Agra
Summit: A pre-set Agenda
By D R
Ahuja
High hopes
before the Agra Summit between Indian
Prime Minister Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee
and Pakistan's President Gen Pervez
Musharraf and the despair when the summit
ended without a declaration were both
misplaced or rather unjustified. India
and Pakistan have respective stands on
Kashmir on which they are not willing to
compromise. No doubt Gen Musharraf said
before his India visit that he would
create history and that he was going to
meet Mr Vajpayee with an open mind, only
a naive could hope that he was going to
digress from his country's policy on
Kashmir. Similarly, Mr Vajpayee's
initiative in inviting Gen Musharraf
giving up his earlier row that he would
not talk to military leader and then his
insistence that Pakistan must first stop
sponsoring cross border terrorism did not
mean that India would stop calling
Kashmir as its integral part.
The
stalemate in the summit demonstrates that
a democratic country cannot negotiate
with a military dictatorship on such
complicated issues like Jammu and
Kashmir. Gen Musharraf's constituency is
the military and the Jehadi groups, who
are his main supporters. The agenda of
these two constituencies has been very
clear from the very outset. The Jehadi
groups warned Musharraf against giving
any concessions to India on the stated
position of Pakistan. Musharraf himself
acknowledged in his breakfast meeting
with senior Indian editors that if Indian
wants him to ignore Kashmir, he could as
well buy the Haveli in Delhi and live
there. It is very clear that his main
constituency back home is the Jehadi
groups and army and any deviation from
their position would make his own
position jittery.
Gen
Musharraf has sincerely acknowledged the
statesmanship and courage of Prime
Minister Vajpayee in inviting him to
India for talks. The invitation means
much more for Gen Musharraf than any
other visits he made to other countries.
He visited a number of countries in the
Middle East and South East Asia, but
never used the kind phrases in praise of
their leaders as he did in India. This
clearly indicates what the visit to
Indian means to Gen Musharraf. However,
unfortunately, his sincerity in words was
not converted into action during the
negotiating process.
Pakistanis,
from the very outset, tried to destroy
the summit primarily through the
machinations of its High Commissioner in
Delhi, Jahangir Qazi. It is very
difficult to imagine that he acted on his
own without a briefing from Islamabad.
His first act was to invite the Hurriyat
leaders for the high tea with Gen
Musharraf, against the wishes and
persuasion of the Indian foreign ministry
to observe the diplomatic norms. Their
argument that the Hurriyat leaders did
meet the then President Leghari when he
visited India in 1997. The context then
was different. That was not a State
visit. He visited to attend the SAARC
summit. It is normal to have fringe
meetings at the multilateral diplomatic
norms to be observed. How would
Pakistanis react if the Indian ambassador
in Islamabad invites Pakistani
secessionist organizations for a tea
party during the proposed visit of Prime
Minister Vajpayee to Islamabad later this
year.
India
invited Gen. Musharraf as the Chief
Executive of Pakistan. In his true
commando style, he elevated himself as
President to have the proper protocol.
While his friends in Islamic countries
waited long to recognize his new
position, India at once extended its
recognition hoping that would strengthen
his position to reach an amicable
solution.
Notwithstanding
the flouting of diplomatic norms, India
did not try to prevent the Hurriyat
leaders to attend the high tea. India has
again shown its sincerity by not putting
any spokes in their attending the
meeting, as the main goal was to find an
amicable solution. Even this message was
not taken seriously by Musharraf. In his
dictatorial style, he invited senior
editors of Indian media for a breakfast
meeting, and used the platform as a
full-fledged press conference to air his
views, even while the negotiations are
continuing. Arrangements were also
smartly made for nationwide telecast of
press conference in Pakistan.
Government
of India had no choice but to release the
Prime Minister's opening paper to the
negotiations, but has the sagacity not to
address the press to air its views after
Musharraf did so. The release of the
Prime Minister's paper was more to
reassure the Pakistani Generals that
Kashmir issue was indeed discussed. The
Indian side again observed diplomatic
niceties of not addressing a press
conference while Musharraf was still in
the country. But Major General Rashid
Qureshi, DG of the Inter Service Press
Relations, had no respect for any rules
and norms and described Indian ministers
as invisible hand who prevented signing a
joint declaration. It is most uncivilized
to use such terms of the negotiations
partners.
Does the
international community not know what
invisible hands are controlling Gen
Musharraf? He came to India carrying the
agenda of Jehadi groups. Perhaps Pakistan
is the only country where its head had to
consult terrorist (Jehadi) groups before
the State visit. There is no such
parallel. His negotiating agenda was
already dictated by these groups even
before he landed in India. The
Jamaat-e-Islami Chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad
warned Musharraf to avoid any "give
and take" on Kashmir as he has no
mandate to go beyond the stated position
on this issue. The Al Badr central Chief,
Muhammad Ahmad Hamza, said that they
would not accept any solution to the
issue other than the accession of the
Valley to Pakistan and warned the
President to refrain from compromising on
this issue. The head of the United Jehad
Council, Syed Salahuddin, said that the
summit is only Indian ploy and bound to
fail. The Lashkar-e-Toiba said the peace
talks are a 'conspiracy' against
Kashmiris and declared that its fighters
would continue their Jehad.
With this
pre-set agenda, Gen Musharraf was only
interested in getting concessions from
India on their 'core-issue' while not
preparing to address the Indian core
concerns. Gen Musharraf continued to
highlight Kashmir as the core issue
during his press conference in Islamabad
(July 20) but fumbled when a Bangladeshi
journalist asked him "in Agra you
(Musharraf) said that India had trained
Mukti Bahini and sent them into East
Pakistan. Would you say that liberation
movement in Bangladesh and now in Kashmir
are the the same?"
(The
author is formely Chief of Bureau of the
Tribune)
|
 |
Why
is Centre sleeping over Kashmir?
TALES OF TRAVESTY
By: Dr.
Jitendra Singh
Sheshnag,
Khannabal, Kishtwar and so on. One fails
to understand what is the policy of the
Govt of India? Is New Delhi expected to
rescue its unarmed unprotected unguarded
masses from unrelenting militant strikes
in Jammu and Kashmir or is the Vajpayee
Government under some sort of obligation
to show indulgence towards Pervez
Musharraf thereby helping him to
consolidate his illegitimate hold as the
usurper President of Pakistan?
To put it
in a single sentence, the Agra summit was
a victory for Pervez Musharraf who went
back as a hero eulogised simultaneously
by the two domestic constituencies which
sustain him --- namely the Pakistan's
Army establishment and the Pakistan's
fundamentalist clergy. He vehemently
disowns being a party to the militancy in
Jammu and Kashmir which he describes as
an indigenous "freedom
struggle". Even the naive
anticipated an escalation in the
terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir
following the ruthless Islamabad postures
in Agra. And yet, what is the response of
the Govt of India? The Government has
left its innocent citizens to the mercy
of the Pak sponsored gunmen! You survive
if the mercenary killer wants you to
live, you die if the mercenary killer
thinks he can make news by pulling a
trigger unto you.
Pervez
Musharraf had followed the same strategy
in Kargil two year ago. He sent in his
army men as infiltrators and disowned
them saying they were Kashmiri
"freedom fighters". So much so
that later on the Pakistani authorities
did not know how to go back on their word
and accept the dead bodies of their
officers and soldiers who had been killed
in the hands of the Indian forces.
Now, with
this kind of scenario, the need of the
hour is a clearcut strategy which
essentially ought to be twofold operating
simultaneously at the military level on
the one hand and on the other hand at the
diplomatic level.
At the
military level, the proxy war waged by
Pakistan needs to be fought out like a
war. Islamabad sponsored terrorism can be
wiped out from Jammu and Kashmir within a
few months if only New Delhi has a
determined will to do so without getting
tied down in politics of appeasement.
According to Sir Winston Churchill,
appeasement is like feeding the crocodile
day after day in the hope that one day it
will give up its hostility. We have
before us the example of Punjab where KPS
Gill, with the full backing of Beant
Singh, succeeded in wiping out terrorism
as if it had never existed.
At the
diplomatic level, the policy - makers in
New Delhi need to learn a lesson or two.
It is importnat to send out the message
---- loud and clear --- that India is no
soft State which can be taken for a ride
by anybody and everybody --- whether it
is a bullying neighbour conspiring from
outside or a black-mailing traitor
conniving from inside. Those of the
socalled Indian intellectuals who are
never tired of finding fault with their
country's human rights record should be
disbanded to far-flung remote areas
infested by the militants so that they
may rescue the unguarded villagers by
delivering sermons on human rights to
terrorists whenever the latter arrive on
their next massacre-spree.
The
Vajpayee Government will have to prove
its spine or else it would go down in the
history as an illustration of ineptness
and impotence. The common man is fast
losing his faith in the ability of his
rulers to be his saviours. For Umapathy,
the Centre's inaction amounts to its
connivance with the enemy forces. To use
the poetic refrain "Mere Qatilon
Ki Gwaahi Mere Doston Se Hai....".
|
|
Reformation
of Ritualism
By P L Kaul
Kalyana-Kalpataru,
a monthly from Gita Press, Gorakhpur is striving
to uphold Hindu philosophy and thought-to revive
and re-invigorate our Hindu religion, our Sanatan
Dharma. Its special issue of October, 2000,
titled 'Sanskriti Number', has been another
milestone in the course of this organ. Apart from
what has been published, there is still need for
honest appraisal of gains and losses of Hindu
religion in relation to other religions. Indeed,
our Hindu Dharma, Hindu culture are at cross
roads today. Irrespective of our outstanding
heritage, our philosophy, our thought, Hindus
have remained at the receiving end during the
last millennium. Owing to inner contradictions in
social set-up, particularly caste based
discrimination, lack of effective correlation of
the high philosophy of Hindu tradition to the
stagnating state of Hindu society, Hindu religion
has become fertile ground for other faiths for
conversions to their faiths through fair and foul
means. Both, Muslims and Christians have
multiplied their numbers when Hindus have
relatively reduced in terms of numbers and area
of influence. Politically too, Hindus have been
loosers. The creation of Muslim states of
Pakistan and Bangladesh has posed constant threat
to whatever remains of Hindus in India. The
recent casualty has been Hindus in Kashmir. In
fact, the sword of Muslim fundamentalism is
looming large over Hindus and Hindu Sanskriti.
Hindus, as ever, are on the defensive, almost
helpless spectators to this looming threat,
caught as they are in the web of so called
secularism and majority-minority politics. Today,
it is high time to think about the very survival
of Hindu society and how it can be transformed
into a dynamic society, upholding what of our
Sanskriti and tradition is now relevant and
giving up all the dead weight.
In his
book-'Essence of Hinduism', Late Prof. D S Sarma
(1883-1970) states that Hinduism, in its long
history, has witnessed periods of Renaissance.
The Upanishads with the message of universal
spiritual religion represent the earliest
Renaissance in Hinduism. It come after a long
period of complex sacrificial religion of the
Barahmanas. The next Renaissance came around
second century B.C-after the fall of the Mauryan
empire. This gave us the great didactic epics,
the Ramayana and Mahabharata, including immortal
Gita. The third Renaissance came in the fourth
century A D which corresponds the brilliant Gupta
period of Indian History. It brought in its wake
our great system of philosophy and popular
scriptures- the Puransas and the Tantras intended
to educating and training the masses in Hindu
Dharma. The fourth Renaissance came in the eight
century A.D., following period of confusion after
King Harsha's death, when Hinduism absorbed
foreign invaders on a vast scale and Rajput
kingdoms were established. The results of this
Renaissance are seen in the great works of
Shankara, giving firm philosophic basis to
Hinduism, and also in the great Bhakti movements
in Vaishnavism and Shaivism in southern India.
The fifth Renaissance came in fifteenth century
A.D. It was a reaction to the excessive formalism
of scholastic philosophy. This brought forth the
later Bhakti schools of Ramananda and Kabir in
northern India.
The latest
Renaissance, listed as sixth Renaissance by Prof.
Sarma, amidst which we are living today, was
preceded by a dark period of a century and a half
in which nothing creative in religion, literature
of art was done. By 1830, Ram Mohun Roy founded
Brahmo Samaj. Around this time new universities
were started and Orientalists translated Sanskrit
texts. In the last quarter of the nineteenth
century, institutions like Indian National
Congress, the Arya Samaj and Rama Krishna Mission
were founded. These heralded the rise of Indian
Nationalism and with it a Renaissance of
Hinduism. In fact, it is not Renaissance for
Hinduism alone, but for all the people of India,
creating alround urge for change, reform and
freedom. Apart from intensifying the struggle for
freedom from alien rule, it generated movements
against ancient social order and the consequent
social injustice and tyranny arising therefrom.
It also evolved new challenges which confront
Hinduism today. The biggest challenge is:
"how far will Hinduism be able in the
present age and amidst new forces to preserve its
soul, maintain its individuality, conserve its
strength and at the same time satisfy the deepest
aspiration of the modern spirity?" Religious
bigotry is the main enemy of religion. Hinduism
has remained subjected to numerous inhuman and
immoral practices-sati and slavery,
untouchability and unapproachability, enforced
widowhood, sanctified prostitution, self-torture
and sacrifice of living beings. There is urgent
need to rid the religion of all the inhuman and
immoral practices and further strengthen its
moral fibre.
Over the
centuries, maze of rituals, rites, ceremonies and
customs has developed in Hindu religion. Today,
multitudes of common innocent Hindu folks stand
lost in this maze and are even exploited on this
account. Still ritualism is considered to be a
vital ingredient of religion-it is regarded to be
the legs of the body of religion, while morality
are its hands, worship the heart and its
philosophy the head. Ritualism performs various
functions-both objective and subjective. Religion
comes to us in our early years as a social
product in the form of ritual as an embodiment of
faith and it binds together large groups of
believers. This is an important social function
that ritualism performs. It performs historical
function as it extends to generations after
generations, binding present with past and thus
it secures a visible continuity of religion.
Symbolism is the chief function of ritualism.
Performance of rites undergoing fasts and
penances, offerings, undertaking pilgrimages etc.
are intended for visualising belief, our
gratitude to God and purification of our mind and
spirit. The three functions thus
enumerated-social, historical and symbolic, are
considered objective in nature. The subjective
functions of ritualism are: psychological
function of providing an outlet for religions
emotion, aesthetic function which promotes arts,
moral function which helps to inculcate a sense
of discipline for self-control, and finally the
mystical function that makes us feel closer to
God.
Hinduism has
survived the assaults to various enemies over the
centuries owing to protection afforded to it by
its very deep-rooted ritual based system. Inspite
of this ritualism has been the cause of its
stagnating process. It ritualism continues
without reform, it is bound to perpetuate a low
type of religion. It tends to make religion not
only mechanical, but also static. Ritualism must
keep pace with changing times and situations,
changing ideas and even faith. For instance,
scientific discoveries and explorations have
given us more correct ideas of the universe
around us, of the history and geography of our
own planet than which our ancestors entertained.
The rituals/rites etc. based on earlier
misconceptions as such, need to be modified on
given up.
The recent forced
mass migration of Kashmiri Pandits from Kashmir
has brought this community to different
situations and environs and exposed it to
different faiths, social interactions and
attitudes. Till migration, this community boasted
of its pure ethnic Aryan Brahman stock because
marriages of its boys and girls remained mainly
confined within the community. Today, this pure
ethnic identity is endangered as these marriages
outside the community/caste have substantially
increased in recent years. This rising tide of
intrusion thus threatens the centuries old social
set-up of the community. Worst of all, in the
changed situation, Kashmiri Pandits find it
difficult rather confusing, to carry on and
faithfully abide by their socio-religious
beliefs, traditions, ceremonies, rituals and
rites. Moreso, when these do not entirely fit in
the broader frame of socio-religious practices of
Hindus outside Kashmir. By and by, willingly or
unwillingly, they are adopting other
social-religious practices for performing their
ceremonies and rituals, more because of
convenience and obviously devoid of conviction.
An instant example is performance of
'Yagneopavit' or sacred thread ceremony of Pandit
boys. At one stage, this ceremony was considered
the most important event in Kashmiri Pandit's
life. Over the years, this ceremony has lost
relevance for most of the members of the
community and it is just performed by them in
name alone. The biggest joke is that while
remaining ardent 'Sanatanists', some have taken
to 'Arya Samaj' way for performing the thread
ceremony within two-three hours time. A few
decades back, performance of this ceremony
extended over a couple of day, including
continuous 'Yagya' lasting about twenty hours.
There are many other ceremonies and rituals which
perforce and being modified under stress of
paucity of time, paucity of required space in
small dwellings of the migrants, wide spread-over
of kith and kin and finally difficulties
encountered in securing services of Kashmiri
Pandit Priest versed in performance of
ceremonies, rituals and rites 'Karma-Kanda'
followed by the migrants in Kashmir.
In the social
set-up of Kashmiri-Pandits, the sub-cast 'Gor' or
Priestly Brahman enjoyed pre-eminence and
authority possibly in all socio-religious aspects
of life of non-priestly Kashmiri Pandits, known
as "Karkuns', from birth to death and
thereafter. Every Kashmiri Pandit family had its
own family priest-'Kul Brahman' who would be
available to the family for conducting family
sacraments regarding birth, death, marriage and
in domestic liturgy, sacrificial rituals etc. He
maintained as almanac in regard to births and
deaths in the family for celebration of birthdays
and performance of 'shrada' etc. He would also
cast horoscopes of members of 'Jajman' family and
forecast events, determining auspicious day/time
for important activities/events of the family.
This institution of Kashmiri Priestly Brahmans
started disintegrating some decades before the
recent migration of Kashmir Pandits from
Kashmiri. A couple of reasons are there to
account for this process. Most of the
non-priestly Brahmans, 'Karkuns', influenced by
modern education and development in science and
technology, lost faith/interest in the
functionary role of priestly Brahmans. This
resulted in loss of social status of the priests
and consequent ambiguity in their socio-religious
role in the community. This situation induced up
coming generation of the priestly Brahmans to
give up their traditional occupation for socially
more acceptable and respectable professions like
teachers, doctors, engineers etc. This shift
brought about substantial shrinkage in the
priestly group which has further accentuated
after migration. The number of Kashmiri Brahman
Priests is fast dwindling and the small number
left in the procession today are exploiting the
situation to their advantage. They no longer
function as 'Kul Brahman's. They undertake
assignments of various socio-religious functions
mostly on contractual basis and on terms dictated
by them in keeping with demand and supply of
these functionaries at a particular time. Now the
sanctity about these professionals is almost
lost.
Obviously,
Kashmiri Pandit community cannot, in the changed
situation, keep clinging to its inherited
socio-religious perceptions. In fact, the whole
Hindu society cannot for long resist the urge for
change, for reform, for freedom from shackles of
out-dated socio-religious order to satisfy the
aspirations of the modern spirit. Of course,
pragmatic approach is required to accelerate the
process of change in the right direction. Here is
plenty of work for those who have both religious
zeal and enlightened scholarship. Ritual system
as it is today, is, to a greater extent, deeply
entrenched in priesthood with vested interests,
who are intellectually contemptible and morally
depraved. A welcome news is about University
Grants Commission (UGC) having decided to
introduce a new course in 'Purohtiya' (Vedic
priestly rituals) at graduate and post-graduate
levels. It is also reported that certificate
course in this vacation has already started in
some institutions. Anyway, there is acute need
for trained and well educated priests with a
mission rather than the untrained ones who make
mess of rituals to the detriment of Hindu faith.
A well designed training course for up coming
generation of priests is required as shall be
conducive to simplify and rationalize our ritual
system to restore faith and effectively inculcate
it in the coming generations of Hindus. An
endeavor has to be made to establish rational
correlation between religious practices and
scientific outlook. We need to acquire religious
knowledge with precision, leaving aside the heavy
load of dogma.
|
Getting
ready for tomorrow
Academic Pulse
By Prof S K Bhalla
Friends, it is now
an incontrovertible fact that we have these days
an ever increasing market for a need based and
good education. The craze for information
regarding issues concerning careers and
educational opportunities is so great that the
leading national dailies are coming out with
special supplements in these domains on certain
fixed days of a week with the leading experts in
the field at the disposal of readers. The
swelling numbers of students and the tough
competition for job opportunities in conventional
areas as also opening of hitherto unknown
employment vistas in entirely news areas has
created an environment of multiplication of
various institutes striving in their own way to
fulfil the needs of aspirants. How far the
standards are rigorously maintained is a moot
point?
On July 20, 2001
The Hindustan Times brought out one full page
media marketing feature under the caption Career
Opportunities in Jammu in which information was
rendered regarding Master Education Services: A
Leader in Education, Jamwal Group of Educational
Institutes, Turning Point, Aptech Computers,
Macrovision Educational Systems, Kawa Institute,
ET&T, and CREDTI Vision. There were also
advertisements alongwith others in the field of
the aforesaid educational services giving us
information about the affiliation to different
Universities, eligibility, duration of course/es,
infrastructure, placement status, franchise,
study centres, State of art centres and course
fees. Interesting information regarding training
2 millionth student, summer training programme
alongwith phone and telex nos was also made
available. The courses mainly related to computer
education and management education.
Arrmed to impart
education as these concerns are in their own way
some nagging questions agitate the mind of
discerning people. Why did the feature not
furnish details regarding such courses if any
operational or likely to be operational in our
Degree Colleges for making a comparative study?
Why we in Govt. Sector fail to sell our product
with the elan integral to the private enterprise
in education? Why is it that we donot see more
often information regarding updating of other
courses offered by Govt. Colleges and University
agencies?
The reasons are
not too far to seek - (A) A number of courses
offered in Govt. Institutes are not as per the
requirements of times and hence outlived their
utility (B) There is no urge to excel in our
perspective field in Govt. Sector (3) Govt.
Sector is starved of funds (4) There are many
bottlenecks in the functioning of Govt.
Institutes (5) Initiative, vision and marketing
strategies are missing in case of Govt.
Institutions (6) Govt. institutions breed the
tendency of passing the buck and (7) No drive and
liking for excellence in Govt. Sector in a
majority of cases is visible.
So the time is not
far off when Govt. Institutes will be completely
relegated to the background if not injected life.
In our State there are a few colleges in which
Science Stream has yet to start. It shall take a
couple of years to establish Management and
Computer Labs. and then there will be the problem
of inadequacy of staff, equipment alongwith other
post installation problems.
The purpose of
writing all this is to impress upon the concerned
to reorder our priorities in Govt. Education
Sector in a short span of time by substituting
short-term courses and open our gates for
competition without any hitch. The dead wood
needs to be discarded, the entire faculties need
to be freshly trained and oriented. In case
measures are not taken the worst effected would
be poor sections of society. I shall be
concluding this week's write-up quotining from a
computer education advertisement showing a
youngman who says in the first part "I
joined college yesterday, so why I have decided
to enrol at.........today" and in the second
part he says "I am getting ready for
tomorrow" indicating the futility of our
outdated curricula especially in the State run
institutes.
|
|
UTI
fiasoco will damage Govt. Credibility
By M. N. Minocha
The former
chairman of the Unit Trust of India (UTI) has
been arrested by the CBI for diverting the Trust
funds for the benefits of his friends and some
brokers. In the history of Independent India,
stock and financial market scams are not unknown.
There have been many instances of banks failing,
private insurance companies disappearing with
premium money and, in recent years, non-banking
finance companies either vanishing into thin air
or, if they are still around, simply unable to
pay back the depositors.
But what is now
become an alarming phenomenon is that these scams
are coming thick and fast. Just three months ago,
the stock markets were allegedly manipulated,
first by the bulls and then by the bears, and
even as a parliamentary inquiry has begun into
these manipulations, there are strong whiffs of
another major scandal in the UTI, the
country’s largest mutual fund which enjoyed
as much public trust as only a Government
institution can command.
When UTI announced
its annual results on July 2 this year, there was
first disappointment with the low 10 per cent
dividend for the Unit Scheme 64 (US-64). Then
there was resentment that the scheme was to be
suspended for six months which meant investors
funds were to be blocked for that period. Now,
there is apprehension about the safety of the
investment itself. The question on every
depositor’s lip is "Will I get my money
back?"
There is more to
the UTI crisis than is evident even now. While
enlightened investors were sensing that UTI had
made some bad investments and would, therefore,
pass on a lower dividend, the Union Finance
Ministry smelt a rat. And worked out a strategy
which eventually backfired.
The Finance
Minister, Mr. Yashwant Sinha, is now on record
that he was very worried about UTI from March
itself and that he personally expressed concern
to the Finance Secretary, Mr. Ajit Kumar, some
10-15 times. Now, what was worrying the Finance
Minister? Obviously not the low dividend that was
being expected. A 10 per cent return, that too
tax free, is not something that one would scoff
at these days, given the returns that are on
offer for almost all investments. Was Mr. Sinha
then apprehending that there was something more
fundamentally wrong in UTI? Yes, he was and the
answer again has come from him. He has now gone
public to say that repeated verbal and written
communication that the Finance Ministry addressed
to UTI elicited the response that "every
thing is under control, that UTI would not come
to the Government for help and that there was no
need for any worry?". What is not spelt out
is what was "under control".
So when the
results came out on July 2, the Finance Ministry
moved quickly to focus the entire attention of
the depositors on the suspension of the scheme.
The very evening, the Ministry expressed
unhappiness about the decision to stop sale and
purchase of US-64 and started goading UTI to find
ways and means of providing some liquidity to the
investors. This initially led to all attention
being on the suspension of the scheme and no
queries were raised about any insider trading in
UTI which led to a massive redemption of over Rs.
4,151 crores in just two months of April and May
2001 at a high price of Rs. 14.25 per unit,
mostly by private companies, public sector
institutions and other bigwigs. Second, the focus
was also shifted away from the type of
investments that UTI had made – whether a
particular clutch of shares was favoured which
coincidentally happened to be favourites of the
scam accused stock-broker, Mr. Ketan Parekh, as
well and have now fallen so drastically that the
investment has practically turned a dud.
Subsequent public pressure for a look into these
aspects as well forced the Finance Minister to
finally announce a probe, a week after the
results were announced.
There are enough
indications that the possibility of wrong-doing
within UTI was very much on the mind of the
Finance Minister and the top brass of the
Ministry. Why otherwise would the then UTI
Chairman be asked to quit – merely because
the UTI Board had decided on the suspension of
the scheme. Was this decision so big a crime that
it called for the sack of the Chairman? No, the
Ministry had gotten wise to the going-on within
UTI.
This begs the
question why was the Government inactive since
March and all it did was express concern. Mr.
Sinha has an elaborate explanation for this too.
Under the UTI Act, there is no role for the
Government to "micro-manage" this large
public institution which has over Rs. 60,000
crores of public money at its disposal. The
management of this large sum is left to
UTI’s top brass and a handful of other
public sector financial institution chiefs and
some independent individuals who occasionally
grace the Board meeting of UTI. That such
managements could take wrong decisions or
willfully indulge in unhealthy business practices
is indeed a very alarming proposition because
these public sector financial institutions have
thousands of crores of public money at their
disposal and their actions could damage the
economic well-being of crores of people, apart
from undermining the very economy of the country.
Significantly, the
UTI fiasco has again brought to the fore the role
of the Government in a liberalised economy.
Should the Government withdraw completely and
leave the managements autonomous as was the case
with UTI. Or should there be government
supervision because, ultimately, it is the
Government which is answerable to Parliament and
the people for any wrongdoing. Till 1997, the
Government was overseeing functioning of UTI
through a sole representative on the Board. A
move was made to review this in 1993-94 but the
then Finance Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh –
thank God for this sagacity – decided to
continue with the practice of a Finance Ministry
nominee on the UTI Board. By 1997, the
liberalisation mood had got strengthened and that
year it was decided to withdraw the Government
nominee. The result is for all to see. The
Finance Minister gets a gut feeling that
something is wrong with UTI but all he gets in
return are false assurances. Had a Ministry
nominee been on the Board, he may have been able
to ferret out more information.
But Mr. Sinha was
on slippery ground when he was asked what the
other Board nominees were doing – especially
the chiefs of LIC and other financial
institutions who are on the UTI Board. Did none
of them even whisper to the Finance Minister that
something was wrong with UTI. In case they were
not aware of anything, it speaks volumes for the
seriousness with which they take their jobs. If
they did and still did not "squeal," it
probably indicates some amount of immaturity. All
Mr. Sinha is saying now is that he would find out
how much information was shared with the Board.
Anyhow, the matter of having a Government nominee
on the Board is back in focus and would in all
probability be accepted. For the UTI investor,
however, Mr. Sinha’s defence that he was
kept in the dark would not be enough. The first
concern is obviously about the safety of the
investment. The investor would be keenly watching
how fast UTI implements the recommendations of
the Deepak Parekh Committee which had basically
suggested that UTI move back. INAV
|
|
|
