EDITORIAL
At long
last!
After years of the
Pak state and establishment playing havoc with
the State of Jammu and Kashmir, the international
community seems to have woken up to the
disruptive activities of Pakistan. In a realistic
report, that was long over due, various human
rights organizations meeting in Geneva have
clearly told Pakistan to stay away from any
disruption of the election process in Jammu
and Kashmir State. This warning has come not a
day too soon; as late as Pak Independence Day,
the Pakistan president clearly indicated that his
Government intends not to let the poll process
proceed smoothly in the state. This assumes
importance when seen in the backdrop of the
Pakistan government’s involvement in the
terrorist infiltration. That infiltration,
inspite of the Pak assertions to the contrary,
continues. The terrorists keep pouring in,
killing and destroying property and creating
terror and disorder in the state. All that is
geared to keep the terrorism high in the State.
It is on the strength of this terror that the Pak
establishment bases its case in Kashmir.
It also is on the
strength of these terrorists, their terror
potential and rapacity, that they
‘reject’ the election process and issue
calls for ‘boycott’. It is on the
strength of this illegal firepower that certain
people believe they can force the Indian
Government to concede their private demands as
well as enforce what their private visions, if
not interests, see as the ‘best thing’
for the people of this state. And, it would not
do to ignore this all-important factor. When a
terrorist enters a basti and calls for the
people to abstain, it is difficult for the people
to defy their dictates. Over the past months
alone they have already killed dozens of
political activists who they believed would not
listen to their calls. It cannot be ignored that
the people who the terrorists killed belonged to
the main political voices in the state — the
ones the terrorists believed would oppose to
them. Nor can one overlook, the fact that other
parties are at pains not to brush the terrorists
on the wrong side. The much talked of, Sharjah
initiative with a section of Hurriyat laying
emphasis on distancing itself from terrorists has
quietly withered away after the death of Abdul
Gani Lone. The so-called moderates are a cornered
force now in view of the increasing depredations
of the terrorists.
The human rights
groups have noted this factor of terrorism as
well as the Pak aid and efforts to sustain it.
They have noted the fact, that the Pak-
Government promises to reign in the terrorists,
clearly indicates that they are thick with the
terrorists. So do their alibis for calling the
terrorists ‘freedom fighters’. These
are strange ‘freedom fighters’, coming
from different parts of Pakistan, killing people
in the outskirts of Jammu, to get Kashmiris
‘freedom’! This more than anything
else, shows how much Pakistan is involved in
Kashmir. This is what India and the state
leadership and Government have been telling the
international community for the last more than a
decade. Thankfully they seem to have woken up to,
this fact and have clearly asked Pakistan to
desist from sending in terrorists in there and
seeking to disrupt the election. It is now for
Pakistan to show some sincerity in its
assertions. Whatever the Pak establishment does
to the elections in Pakistan, it must not be
allowed to play with the democratic process in
India or any part thereof. That is one thing the
international community must look to. There are
indications that, at long last, they are growing
appreciative of the need to ensure that.
Another
mistake
Nationalists in
the State of Jammu and Kashmir, and out of it,
know that the major mistake committed by the
Indian Government in the State has been to treat
it with different yardsticks than other states
and people. Yet the Government of India as well
as the constitutional institutions persist with
the mistaken notion that the only right thing to
do in the state is to treat it differently, use
different yardsticks for it. Of course, they end
up only eroding the national unity and
uniformity, though the angelic souls rarely
realize that. Thus the Election Commission does
not see any discrepancy in its treatments and
assessment of situations in Jammu and Kashmir and
Gujarat but they are too patent for everybody
else. The same CEC who finds that there is
‘fear’ in Gujarat which is not
conducive to holding elections in the State, saw
no fear or threat of backlash in the State.
Apparently the ‘normalcy’ that has to
be achieved in Gujarat is something different
than the one needed in the State of Jammu and
Kashmir. For sometime, nobody has spoken of
achieving it!
Of course, nobody
in a normal free state should be forced to live
outside his/her home and everybody should have
free access as well as entry to all areas, a full
freedom of movement and expression. Though that
has largely been restored in Gujarat, there still
are some people who stay in camps there. That has
prompted the Election Commission to postpone the
elections till their return to their homes, which
would apparently be taken as the measure of
normalcy. Fine. But what of Jammu and Kashmir? A
million people here are out of their homes. Some
of them have been provided camp facilities while
lakhs are not even recognized as being under
threat. The whole of valley is threatened by
‘a continued perception of fear and
victimization’. The minorities have been
evicted out of that place wholesale. The
minorities in most of Jammu are in different
stages of migration. The whole state is faced,
not by a sporadic communal-clash or its fear, but
a persistent threat of terrorism. It is raging,
and ravaging the state, threatening people and
disrupting life all around. How can it be called
less threatening than the situation in Gujarat?
Any less abnormal? If not, why the different
yardsticks? Why more mistakes?
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The
speech Vajpayee may never make
By M J Akbar
Here is
the speech we may not quite hear on
Thursday 15 Au-gust when Prime Minister
Atal Behari Vajpayee climbs up the
ramparts of the Red Fort to start yet
another birthday party for India; Friends
(in the BJP), Indians (in cities and
villages) and countrymen (across the
world)!
You were
kind enough to elect me, and support me
if you could not vote, in a general
election three years ago because I was
the Prime Minister of economic reform,
the Lahore peace initiative and Kargil.
Since then reform has tripped over
uncertainty, while those old-fashioned
rogues and sharks who hover over public
money have continued to steal and loot
thousands of crores with impunity,
bribing their way through any problem,
laughing their way through media and
politicians, and fattening the foreign
accounts of men at the head of financial
institutions who sold their trust unit by
unit and betrayed blue chip companies
like IDBI chip by chip.
In
self-defence I will say that I did not
create this scum. I inherited this class
from decades of misrule and corruption,
of deals between money power and
political authority at the cost of your
development, your jobs, your schools,
your hospitals, your roads, your hunger.
Where my self-defence collapses is in the
fact that I too did nothing to heal this
corrosive cancer that has gnawed at the
heart and soul of our country. Our tryst
with destiny was not meant to suffocate
in sleaze. I am guilty of indifference.
And I will tell you the reason for my
indifference. Because my own party, which
was born and nurtured in puritan zeal,
has become a mob of sleazebags. I know
many of you- let's make that most of you
do not share the ideology and beliefs of
men like Shyamaprasad Mukherjee and
Deendayal Upadhyaya. I mention these
names because they were my leaders when I
was a young man with a dream. I have
become an old man now, and I am not
certain whether I have the courage to
dream any more.. But even those who would
not want Shyamaprasadji and Deendayalji
to lead India will admit and accept that
they did not enter public life to split
the scum with hyeneas. They were honest
men who died with less in their bank
accounts than they had inherited. What a
tragedy therefore that my lifetime
colleague and Deputy Prime Minister Lal
Krishna Advaniji should be giving orders
to BJP leaders to compete with the
Congress in petty corruption. My petrol
pump is smaller than yours! Your scam is
bigger than mine! My Ram Naik is nothing
compared to your SM Krishna and even
watch out for this one, Manmohan Singh Ha
ha ha. What a sight we must be to voters
who thought that we were capable of their
trust who believed that we knew the
meaning of a faded word known as
integrity. Iam truly sorry. As Prime
Minister of the country, as leader of the
BJP, I know that the buck, even the
corrupt buck, stops here.
You made
me Prime Minister, as I said, because of
reform, the promise of transparency, the
hope of peace and a dream of prosperity.
Instead, I have become Prime Minister of
Tehelka, sleaze, scams, petrol pumps and
Narendra Modi. I must say a deliberate
word about Tehelka, particularly since I
have been re-reading my friend Advaniji's
prison diaries, written when we were in
jail together. Normally people do not
advertise prison terms. We are proud that
we went to jail during Mrs Indira
Gandhi's Emergency in 1975- I wonder how
many of you even remember that blot of
shame in our nation's history. If you do
not know about the Emergency, ask your
parents, ask your teachers to drill that
memory so deeply in your mind that it
becomes an imperishable part of your
consciousness. We must never forget, if
only to ensure that it never happens
again. Advaniji has written so eloquently
about those nineteen months of
dictatorship, censorship and terror. I
remember when we won the elections in
1977 and Advaniji became Minister for
Information and Broadcasting in Morarji
Desai's Government, he taunted all those
journalists who had surrendered before
Indira Gandhi, who had compromised.
Advaniji told them that when Indira
Gandhi had asked such journalists to
bend, they had crawled.
I cannot
believe that it is the same Advaniji who
is inflicting a reign of terror on
selected journalists from Tehelka, whose
only crime is that they exposed
outrageous and scandalous corruption in
defence deals. I cannot believe that I am
keeping quiet while journalists are being
arrested on whimsical excuses, I have
always respected those who live by the
pen. Alas, I have not been able to live
on my poetry, but I think my pen may have
served my country as much as my politics,
if not more. What further irony in the
fact that we are being vengeful against
journalists in order to protect a shining
hero of the Emergency, my old colleague
George Fernandes. How time makes dwarfs
out of giants. As a collective gesture of
atonement, I am asking the home ministry
to drop all frivolous cases against
Tehelka, and to end the harassment and
persecution that has replaced
accountability.
My
colleagues in the BJP have made me Prime
Minister of Narendra Modi as well. I did
not want this. As I said in Parliament I
had made my mind up before that party
conference in Goa, where everything went
wrong, including my own speech that Modi
should be told to resign. I should have
trusted my instincts instead of being
cowed down by those who wanted victory at
the cost of principle. The BJP has been
called a communal party. But till Gujarat
I could hold my head high and claim that
the BJP, when in power, had never
permitted any largescale communal riots.
Of course we could not stop communal
incidents, including those engineered by
members of our own party. But we ran
responsible Governments. We did not use
state power to encourage lynch mobs. That
was a Congress speciality.
I slipped
on blood shed in Goa. After the
contemptible barbarism of Godhra I should
have ensured that a community was not
punished for the wild misdeeds of a few.
Revenge is no answer to barbarism. We
criticised Rajiv Gandhi after the
massacre of the Sikhs in Delhi in 1984.
There was provocation then as well. But
we took a moral position and I am proud
we did so. I cannot reverse time but I do
want to ensure an election that is held
without the slightest hint of terror and
fully participated by every citizen.
Gujarat will be placed under President's
Rule till a new elected government is
sworn in.
As will
be Kashmir.
The
tensions generated over Kashmir
constitute the gravest danger to our
subcontinent. It is a crisis that is
eating away our present and could destroy
our future. You I hope will agree I have
done my best to find peace ever since I
was fortunate enough to become Prime
Minister of this great nation. Acting
upon our commitment to the people as
clearly outlined in our manifesto, we
made India a nuclear power. The world
tried to browbeat us; today it has
accepted our nuclear status as a
legitimate right of an important nation.
But we
cannot be a true world power without
being a powerhouse economy. And a great
economy is impossible without that will
to release our national wealth and energy
for infrastructure and capital for the
biggest as well as the smallest. Industry
must hum with growth at every level, from
the roar of heavy industry to the gentle
tap of a master craftsman. I dream of the
day when shops across the country and the
world will be full of Made in India
labels, because everything Indian will be
both best in the world and best value in
the world.
But I am
not a cook of khayali pilao, I know that
peace will not be easy. I wish we could
live in peace with Pakistan. We did not
seek war with Pakistan, Pakistan launched
an unprovoked war within ten weeks of
Partition. If those raiders had not
crossed into Jammu and Kashmir in October
1947, there would not be a Kashmir
problem. Even today efforts continue to
snatch by war what could not be got by
peace.
I would
like to make it absolutely clear that
India will never be held hostage at the
point of a gun.
But we are
a mature nation and a mature people. We
know that problems can be resolved only
through dialogue; to a walk together we
need to build bridges together. We are
committed to a peaceful resolution of all
problems.
I know
that many of my fellow Indians in Jammu
and Kashmir area angry with Delhi and its
policies particularly over the last 15
years. There was joy and harmony in the
province during the days of the great
Sheikh Abdullah. He was elected in a free
and fair election, through an expression
of the people' will. I am determined to
ensure that the same free and fair spirit
awaits the coming Assembly elections. The
elected representatives who emerge from
such an election will find a place on the
high table as together we chart a route
map towards peace and prosperity.
I offered
my hand of friendship to Pakistan at
Lahore. I was suddened when Lahore became
Kargil. That hand could also turn into
steel if required. We have over the past
year witnessed terrible acts of terror,
on 13 December and a number of times
after that, but we have held our patience
and prudence, sometimes at great cost.
The world has appreciated such prudence.
I want to offer a hand of friendship
again, because I know the difference
between a dream and a nightmare. The
first is life, the second is death.
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Jethmalani
is jumpy, road is bumpy
By B L Kak
The
mercurial world of Kashmir politics has
baffled the best brains. And amid
mistakes, committed one after another by
New Delhi and Srinagar in the past over
three decades, Kashmir politics could not
be expected to be transparent; it, in
fact, got further complicated,
particularly after Pakistan’s open
involvement and interference in the
internal affairs of the Valley since the
commencement of insurgency and militancy
in 1989-90.
If the
best brains haven’t so far offered
any solution acceptable to all sections
of the population in the troubled State
of Jammu and Kashmir, can the new actor,
Mr Ram Jethmalani, deliver where others
have failed? Mr Jethmalani, admittedly,
is a capable jurist. But does he have
what one Kashmir-watcher termed as
"very best brains"?
The Prime
Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, may be
acting as behind-the-scene
‘director’ in support of the
new actor. But it is basically and
potentially Islamabad, which will have a
major role to play as far as the average
leader of All-Party Hurriyat Conference
(APHC) is concerned. ‘Mission
Kashmir’ was launched by the
Jethmalani panel at a time when
Pakistan’s military ruler and
President, Gen. Parvez Musharraf, made
two things very clear.
First, of
course, while justifying Pakistan’s
support to the "freedom struggle of
Kashmiri people", Gen. Parvez
Musharraf, in his August 14 speech,
incited the Muslim electorate in Kashmir
against the coming Assembly elections.
Second, while praising the role of the
Hurriyat Conference as the
"representative of the people of
Kashmir", Gen. Musharraf sent out
the message that Pakistan would not
attach any importance to those who
operated outside the Hurriyat Conference.
Islamabad
cannot be faulted for its assessment that
the average ‘hero’ of the
Hurriyat Conference will be just a
‘zero’ without the support from
Pakistan. This assessment, or finding,
can’t be easily refuted or
challenged by any stalwart of the
Hurriyat Conference. Outside the Hurriyat
‘shop’, Mr Shabir Shah, though
prominent separatist leader, is not a
favourite of Islamabad. Mr Shah, who is
heading the People’s Democratic
Freedom Party, may have pious thoughts
vis-à-vis the much-needed peace and
tranquility in Kashmir. But as he is
working outside Pakistan-aided Hurriyat
‘shop’, his role will have to
be, in Islamabad’s scheme of things,
subservient to the one to be played by
the Hurriyat leadership.
Things
would have been different if
Islamabad-aided separatist leaders in
Kashmir as well as in Pakistan and
Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) had not
been led to look at Mr Shabir Shah with a
measure of suspicion. In fact, quite a
few of these leaders have already
labelled Mr Shah as an "agent"
of New Delhi. New Delhi’s official
interlocutor, Mr KC Pant’s
‘Mission Kashmir’ flopped
because of the mistake, inadvertent
though, of his first round of discussions
with former Chief Minister of J&K,
Syed Mir Qasim, and Mr Shabir Shah. Mr
Pant seemed to be in a hurry. Instead of
trying for friendly interaction, in the
initial stages, with the self-proclaimed
representatives of the Kashmiris in the
Hurriyat ‘shop’, Mr Pant was
made to derive much significance out of
his session with Mr Shabir Shah in
Srinagar itself. It was a mistake.
And the
mistake was repeated by Mr Jethmalani in
Srinagar on August 16, when he held
closed-door discussions with Mr Shabir
Shah at the latter’s residence at
Sanatnagar. This mistake barely a day
after Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee himself had
made the admission that the Government
had made mistakes in the troubled State.
Top Hurriyat leaders have, in private
conversations, not appreciated New
Delhi’s more-than-necessary
importance to Mr Shabir Shah. These
leaders do not want anyone to attach any
importance to men operating outside the
Hurriyat Conference.
People on
either side of the Line of Control (LoC)
have been told that Mr Ram Jethmalani is
the chairman of ‘Kashmir
Committee’, which was recently
constituted in the Indian capital with
the reported blessings of Mr Vajpayee. In
Srinagar, Mr Jethmalani let it be known
that he was not acting as a
‘mediator’ or a messenger. And
if his committee, according to him, were
to help find a ‘durable’
solution to the Kashmir problem, then
someone would have to act as mediator or
negotiator or interlocutor. Mr Jethmalani
will have to tell us his actual role as
the new player.
Second, Mr
Ram Jethmalani argued that all dialogues
"are spoiled by the curiosity of the
press and by the weakness of the
participants of the dialogue to reveal
something". If he himself decided to
be talkative after the birth of the
‘Kashmir Committee’, why blame
others? And if he really wanted secrecy
during his talks with various leaders of
Kashmir, he himself ought to have avoided
being impulsive. Impulsive to the extent
of demanding postponement of the polls in
J&K even after the programme in this
regard was officially made public by the
Election Commission!
Administratively,
two institutions became significant after
the poll schedule was made public in
respect of Jammu and Kashmir-Election
Commission and the J&K Government. Mr
Jethmalani ought to have held
consultations with the Chief Election
Commissioner and the J&K Chief
Minister before voicing the demand for
deferring the Assembly polls in the
State. Mr Jethmalani chose to act in a
manner, which did provoke the National
Conference party. The party’s esprit
de corps, Dr Farooq Abdullah, is also
highly impulsive. No wonder, his diatribe
against Mr Jethmalani’s modus
operandi.
The
J&K elections have received much
attention even from people and agencies
outside India. For this, it would be
unfair to blame Gen. Parvez Musharraf
alone. Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee will have
to accept the fact that it is he who
internationalized the issue, after he
unnecessarily reiterated his
Government’s commitment to ensuring
‘free, fair and credible’ polls
in the troubled State. Precisely,
contradictory and confusing signals from
Indian political class encouraged Gen.
Musharraf to up the ante on Kashmir by
describing the scheduled elections in
J&K in September-October as
"farcical".
For years
the Hurriyat leaders, particularly the
ones belonging to the hardline faction of
separatists, sought to hold the
‘Kashmiri nation’ to ransom,
obviously to facilitate Pakistan’s
anti-India scheme of things. Mr Ram
Jethmalani should try to understand that
most of the Hurriyat leaders are not sure
of their victory in the event of their
participation in the battle of the
battle. Hence, their unwillingness to
oblige Islamabad’s traditional
rival, New Delhi, by joining the poll
process. Why should the polls be
postponed when the Hurriyat leadership
seems to have decided to follow
instructions from across the border?
Any
dialogue with separatist leaders in
Kashmir, Mr Jethmalani requires to be
told, will have to be initiated and
continued in a systematic manner. The
Kashmir road has become bumpy in recent
years as a result of unabated assaults by
anti-Delhi forces. Jumpy leaders or
interlocutors just can’t have an
easy time while treading upon the bumpy
path.
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American
reliance on Musharraf
By Babu Ram Sharma
America is
not only being de-ceived but is also
deceiving herself by reliance on wily
President General Musharraf of Pakistan.
He is undependable. He has not delivered
on his International promise to root out
International terrorism emanating from
her soil. He has also done nothing
substantial to help America nab the
kingpins of Al Queda and Taliban
Leadership responsible for devasting
militant attacks on World Trade Centre
and Pentagone in America. There are also
reports in the press about Pakistan's
strong links with these international
Islamic militants and their regrouping
themselves in Pakistan. We may give
evidence to these reports in view of
General Musharraf's request to America
for ''Safe passage'' and evacuation of
Pak top-brass and possibly escape of Al
Queda Leadership alongwith them at the
height of American bombardment and war
against Afghanistan during the capture of
Kabul and fighting around
Mazar-e-Sharief. Probably to cover up his
guilt of providing shelter and safe haven
to Bin Laden and his coterie and their
likely sighting in Pakistan General
Musharraf has given a certificate
refuting Bin Laden's involvement in the
11th Sept militant attacks on America. At
one time notably, he was pleading with
Taliban Regime of Afganistan to hand over
Bin Laden to American to avoid war with
her. What a glaring contrast General
Musharraf changes his statements as he
changes his clothes to meet the
anticipated events. In this connection we
may also recall his public statements of
Indian conspiracy of killing Journalist
Daniel Pearl of America to malign
Pakistan which proved out to be a white
lie with the killers having been found
out to be Pakistanis who were tried and
punish in Pakistan itself. Again we may
recall his Interview to News-week of
never committing to Mr Powel to end
transfer border terrorism in Kashmir
which was countered by Powel himself as
false. Can we trust the General who
pledges at International meets to end
Militant Infrastructure from Pakistan but
goes on boosting militancy, telling again
and again to his mentors that nothing was
going on the Line of Control in Kashmir
despite daily firing, infiltration and
militancy related massacres of even the
Amar Nath Pilgrims. American pating and
massive bountiful aid to General
Musharraf is largely responsible for the
General's intransigence. He is not the
trustworthy ally of America and would
have ditched her but for Northern
Alliance arming and American
collaboration. Unfortunately Musharraf
has succeeded to force America to
compromise on perpetuation of his
Military dictatorship in Pakistan,
demolishing Pak constitution, opposition
and civil rule to consolidate his
autocratic rule. American infirm policy
towards India is also accountable for
Musharraff's latitude in view of
incoherent statements by her leaders e.g
what Rocha says Mr Powel soon after makes
a dig wherein by an indiscreet act of
diplomacy.
This
policy has been adopted by America
accentuating ''Kashmir problem'' in the
past also to punish India for not joining
or supporting her Defence pacts against
Russian Communism though closing her eyes
against Pak-communist China collusion and
Defence pact targetted only against
democratic India, knowing fully well that
Pakistan disdained and flouted holding of
plebiscite in Kashmir vide the UN
resolution of 13th Aguust 1948 laying
down the modus operandi for it. In face
of this Pakistan is befooling the wrld by
harping on plebescite under UN Resolution
at every forum. Pakistan must be made to
stop trans-border terrorism and stop
calling terrorists as freedom fighters as
objected to by British foreign Secy. Jack
Straw. There is urgent need to implement
decisions taken at Almaty Conference and
now recently by ASEAN anti-terror pact at
Bander Seri Begawan with US, Secretary of
State also. Unless Pakistan honours her
International commitments to end
Infrastructure of terrorism from her soil
the first step should be to put an
economic sequeeze on her. Besides to
overcome ''the common problem of
terrorism, drug trafficking and criminals
taking advantage of American and Indian
open societies,'' It is imperative to
recall the pledge of ''Clinton and
Vajpayee stressing new Indo-US
Relationship of ''your success'' will be
our success'' and that together, India
and America can change the world'' as
declared by Clinton.
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Lifting
of travel advisories: Good news for it
By Arvinder Kaur
The lifting of
travel advisories by USA, Germany, France and
var-ious other countries recently could not have
come a day earlier and is a positive step towards
boosting India's software and service exports.
USA has been the
primary market contributing around 63 per cent of
India's total software and service exports. The
advisories, issued in the wake of Indo-Pak
standoff were acting as a major deterrent to
conduct business in terms of delayed decision
making and restricting customer visits to India.
An opinion poll
conducted by NASSCOM (National Association of
Software and Service Company) conducted when the
advisories were in place revealed that there was
only a nominal impact but the reversal of the
advisories was critical to ensure future growth
of the sector.
The poll surveyed
majority of the country's software and service
companies, who felt that if the standoff
continued, it will have a negative impact on the
business. All this meant delayed decision making,
deferred signing of contracts and postponed
customer visits.
The Indian
software industry is highly reliant on exports as
its spectacular growth has been largely dependent
on the international markets rather than a strong
and viabrant domestic sector... the advisories
acted as a major deterrent to conduct business,
experts said.
Infact, the
current border tension could not have come at a
worse time for the Indian software industry,
which touched 7.8 billion US dollars in exports
this year and was showing signs of recovery from
the effects of global slowdown and September 11
attacks.
The tension and
the resulting advisories, had they continued for
long, could have been more devastating for the
1.4 billion US dollar IT-enabled services sector,
as this sector is relatively new. First the
Gujarat riots and then the war fears - both
received global attention and there was a
slowdown in client visit as a result, those in
the industry said.
The war fears and
the advisories infact had an impact on the Indian
economy as a whole. Sectors, which were
immediately affected were foreign direct
investments coming to India, software exports,
hotel and aviation sectors. According to media
reports, several joint ventures and technology
transfer agreements between Indian and western
countries were postponed.
Any sector
connected with either imports or exports started
bracing itself for a hard summer.
However, with the
advisories either gone or diluted, Confederation
of Indian Industry (CII) says the step is going
to send out very strong signals to the global
business community that it is business as usual
and that the immediate impact on business due to
these advisories in the past would be gradually
reversed.
A systematic
follow through of these actions would result in a
change in the current perception of the medium
and long term business prospects with India.
While previous
wars in 1948, 1965 and 1971 did result in a
temporary adverse impact on the Indian industry,
all the worries this time were about the IT
sector, which was totally non-existent then.
However, not many
in the sector passed the panic button
immediately. The confidence kept the sector going
and as NASSCOM, which represents the Indian
software industry said around 60 per cent of the
business which the software and services industry
gets is repeat business and therefore the
customers understand the Indian market.
Moreover, most of
the Indian software companies had their marketing
offices abroad who were doing their best to
dispel any fears.
According to the
NASSCOM- Mckinsey study 2002, despite the global
economic challenges facing the Indian IT secot,
the outlook was very positive. The industry
continued to be on track to achieve the goals of
the 77 billion dollar by the year 2008.
The study
forcasted that the contribution of Indian
software and IT-enabled services industry to GDP
will increase from two per cent at present to 10
per cent in 2008.
IT and IT-enabled
services exports would account for more than 30
per cent of all foreign exchange earnings in 2008
and that it would create two million jobs for
direct employment and an equal number indirectly
by way of indirect employment.
India is infact
witnessing rapid IT-enabled services growth due
to its cost advantages and positive Government
initiatives, which include creating of IT and
telecom infrastructure, various sops for the
players and liberal investment policies.
The Indian
software industry had in the past withstood 9/11
and December 13 attacks. NASSCOM said as a result
they had built adequate processes in term of
management and business continuity planning to
cope with such situations.
In fact, many
industry majors are embarking on a nationwide
initiative of creating awareness on disaster
recovery and contigency planning in the coming
months.
The need of the
hour, say experts is to put continuity plans in
place. The Indian IT industry needs to ensure
that in case of an emergency, it should be in a
position to move data from one place to another.
Also, it needs to
build confidence in customers that the industry
can handle any situation and that the business is
not going to suffer.
"The Indian
IT industry means Business".
PTI Feature
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