Excelsior... Nation

From B L Kak

NEW DELHI, Dec 27: The United States, considered as the world’s ‘super cop’, has, at last, found it necessary to please New Delhi by branding the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) . ...more

Congress cautions
Govt against war with Pak

BANGALORE, Dec 27:The Congress today cautioned the Government that war with Pakistan "is a serious business" and expressed concern that some members of Government were "talking lightly"....more

2001 was a mixed
bag for Karnataka

BANGALORE, Dec 27: It was a mixed bag for Karnataka with advances in information technology, biotechnology and agriculture being counterbalanced ......more

Marandi urges
Centre to take
action against terrorists

RANCHI, Dec 27: Jharkhand Chief Minister Babulal Marandi has urged the Centre to initiate immediate steps to demolish the "Pakistan-sponsored" .....more

RLD president quits
party, joins JD (S)

NEW DELHI, Dec 27: Union Minister Ajit Singh led Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) today sufferred a setback with the party president Jainendra Kumar resigning from the party along with his supporters and joined Janata Dal (S) led by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda. .....more

2001 was ‘year of
voluntary retirement’

MUMBAI, Dec 27: The year 2001 will be remembered by the workforce in the country as the ‘year of voluntary retirement’. ...more

AP Govt has open mind
on holding talks with
Naxals: Home Minister

HYDERABAD, Dec 27: The Andhra Pradesh Government has an open mind on holding a dialogue with the Naxalites in a bid to ......more

BJP didn’t start Ayodhya movement, says Advani

NEW DELHI, Dec 27: Union Home Minister L K Advani today denied that the Ayodhya movement was started by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)......more

NEWS ANALYSIS
Ban won’t affect LeT, JeM

From B L Kak

NEW DELHI, Dec 27: The United States, considered as the world’s ‘super cop’, has, at last, found it necessary to please New Delhi by branding the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) as terrorist outfits. Washington’s announcement, in this regard, surfaced two days after Pakistan announced the freeze on the assets of Lashkar.

Do these measures mean anything so far as India and the menace of terrorism it is facing is concerned? They mean nothing, considering the fact that the Lashkar-e-Toiba had already got a new face, a new name, while the Jaish-e-Mohammed changed its name in October this year. Just like some other similar organisations in the past.

Observers haven’t forgotten the development which followed the US ban on the Harkat-ul-Ansar more than two years ago. The ban, in fact, was followed by the announcement of the existence of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen in place of Harkat-ul-Ansar. Activities of the outfit’s cadre haven’t suffered in any way since then. And the outfit continues to function effectively since then, using its cadres to strike terror in Jammu and Kashmir unchecked and unhampered by legalities and bans.

The Jaish-e-Mohammed leadership in Pakistan withdrew all the money from bank accounts and reopened these under names of individual members in anticipation of the US decision to freeze assets of what is now the old and reportedly non-existent outfit. Indeed, a spokesperson of the organisation was quoted as having told a news conference in Islamabad recently: "We have already withdrawn our money from the bank accounts and reopened them in the name of our low-profile supporters".

Is it true that JeM changed its name a day after a meeting between the jihadi leaders and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee in Pakistan, Gen. Mohammed Aziz, on October 10?

That the LeT will continue to survive and carry out its terrorist and subversive activities against India is something that Prof. Hafiz Mohammed Saeed himself made clear prior to the appointment of Abdul Wahid, a lesser known Kashmiri militant, as the new chief of the organisation. Prof. Saeed’s significant announcement: "Lashkar’s activities will now be totally confined to Kashmir and we have already shifted all our offices to Kashmir last month".

That the move was at the behest of Islamabad is also quite apparent from Prof. Saeed’s statement that he had decided to step down "to save Pakistan from the malicious Indian propaganda". It was as if the Lashkar supremo was speaking in the voice of the military regime of Gen. Parvez Musharraf.

Shortly after the announcement, a former Indian High Commissioner to Islamabad, Mr G Parthasarathy, made it apparent that the move did not impress India and mere change of name or quitting by its chief was not enough. He termed the entire development as an Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) gameplan to fool India into complacency, warning that New Delhi should not be taken in by the tactic and should crack down on the terrorist outfits.

The terrorists, Mr Parthasarathy chose to emphasize, haven’t vanished in thin air; they are still very much in Pakistan and India would have to take tough action to eliminate them. And that, frankly, is the key. The terrorists who form the core of the LeT as well JeM have not surrendered. Nor have they been eliminated. And Prof. Saeed himself did concede that they are in Kashmir, very much active. And, notwithstanding Islamabad’s denial, very much backed by the ISI.

Some media reports from America have, in recent days, sought to highlight Washington’s unpublished message to Gen. Musharraf to abandon the armed struggle in Kashmir. If these reports were to be believed, the Bush Administration wants Pakistan to give up aiding and abetting militants and insurgents in Kashmir and to rely henceforth on political means of confronting India.

Will Islamabad oblige the US by giving up its support to what it has often described as "freedom struggle in Kashmir"? This is an issue which is much closer to the hearts of most people in Pakistan than the survival of the Taliban. This is something that New Delhi will have to keep in mind whatever steps it takes now to deal with the emerging situation and the build-up of tension with Islamabad. One wrong step, and India could easily lose the advangate it now has vis-a-vis Pakistan.

Congress cautions Govt against war with Pak

BANGALORE, Dec 27: The Congress today cautioned the Government that war with Pakistan "is a serious business" and expressed concern that some members of Government were "talking lightly" of going to war.

"War is a serious business....One has to go to war only when one can’t help it. One should not talk lightly of going to war", senior Congress leader and leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Dr Manmohan Singh told reporters here.

Singh said the Congress was worried that some members of the Government were talking "very lightly" of going to war.

"Our economy has resilience. But the way people talk about war, it frightens me...One should not talk lightly about war....That is not to say that I am creating panic that if a war is forced on the country we are not strong enough", he said.

Asked if those members of Government were talking about war with an eye on the coming Uttar Pradesh elections, the former Finance Minister said he did not want to attribute motives.

On Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha’s statement that the defence budget would be enhanced, if necessary, Singh charged that the Defence Ministry was not even able to spend what it got during Kargil war. "They got special allocation and I think normal restrictions were relaxed. But none of the money was spent on things meant for Kargil", he said.

Singh indicated opposition to withdrawing MFN status to Pakistan, saying it would only be symbolic and also hurt the Indian people. He noted that Pakistan did not give MFN status to India.

Asked if the water treaty with Pakistan should be abrogated, Singh said these were serious decisions, about which one ought not to speak in newspapers.

"Those who do so should seriously analyse its onsequences", he added.

Asked if the Congress would back any Government action against Pakistan, he said the party had already said there was no difference of opinion and it was one with the Government that efforts should be made, preferably through diplomatic moves, to persuade Pakistan to stop cross-border terrorism.

Referring to recall of the Indian High Commissioner in Pakistan, Singh said "no doubt, we need to take some action". (PTI)

2001 was a mixed bag for Karnataka

BANGALORE, Dec 27: It was a mixed bag for Karnataka with advances in information technology, biotechnology and agriculture being counterbalanced by setbacks from drought, a fair share of controversies and the adverse impact of the WTC terrorist attack in the us on software companies here.

On the political front, while hosting of the AICC plenary session was an additional feather in the cap of the Krishna Government, the much-hyped initiatives for the JD(U)-JD (S) merger seemed to have hardly moved forward with leadership of both parties blowing hot and cold.

IT and biotech continued to be in focus with the state consolidating its position as the it capital of the country even as it provided the much needed fillip to the agricultural sector through its "milleniun bio-tech policy".

In its vision to carve a niche for itself in the global economic scenario, the Congress Government under the leadership of S M Krishna adopted the credo "think global and act global".

Double-pronged strategy seemed to be the catchword, improving agricultural productivity through biotechnology while attracting further investments for the state from global pharmaceutical and health sciences companies.

While a institute of bio-informatics and applied bio-technology here has been doing excellent work, the Government also announced the setting up of an Agri-biotech Institute in Dharwad, marine bio-tech park in Karwar and a Gene Bank in association with Bangalore University.

The issue of establishing a bio-tech park in University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS) campus here generated much heat among the faculty members, scientists and students, resulting in a volatile situation, wherein the Government had to impose Section 144 of the CrPC in the campus.

Yielding to pressure not only from the faculty members and the students but also the opposition which added fuel to the fire, the Government decided to locate the park away from the UAS campus. The location however, still remains undecided.

The heat of the WTC terrorist attacks in the US was felt in Karnataka also with several software companies downgrading their revenue and growth outlook as much of the it business is generated from America. The companies are now looking towards Europe also with more interest for their business.

However, the initial negative sentiments caused by the September 11 terrorist attacks and the hi-tech meltdown are gradually giving way to cautious optimism among the IT giants who say Indian software industry is resilient and its annual growth rate of 25 per cent "is reasonably good".

Indian IT industry could look forward to better days ahead, the experts say.

Reports of China-headquartered Huawei which has its office in Bangalore, being allegedly involved in helping Pakistan and the Taliban regime in telecom surveillance came as a shock to the IT industry here.

However, the company issued a strong denial saying "it’s unthinkable for the company to get involved with an unlawful regime" and terming the reports "totally untrue and utterly baseless". (PTI)

Marandi urges Centre to take action against terrorists

RANCHI, Dec 27: Jharkhand Chief Minister Babulal Marandi has urged the Centre to initiate immediate steps to demolish the "Pakistan-sponsored" terrorist training camps in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) instrumental in igniting terrorism in India.

"The people of Jharkhand strongly support the centre’s fight against terrorism and believe that demolishing the terrorist camps was the only solution to tackle cross-border terrorism," Mr Marandi said talking to newspersons at sariaya in Giridih district yesterday.

Following the terrorist attack on Parliament and the escalating tension along the country’s international border thereafter, Mr Marandi said time had come to give the terrorists a befitting reply.

Talking about his Government’s achievements in the past one year, Mr Marandi said the outcome of his Government’s developmental actions have started surfacing.

The Government had "effectively curtailed the activities of the extremists," he claimed. It had demolished over a dozen bunkers, used by extremists as hideouts, and forced a number of ultras to surrender.

The extremists were fighting their last battle for survival, the Chief Minister said, reiterating the Government’s initiative to bring the ultras to the social mainstream.

The State Government had already announced an "ambitious rehabilitation package" for the ultras who wished to give up violence and participate in the state’s development, Mr Marandi said.

Meanwhile, security has been beefed up in the entire state, particularly in the Naxal dominated eleven districts, with the district administrations alerted and police stations instructed to maintain maximum vigil following eruption of tension along the Indo-Pak border, he said.

Official sources said intelligence sleuths were keeping a close watch on the situation.

Meanwhile, Army stationed in the state headquarters here and other parts of Jharkhand have moved towards the forward lines.

Earlier, former Bihar Chief Minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Dr Jagannath Mishra had also asked the Centre to demolish terrorist training camps in the PoK.

Urging the Prime Minister, he said delay in this connection would prove the centre’s indecisiveness and political weakness. He had also criticised US for adopting double standards towards curbing terrorism.

He added, we today miss our former PM, Mrs Indira Gandhi who would have by now taken a firm decision.’’

However, RJD supremo Laloo Prasad Yadav said war should be the last resort only after all other avenues fail. (UNI)

RLD president quits party, joins JD (S)

Admitting Kumar into JD (S) fold, Gowda said this would not only help strengthen the party at national level but also expose "opportunistic and unprincipled" politics of leaders like Ajit Singh.

Soon after Kumar announced his decision to join JD (S) at the residence of Deve Gowda, he was made president of the Yuva Janata Dal.

National general secretaries of JD (S) Bapu Kaldate, Kunwar Danish and Sanjeev Varma were also present on the occasion.

Danish and Kaldate accused BJP of "saffronising" the education system and communalising social atmosphere keeping an eye on Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections and asked youth and students to defeat the "anti-peiople" design of forces led by BJP and Sangh Parivar. (PTI)

2001 was ‘year of voluntary retirement’

MUMBAI, Dec 27: The year 2001 will be remembered by the workforce in the country as the ‘year of voluntary retirement’.

During 2000-2001 most of the companies offered the Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) and around 50 per cent employees opted for it in the absence of an alternative, according to Dada Samant, borther of late trade union leader Datta Samant.

VRS poses a major problem to a country like India, which has more than one billion people, says Samant, who heads Mumbai-based Trade Union Kamgar Agadhi.

The year saw substantial change in employer-employee relationship as organisations shed their flab for achieving optimum productivity threatening the survival of employees in the absence of an efficient social security system.

"The modern work-spot has become a cockpit of coercive collective bargaining as workers, with their weak bargaining power, are often subject to discriminating policies with stoppage of shifts and intermittent industrial disputes that suffocates both production and productivity," says Trade Union leader Vijay Kamble.

In an increasingly competitive and globalised business environment, success of an organisation depends upon the commitment and involvement of employees, but the future of employees is gloomy following the introduction of VRS and compulsory retirement scheme.

According to Mr Kamble, more than 50 per cent of Small-Scale Industries (SSIs) across the country have closed down their shutters in the face of strong global competition following economic reforms and globalisation.

If the trend continues for the next few years, Mr Kamble warns, the work-force ‘liability’ will increase and unemployment will take a heavy toll on our youth who may be forced to take recourse to extreme options like terrorism.

Industrialist Arvind Doshi agrees. "The root cause of terrorism in the north-east is unemployment among the youth. We need a policy to generate greater employment opportunities in the region," he says.

According to him, reducing the number of employees is only a temporary solution. The need of the hour is increasing employment opportunities for a robust growth of the country’s economy. "If we will not be able to generate employment, employers also will not survive."

In the organised sector, employment opportunity had dwindled by about ten per cent. The SSIs are the hardest hit due to existing laws, which need to be simplified to face competition, he adds.

Big companies like Hindustan Lever Limited has retrenched 75 per cent of their work-force and shifted its plant from Mumbai to Daman and Diu for availing tax sops and other incentives available there, says Mr Kamble.

However, even trade union leaders agree that workers need to change their attitude to keep pace with the fast-changing situation. Several trade unions conducted workshops during the year for their members to educate them about the emerging challenges.

Though India is blessed with a skilled work force and has abundant raw materials to be a world leader, it has a poor work culture, trade union leaders say.

The near-absence of knowledge of labour laws and non-implementation of labour policies have added to the problem.

"Ninety-eight per cent of the sum allocated for the national renewal fund was utilised to pay the severance package to public sector employees who opted for VRS during the year," says Mr Doshi.

According to Mr Samant, the Government should seriously rethink before giving in to the diktats of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Even reputed mills like Swadeshi mills owned by the tatas closed down their shutters forcing several workers to commit suicide, he adds.

The one-point programme of employers is to finish unskilled workers. "That is the reason they are pressurising the Government to change labour laws," Mr Samant says.

Instead of changing the laws the emphasis should be on upgrading technology, training workers and improving quality of goods on par with global standards. "This is the only remedy for the survival of the industry," he adds.

Out of the 64 mills in Mumbai before the pre-strike period (1982), only 50 per cent are partially running while the remaining are either sick or closed down, says Rashtriya Mill Mazdoor Sangh president Sachin Ahir.

The strength of employees has came down to 23,000 from 200,000 and of them about 6,000 workers have opted for VRS during the year, he says.

The employers blame the poor labour-management relationship in the country for the ills of the industry. "We have to improve the quality of our produce and service to be able to successfully compete in the global market," says Philips India Ltd Chief Executive Officer K Ramchandran. The labour and management rapport in India is a poor 4.8 per cent while in singapore it is as high as 20 per cent.

The country needs to improve its image and should adopt a fundamentally different approach to become globally competitive and make laws competitive as well as take workers into confidence, says Mr Ramchandran.

The workers also blame the Government for their problems. "The Government is creating problems for the labour in the country and is not being able to take a concrete decision in favour of workers," says Port and Dock Workers’ Association Vice-President Mohan Rao.

About 25,000 workers in the docks division and another 12,000 in the cargo division are considered surplus following the modernisation of ports and docks, according to port and dock trade union leaders. (UNI)

AP Govt has open mind on holding talks with Naxals: Home Minister

HYDERABAD, Dec 27: The Andhra Pradesh Government has an open mind on holding a dialogue with the Naxalites in a bid to resolve the extremist menace, Home Minister T Devender Goud told the State Assembly today.

He said Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu would hold an all-party meeting soon to work out the modalities for talks with the extremists. A decision to this effect was taken at a recent cabinet meeting, he informed.

The minister was responding to a special mention on the issue by Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhar Rao.

Reiterating the Government’s appeal to the Naxalites to join the mainstream life, Mr Goud said no problem could be resolved without dialogue, adding "we are not rigid and are ready for talks".

He said as a result of the mindless violence, many innocent people have been killed and substantial Government and private properties damaged. "Violence cannot solve any problem".

In his special mention, Mr Rao said a senior functionary of the central committee of the banned People’s War Group of Naxalites had announced that the outfit was ready to hold discussions with the Government if the latter stopped police encounters.

Mr Rao said there were any number of examples, both within and outside the country, of extremism being resolved through negotiations. "In our own country, the authorities were holding talks with the Naga extremist groups", he pointed out.

He said the State Government should adopt an open mind for talks with the PWG, which had offered to negotiate for the first time in the last two decades. He also demanded that the Government should stop the armed action against the Naxals to create a congenial atmosphere for the talks.

Mr D Srinivas (Congress) said the Naxalite offer for talks was a positive sign and the Government should come forward to hold negotiations with them.

Mr Asaddudin Owaisi (Majlis) said an atmosphere of trust should be created between the Government and the PWG as a prelude to the dialogue.

Mr N Indrasena Reddy (BJP), who had once opposed the talks, also favoured dialogue with the extremists.

Mr N Narasimiah (CPI-M) said the Government, without wasting any time, should convene talks with the extremist groups. "The whole Naxalite problem should be viewed as a socio-economic problem."

Earlier, the Congress, in a letter to the Chief Minister, had urged the Government to start an unconditional dialogue with the Naxalites to put an end to the violence in the state. (UNI)