was that news of a single supplier enjoying massive clout with the powers that be against whom no action was taken for supplying sub-standard drugs. There was the scandalous pilferage of drugs in which many officials were involved. Enquiries held but none is nabbed or punished. There is the oft-repeated complaint of unhygienic dispensation with disposable waste playing havoc, toilets stinking and electric fittings in bad shape. There is the news of even lifts having become unserviceable. Many a time it was promised and schedule given for restarting Chopra Nursing Home. It remains just a day dream. Somehow all calculations, all projections and all measures tend to go haywire. Very often it is the funds constraint mentioned as the sole reason. May be true. May be there are other factors. The latest report about shortage of expert faculty adds to the woes of sick humanity as also compromises medical standards. The report says that many senior faculty has either retired or in the process of reaching superannuation. The Government has done nothing to maintain strength of the faculty which obviously compromises standards. This problem was referred to the expert committee but that is that. It shows factors other than funds continue to remain pronounced. |
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Displaced
Pandits-II From B L Kak The 198-page book of Prof. Gopi Kishen Muju is per haps the first manuscript, which has the unique title, consisting of as many as 15 words. Prof. Muju is blunt in his expression: Unemployment is not the cause of terrorism in Kashmir. Several local politicians in the Valley, while trying to explain why and how of terrorism, have held economic conditions responsible for the unusual phenomenon in Kashmir. The average Kashmiri Muslim has often been pleading that the educated unemployed had taken to terrorism as a result of "economic frustration". The plea of educated unemployed turning terrorists, according to Prof. Muju, is "only an excuse to exploit them or give credence to their anti-national activities, and make a fool of people, by raising political issues". Prof. Muju’s observation: "Had unemployment been the real cause of terrorism, then we would not find teachers, doctors, professors, engineers, children of political leaders, Government servants of different rank and file, high officials, well-off businessmen, employees of police force and that too of the Muslim community alone involved in it in one way or the other". And his assertion: "Nobody can deny the fact that all these people including the dismissed Government employees, on account of their with militants, are not economically poor or uneducated". His book contains yet another assertion: If there is any poverty or economic disparity, it is because of the "wrong" policies of those very political leaders who have been managing the affairs of the J&K State since Independence directly or indirectly. According to the book, these political parties and leaders have always been holding the Government of India to "ransom" by presenting a wrong picture regarding the economic position and threatening that Kashmiris would revolt and ask for Pakistan if their demands for more financial assistance were not met. The book says: "The game has well succeeded and the Government of India continued and still is continuing to pour in tons of money for the upliftment of the State as a whole". Funds obtained from New Delhi, the book insists, have not been properly used and about which the Central Government never asked for an account. Misuse of Central funds, Prof. Muju argues, can be easily assessed as one of the main causes of disillusionment and frustration among the people. Prof. Muju’s allegation: The money sent by India for the development of J&K State went into the hands of a few families and sections of society, leading to resentment among masses. He has raised questions: What for should any developmental works be taken up on a large scale when there is war going on and the Government property is being destroyed? Why should there by subsidy on fruits, handicraft etc. when the money is going into the hands of militants? Prof. Muju has vehemently refuted "Kashmir-is-a-backward-State" theory and gone on record as asserting: "Kashmir has gained so much in the economic field since Independence that it is perhaps the only State in whole of India where every family has a house of its own to live in and a square meal to take, and nobody can ever be seen sleeping outside on the roads in summer or winter or even begging as is happening in most of the States in India.… Kashmir is perhaps the only place in India where cycle-rikshaws pulled or driven by men have never found a place as a mode of transport and now even traditional tonga driven by a horse is no longer seen on roads except in a few remote villages for local use only". Economic prosperity of Kashmir, Prof. Muju says, can easily be judged by the increase in the number of vehicles plying on its roads. He adds: "If transport is any measure of economic progress, then Jammu and Kashmir is perhaps one of the most advanced States in India and belies the excuse that poverty is the cause of terrorism in Kashmir". Prof. Muju has sarcastically remarked: "If there is any poverty, it is actually on the front of sincerity, honesty, faithfulness, gratitude, thankfulness and satisfaction". The book wonders how Kashmiri politicians speak of unemployment of the educationally advanced youth as a cause of terrorism. And the author’s argument: "If unemployment of the educated youth would have been the main cause of terrorism in Kashmir, then we should have seen similar types of terrorism in other parts of the State as well. Perhaps, the youth of Ladakh and Jammu are not in any way less affected by the unemployment than a Kashmiri youth. If educational unemployment would have been the cause of terrorism, then we should have experienced a far more serious terrorism in other parts of the country where the number of educationally unemployed youth is far higher than that of Kashmir". Prof. Muju has also argued that if the militancy would have any relation with the unemployment, then perhaps Kashmiri Pandits too would have supported and joined it outright. He writes in his book: "A Kashmiri youth belonging to the Hindu community had a far greater cause to resort to militancy if unemployment would have been really a serious ground for militancy". (To be continued) |
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Little poison is not
nectar, Sinhaji Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha asserted at the Nagpur conclave that since the amount of foreign investment in India was meager there was no danger of it altering the fate of the economy. Not quite. The English managed to conquer India with even lesser share of trade because the Indian leaders preferred to take the easy way out of compromise with foreigners rather than building their own country. It was this inner malaise that turned India into a colony. The same inner malaise has inflicted the BJP. Percival Spear describes how the British entered due to Indian leaders' ineptitude (A History of India, Vol 2, Penguin). North India's foreign trade with India at the beginning of the seventeenth century was in the hands of the Portuguese who controlled the Arabian sea. In 1607, Captain Hawkins failed to secure trading privileges for the English despite his having become a companion of Jehangir. Then the East India Company's ships defeated the Portuguese in the Swally estuary off Surat. Thereafter Sir Thomas Roe was able to secure the privileges in "return for the protection of the commercial and pilgrims traffic." The Mughal emperor, instead of building his own navy and trying to asert as a maritime power, preferred to take the easy way out and collaborated with the English. The Company, Spear writes, tacitly became the maritime auxiliary of the empire’. Thus was laid the foundation stone of the British Raj in India. The trade of the English with India at that time was near zero. In the same vein, the East India Company had set up factory at Calcutta. It launched a military expedition to Chittagong which ended in a failure. The British retreated. But the Nawabs alowed them to fortify their factory at Fort William instead of asserting their right and responsibility to provide law and order. It was the Nawab's desire to absolve himself from the task of maintaining law and order that enabled the East India Company to harbour political ambitions. Spear says that Indian leaders of those times were afflicted with ‘neglect, ineptitude, divided counsels and treachery’. There was "an inner malaise, a kind of general loss of nerve" on the part of the Muslim community and Mughal rulers. It is this loss of inner self that enabled East India Company to make inroads under the garb of European trade being beneficial for India. The point is that when a Government, instead of setting right its own internal disorders, seeks the easy way out by inviting foreigners to solve its problems then it is the beginning of a national collapse. Instead of taking the hard way of removing the roadblocks to domestic investment, Sinha is taking the easy way out of inviting foreign investors. The Mughal empire could have built its own navy. Instead it chose to depend on the British. Similarly, instead of aggressively acquiring foreign technologies ourselves, Sinha and Vajpayee are keen that foreign investors should provide India with the same. We are trying to cover up our domestic bad governance and ‘loss of nerve’ by trying to make an auxiliary out of foreign investors in much the same way that the Mughal emperors had made of the East India Company. It is not, therefore, the quantum of foreign investment that matters but the underlying bankruptcy of the BJP Government. Moreover, the role of foreign investment in our economy is not as small as Sinha makes it out to be. According to the World Development Report 1999, India's GNP in 1998 was US$ 421 billion. Of this Gross Domestic Investment was 39 percent or US$ 8.3 billion. The share of foreign capital in domestic investment was about 8.5 percent; not the 2 percent that Sinha claims. An example of the impact of this ‘small’ foreign investment is Hindustan Lever Limited. This company has brought in equity of Rs 210 crore. In return, the foreign remittances in the 1998 alone were Rs 282 crores. If the foreign investors succeed as Hindustan Lever, as they certainly aim to and Sinha presumably would like them to, the outflow may well exceed the inflow soon, as has happened in East Asia. It is also not clear whether foreign capital adds to- or eats into domestic investment. Take the experience of China. According to the World Development Report, her domestic savings- and investment rates were both at 35 percent in 1980. In 1998, however, her savings had shot up to 43 per cent while investment had inched up to only 39 percent despite nearly US$ 300 billion of foreign investment that she attracted in the period. In other words, the foreign capital has eaten away 4 per cent of savings of China instead of supplementing them. Sinha would do well to categorize foreign investments as ‘foreign dissavings’ instead of ‘foreign savings’. With numerous Hindustan Levers operating in China, that is but to be expected. Yet, as Sinha has rightly argued, it is necessary that we seize the opportunities resist the dangers presented by globalization. The solution lies in embracing a limited trade-based opening of the Indian economy. There is a basic difference between trade-and investment led globalization. Imports may hurt us in some sectors but in order to import we have to export something. The loss of one sector becomes the gain of another. Trade only leads to sectoral realignment. Investment on the other hand kills domestic industries twices first by over competition from cheap capital costs of the MNCs; second by providing easy dollars and killing exports. Free and unrestricted foreign trade is no panacea either. In order to make it beneficial it is necessary for India to make OPEC-like cartels; impose import tariffs to compensate for low capital and infrastructure costs of MNCs, and implement a domestic competition policy. We have to put our domestic governance in shape. Improvement of public infrastructure, dismantling of the license permit raj and improvement of law and order and judiciary is what will get our own money into productive investment. Neglect and ineptitude of domestic governance can become the window for denouement of Indian economy by foreign investment, even if it be meager. (The author is former Professor of economics, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.) |
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Illegal Trade of Human
Skeletons With the demand curve for human skulls, organs and complete skeletons sharply moving upward, the smugglers and traders of these unusual commodities now are employing the professional grave diggers to maintain the stock position of their silos. The human skulls and bones command high demand both in India and abroad. They are used for a variety of purposes: medical experiment, forensic studies religious rites and show pieces. To trace the anthropological records of mankind also, the skulls and bones are used. For genetic studies too, they are required. Huge quantities of skulls, bones and skeletons are regularly smuggled out to Japan, USA, England, France and to other nations from India through Nepal. Though the exact quantum of skulls and skeletons that are smuggled out of India is not known, it is guessed that over 500 skeletons and 1500 skulls are pumped out of the country every month. In 1922, great furore was raised in Parliament over the issue of skeleton trade. The members of Parliament, cutting across party lines, insisted that mass export of skeleton from India must end. Subsequently, the Central Government cancelled the licenses for skeleton export. The ban, however, proved to be totally counter-productive as a large number of cartels of skeleton-smugglers mushroomed in all parts of the country. As the smuggling activities increased, the nocturnal raids on the graveyards also took a major spurt because the smugglers found it impossible to procure skeletons. In fact, after 1993-94, most of the skull traders and skeleton exporters took to smuggling. Since they could not procure skeletons legally, they resorted to grave digging, as a short-cut method. The grave digging produced grave reactions. In Dhanbad, it even created riot-like situations many a time. On one occasion, as irate mob attacked the suspected grave diggers, ransacked their houses and set them on fire. The mob got angry when they found few graves disturbed and skeletons missing from a Muslim burial ground. In Asansol-Salanpur-Durgapur pockets in West Bengal, the graveyards are regularly disturbed as professional grave-diggers raid them. Recently, six bodies vanished from the famous Udaigarh Vaishnave graveyard of Neamatput, near Asansol. The Vaishnavites -- a Hindu-sect--do not cremate their dead. They bury them. In Asansol, Durgapur, Neamatpur and salanpur, a large number of Vaishanvite graveyards are there. Besides, there are Christian and Muslim burial grounds also. These graveyard are getting raided regularly. Over the last three years, the Bihar police arrested 96 persons for their alleged involvement in skull-smuggling and grave digging. During that period, over 103 arrests were made in West Bengal for the same offence. However, such penal actions failed to stop grave digging and skeleton smuggling. The police believes that skull smuggling now has assumed a global dimension with Kathmandu, Yangon (erstwhile Rangoon), Patna, Calcutta and Varanasi being its nerve centres. Cities like Asansof in West Bengal and Rajgir, Dhanbad, Katihar, Purnea, Gaya and Bodhgaya act as dumping centres of the skulls. The Nepalese capital Kathmandu, however, act as the pivot ground which the international skulls trade revolves. From Kathmandu, the skulls are despatched to different parts of the world. The trade in Kathmandu, on the other hand, depends almost totally on India for supply of this strange item. The human skulls, bones and skeletons have manifold uses. However, their major end users happen to be medical experts and 'Tantriks'. The Indian skeletons and bones are in high demand in England. Nearly 20-years ago, the British-media raised a hue and cry over smuggling of human skulls and skeletons to England for medical researches and for sundry other purposes. England, USA and other European countries currently are suffering from skeleton-shortage as a result of which, medical research centres and laboratories are not getting enough supply of skulls, bones and skeletons. The locally available skeletons are extremely small in quantum, which just connot meet the growing demand. Hence, they have to depend almost totally on the smuggled skulls. As a result, the demand is growing very fast. The Hindu and Buddhist 'Tantriks' use skulls, human bones and skeletons to perform various religious rites. As part of their "Tantra Sadhana", The tantriks even drink wine from the skulls. Subsequently, the demand of human skulls and bones happens to be very high in all Buddhist countries including Tibet, China, Japan, Korea, thailand and Myanmar. The 'Bajrajani' sect of Buddhists regularly use these item to perform their religious functions and rites. Just two years ago, media reported hundreds of human skulls found scattered on thebank of river Falgu in the ancient township of Bodhgaya, where Lord Buddha had attained 'enlightenment' 26-centuries ago. They were meant for Kathmandu. The skull smugglers could not carry them due to the arrival of police. So they left the consignments on the bank of river Falgu. After making thorough scrutiny, the police found that a large number of 'Bajrajani' monks in Bodhgaya regularly ordered human skulls and bones. The raids were also made on several Buddhist centres and a large number of arests were made. The northern part of Bihar had traditionally been acting as the main conduit for despatch of skulls and skeletons to Kathmandu and other cities in Nepal. Between 1980 to 2000, the police seized over 1100 pieces of skulls and bones from the smugglers in Katihar and Purnea cities. The skulls smuggling runs in a very organised manner and there are over 200 gangs in Bihar, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, who have complete control over this shady business. While, India now has become biggest supplier of skulls, Nepal happens to be its biggest bazaar. There are over 600 professional carriers who carry the loads of skulls to different places in Nepal. The economics of skeleton trade is rather mind boggling. It is extremely lucrative as the profit margin happens to be very high. While a grave digger gets between Rs 20 to Rs30 for a piece of skull, the smugglers sell it for nothing less than Rs. 150 to Rs. 200 to Nepalese agents. The wholesale price of a complete human skeleton hovers between Rs.1000 to Rs.1250 in North Bihar towns. |
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