Daily Excelsior... Editorial

EDITORIAL

Faith and judiciary
Men, Matters & Memories

By M L Kotru

By Tukoji R. Pandit

It may have its own significance that India has started to register clearly on Japanese radars around the time the Washington decided to upgrade its relationship with Delhi, upturning its nearly five-decade old policy of indifference, if not unfriendliness. While many in India, both from the Left and the Right camps, remain sceptical about the future course of Indo-US ties, there appears to be a wider and more spontaneous acceptance of the warmth lately visible in Indo-Japanese relations. ......more

India's nuclear power
programme

By O.P. Sabherwal

EDITORIAL

Short fuse

The widely reported spat between Minister of Education Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed and Congress legislator Sham Lal Sharma is merely the tip of the iceberg. It is indicative of a deeper malady afflicting our society. The majority of us whether we want to admit it or not are on low boiling point. We can sort out a point of difference by simply talking it over. Instead we choose to either spit fire or flex muscles. Was it necessary for Mr Sayeed and Mr Sharma to have created a scene in the former's official chamber in the Secretariat? Apart from being members of the Assembly both belong to the same party too. Mr Sayeed is president of the Pradesh Congress Committee. The dual charge of the ministry and the organisation gives him an enviable status. In fairness to him he is seldom known to raise his voice. He must have felt absolutely ragged to describe Mr Sharma's conduct as "uncivilised." The latter is not averse to getting noticed and heard in some way which he seems to be convinced is his matter of right as an elected representative. He was cut up because he felt that the Minister was not paying requisite attention to his Akhnoor constituency. If he is to be believed there are at least 22 vacancies in his area including that of the Zonal Education officer (ZEO) and heads of 21 schools. He gave vent to his anguish in public and made angry outbursts. He blamed the authorities for being non-serious. The legislator is said to have made a dramatic intervention when Mr Sayeed was in the process of finalising certain postings. The Minister felt offended because of the "tone" in which Mr Sharma expressed his sentiments. According to him, there was a procedure for doing everything and it could not be undone "with one stroke of pen" to satisfy a person's whims. He claimed that his Ministry had approved promotions of 79 principals. As a result 40 posts of principals that were lying vacant had been covered. He was not opposed to the MLA's inquiries but his style of doing so which he believed was "absolutely wrong".

Admittedly this is not the first time that such verbal duel has taken place between a minister and a legislator in the Secretariat. However, it is rare for leaders of the same outfit to take on each other in the full view of employees. This is at least the second occasion during the coalition government that a drama like this has involved the Congress leaders in the Jammu Secretariat. The first incident has remained by and large unreported. We also shall resist the temptation to recall it. For, it will have the effect of diverting focus from the issue we wish to underline. Why can't we take life a little more seriously? It would be in conformity with the concept of decency in public life if we approach each other with respect. We should restrain our action and language. Instead, we find that we have a tendency to allow a rush of blood to our heads. While driving we hurry to overtake the next vehicle. Our tongues turn foul and we start blowing horns as if the others are deaf. We walk on roads as if we alone have the right of way. We think it improper to stand in queues while buying tickets either at cinema halls or at railway stations. Somehow we are convinced that we should go berserk to make our point since the others are equally bad.

Without realising we have put ourselves in a denial mode and thereby developed a feeling as if we are being perpetually wronged. A consequence is that we always want to show that we are one up. We come to believe that it is possible only if we bully fellow human beings into submission. We demand esteem instead of commanding it. It is an inferiority syndrome which we imagine is a measure of our superiority. This perception is precisely the reason why we are witnesses to constant increase in crime rate around us. Willy-nilly we make our own contributions to this least desirable scenario. The political class is not an exception.

Why not?

A recent report in this newspaper that the State may become a hub of information technology soon is very encouraging. Even though it is based on hope rather than specifics it is not wide off the mark. The fact is that young boys and girls of the State have already made their presence felt on the national and international IT scene. They are all over including in Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai which are global addresses in the field. For the time being they don't have necessary infrastructure on the home turf to fruitfully use their skills. However, they have the training facilities and are making the most of them. The day may not be far when some of them will return to enrich the State with their experience with gainful results for succeeding generations. What is to be said, however, is that while IT signals the latest developmental vehicle it is constantly undergoing improvements. The companies which contributed to the country's fame and wealth are right now busy exploring new pastures in the United States and other affluent markets. It is necessary to keep innovating. Otherwise the danger is that the rot may set in and reverse the present hopeful scenario. Founders of the IT movement are well aware of this. It is to be welcomed that there is no let-up in their enthusiasm to remain the world leaders. So far as we in the State are concerned we have to work hard to first catch up with them and then try to lead from the front. There is realisation that private entrepreneurs have to be actively involved for the sake of the State's economic progress. Efforts too have been made in this direction. These are slow in yielding the desired results. The reasons for this are well known. No purpose will be served by shedding tears in this behalf. It is important that industrialists don't face hurdles in their way. They should be allowed to break free from the counter-productive dependence on subsidies. They must get an opportunity to display their talents as they do in Rajasthan, Maharashtra and even much-maligned Gujarat besides southern states.

It should be remembered that IT is just one of several spheres awaiting development in the State. If we can do well in other states we can certainly do better at home. Why not? Let's do it fast.

Faith and judiciary
Men, Matters & Memories

By M L Kotru

It simply is not amusing. Former Minister Shibu Soren, known as Guruji to his unlettered Adivasi constituents, serving time in jail for allegedly conspiring to murder his private secretary, who wanted his share of the booty Soren had received from Narasimha Rao to help save his Ministry by casting his party votes in his favour. You have Navjot Singh Sidhu, the cricketer-turned-politician-turned- joker, sentenced for homicide not amounting to murder, moving jauntily from one studio floor to another; the laughter king, they call him.

Like most well-placed politicians, the Amritsar MP, Sidhu swears by his faith in the judiciary that though doesn't seem to suggest to him that he stands condemned unless it be that a higher court overturns his sentence. For his part, 40 something Sidhu would have us believe that nothing has changed for him, his pranks, his boom chants that he will canvass for the Akali Dal and the Bhartiya Janata Party in the upcoming Punjab Assembly elections. So he must keep his gags going.

He even believes that if the man at the Patiala parking lot died just because Sidhu and his friends had landed a few blows on him the fault was of the man who chose to die, rather than the than younger Sidhu or his companions.

You then have Laloo Prasad Yadav, the incorrigible clown, yet an astute politician, reaffirming his faith in the judiciary after he and his wife Rabri Devi were absolved by a Patna court in a case of owning assets worth more than their income. Both husband and wife were in turn Chief Ministers of the State before Laloo found himself in the role of a King-maker in Delhi and landed himself the Railway Minister's job in the Manmohan Singh Government.

Laloo made it to the court house in an ornately decorated rickshaw and left in a shimering SUV which his optimistic cohorts had put in place for the triumphant journey home. For the present at least Laloo was breathing a little more freely. He has some half a dozen other cases pending against him in Bihar and Jharkhand including the infamous fodder (chara ghutala) case. Unlike the disproportionate assets case which involved only a few previously undisclosed sources, the other cases involve crores of rupees. Remember, at the risk of repetition, that Laloo's men had achieved the impossible; they transported buffaloes in three-wheeler autos.

I remember a senior CBI investigator confiding at the height of the fodder scam investigation, how it would take more than two life times to gather all the evidence to pin Laloo down. ‘‘How do you locate, for instance, the number of autos involved or the drivers and their vehicles, or the receipts for payments made to them.’’ This was of course the lighter side of the investigation. For, the fodder network was and probably still is as weird and as complex that even a Sherlock Holmes might give it up as a closed case.

At another level are the Priyadarshini Mattoo and Jessica Lall cases. You have the bizzare scene of protectors of law, namely, the police, becoming actively partisan, perverting evidence, with little or no thought given to their primary calling: bringing the illegals to the book. In both cases as we have learnt via direct intervention of the courts that the police had connived with the influential families of the guilty. Then you have the case of the UP ‘bahubali’- he would be called a warlord in Afghanistan- Mr D P Yadav’s son, Vikas Yadav and his friends allegedly murdering another friend Nitish Katara simply because he was said to be in a relationship with D P Yadav’s daughter. You could call it honour killing in case the courts finally hold Yadav Jr. guilty. Not to forget that D P Yadav has been a MP and a Minister at the Centre as well.

Come to think of it how come the Yadav girl kept everyone gasping for her version of the ‘‘truth’’ immediately after Nitish Katara's body was found ? How did she reach London ? Who financed he long stay there? Who provided the fancy for her education and what kind of education was she receiving ? If you ask D P Yadav he was not aware where Bharati Yadav was. He didn't have her address as well. It was only when her passport was cancelled and the trial court issued non-bailable warrants against her that, she did finally agree to return on fresh travel papers provided by the Indian High Commission in London.

Curiously both father Yadav and Bharati's lawyer did not know when exactly she had reached Bombay- or was it Delhi ? The lawyer finally admitted having met her but would not say where she is. And so far Bharati goes she insisted and the court agree that she is examined in camera. She obviously was horribly ‘‘camera shy’’ and did not want to be ‘‘besieged’’ by the media. Ironically, an attempt was made by the Yadav that Bharati got her passport back and frankly I don't care whether she is back with her father or has gone to London to pursue whatever she was doing there.

The moral of the story I am trying to get at is that influential people, particularly from the political class have come to see themselves as people above the law. It's their money, their muscle, their guns that matter. Sadhu Yadav, another common goon until his brother-in-law Laloo became the Chief Minister of Bihar in the early 90’s, cocked a snook at the courts for years; in later stages he took shelter behind the MP’s mask which he wore.

If he was forced to surrender before a court it was not because he feared the law but just that another court had ordered confiscation of his property in Patna. And that would have been quite a fortune considering that when Rabri succeeded her husband, Sadhu, the dear brother of Rabri, played ducks and drakes with the State administration. The pity is that men like Laloo, from whom all kinds of bad characters draw inspiration, are very much the political elite today. He may no longer be the Chief Minister but he continues to be the State's most charismatic leader may be of the cowbelt as a whole.

I was asking a friend the other day how come we as a people have come to accept politicians a class ever so apart. Some of them have raised themselves to the level of divinity. Poor uneducated rustics willing to immolate themselves should the heroic politicians be accused of serious misdemeanours. The politicians, to this class, are infallible; he is always right and will never be seen in a shade other than a rosy pink. There is a willingness to forgive because (woh bhi toh hamari hee tarah aam aadmi hein).

It is argued in their favour that everybody's life littered with compromises, inconsistent behaviour and morally questionable decisions. It's far easier to say for what you are against and what you are for. Yet, argued my friend, we beat up on politicians as though expecting them to inhabit a different moral universe. It is worth stopping to ask why we are so unrealistic and so wrong. The real wonder is that some politicians manage to remain as honest and sensible as some, indeed do My reply to him was ‘‘Lage Raho Munnabhai’’.

India-Japan relations

By Tukoji R. Pandit

Japan is reaching out to India as it did never before. During his recent visit to Japan, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was accorded a rare honour of addressing the Japanese Parliament (Diet). That the new Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, is something of an Indophile, at least in comparison with his predecessors, may have little to do with it. In his book, 'Towards a Beautiful Nation', published when he was campaigning to succeed Junichiro Koizumi as prime minister, Abe writes that within the next decade Japan's ties with India will become more important than ties with China or even the US.

That gushing prediction may sound a bit unrealistic, but it does suggest that he is one of those Japanese politicians who firmly believe in the potential of India and look for firm ties with a country that he sees as a key player in Asia, if not world. And Japan observers say that Abe does not share his predecessor's belief that it is only relations with America that matter for Japan.

Given the fact that Japan is not exactly a much liked or admired nation in its immediate neighbourhood, Japan would certainly be happy to woo India, if only to mitigate the impact of its 'isolation' in its Asian neighbourhood. Trade and economic ties between Japan and China may not have been affected by their political differences, but at political and popular levels Japan's relations with China and South Korea, a liberal democracy like Japan's, have not been very smooth. History also seems to create a wall in these relations. Then, Japan remains as suspicious of Russian intentions as it did during the Soviet era and North Korea is, of course, a headache for a whole lot of countries in East Asia and beyond. Japan, the world's second largest economy, is clearly short of friends in its backyard.

There is a belief in some quarters that Japan needs to cultivate India as a counterweight to China. Even the Americans are said to be getting closer to India for the same reason. New Delhi has often said that it does not believe in cultivating friendship to act as counterweight to another country. Both India and China have taken the position that they do not see each other as 'rivals' though they do 'compete' against each other. India took the decision to forge friendly relations with China in its own interest and this will preclude any conscious step by India that can harm ties with China.

It has also been an Indian policy in recent years not to 'hyphenate' its bilateral relations with a third country. India is not in a position to do anything about Japan's current political problems with some of its neighbours. India has no military ambitions except to defend itself against any possible aggression. Japanese, rattled by the North Korean going nuclear, are believed to be toying with the idea of giving up their 'pacifist' policy. India and Japan may cooperate militarily, but they are not planning to enter into any military alliance.

As far as military cooperation goes, there is one area where Japan may need active Indian help and it is not related to regional politics. A lot of Japanese trade passes via the Straits of Malacca, a vital sea-lane that has become very piracy prone. Indian navy has rendered help to rescue hijacked Japanese ships in the area and the Japanese will, no doubt, like India to strengthen naval vigilance in the area.

During the Col War era, Japan shared in some measure the US view about India that New Delhi was uncomfortably close to the 'enemy' camp, led by the former USSR. Even later Indo-Japanese political relations did not really warm up. But their southward movement was halted. Over the years India emerged as one of the largest recipients of Japanese Overseas Development Assistance (ODA)--$1.2 billion.

The testing of a nuclear device by India in 1998 led to another cooling off in Indo-Japanese relations. But this happened after the epoch-making entry of the Japanese car manufacturer Suzuki in India. It was a great success story, bringing an automobile 'revolution' in India and requiring a fresh Japanese look on India.

There are, of course, factors that rankle and discourage Japanese doing business with India. It was the notorious Indian red tape and corruption coupled with the poor state of infrastructure in the country and the complicated tax structure, all of which seem to be unaffected by economic reforms. Last year Japanese investment in India stood at $253 million which is just 4 per cent of Japanese investment in China, a communist country that has become one of the most business friendly countries in the world.

Trade ties between India and Japan may not be comparable to Japan's trade with China but they do seem to be accelerating now and higher Japanese investments in India can be expected. During the recent visit of Manmohan Singh to Tokyo it became apparent that barring some unexpected development, relations, both political and economic, between India and Japan are heading north. Several bilateral agreements were signed, one of which seeks to set up a joint task force to work out a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.

Known to be hyper sensitive about nuclear issues, Japan may still be hesitant in extending wholehearted support to India in the Nuclear Suppliers Group, but treating India as a strategic partner, Japan can be banked upon for help in meeting India's energy needs. The Japanese assurance for improving Indian infrastructure is indicative of Tokyo's desire to strengthen Indian economy. While there are not many political issues that can create rift between India and Japan, the potential of bilateral trade looks on course to be realised.

(Syndicate Features)

India's nuclear power programme

By O.P. Sabherwal

With ratification of the Hyde Act on Indo-US nuclear cooperation by President Bush, the last hurdles for the nuclear deal to become a reality have to be tackled by the Indian leadership with support from the Bush administration. The two barriers that have still to be crossed are concurrence of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, and negotiating an India-specific safeguards agreement with the IAEA. No less challenging is the drawing up of the 123 Agreement – essentially a bilateral Indo-US agreement – spelling out the terms of the nuclear accord binding the two governments.

NSG-Nuclear Suppliers Group

It can reasonably be assumed that the first two hurdles will be successfully dealt with. The friendly – almost partisan – stand of France, Britain and Russia on the Indo-US nuclear accord will smoothen the way to NSG concurrence. In the event, most members of the Group have indicated their willingness to terminate nuclear sanctions imposed on India. Misgivings of the Scandinavian countries apart, the focus is on China and Japan.

IAEA Safeguards

As for IAEA safeguards, negotiations are already on between IAEA Director General Mohammed AlBaradei and the Chairman of India’s Atomic Energy Commission, Dr Anil Kakodkar, for working out an India-specific safeguards agreement that has to go with lifting curbs on India for free trade in nuclear material and technology for peaceful applications. Dr AlBaradei is a friend of India and has supported the Indo-US nuclear accord. But working out India-specific IAEA safeguards to fit the new dispensation for India has many complexities and needs careful working out.

Apprehensions in India about the way IAEA safeguards will be worked, especially in relation to R&D centers and Indian scientists innovation, have to be removed. As of now, IAEA safeguards on India have been limited only to imported nuclear material and plants – Tarapur! and 2, Russian supported VVER light water reactors being built at Kudankulam and the LEU fuel imported for the light water reactors. It is now proposed that in addition to this limited safeguards agreement, an additional India-specific protocol will be drawn up between IAEA and India.

India-Specific Protocol

The civilian facilities listed out in the Indo-US accord will be placed under IAEA safeguards. These include not only the present and future imported nuclear reactors, material and technology, but also 14 of the 22 Indian built (some under construction) civilian reactors, future civilian fast breeder reactors (other than the fast breeder test reactor and the upcoming 500 MWe prototype fast breeder reactor), designated heavy water plants, part of the Nuclear Fuel Complex and civilian R&D complexes – Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics and the Institute of Plasma Research – and the Prefree Tarapur reprocessing plant.

The nuclear military facilities will not be under IAEA purview and will be entirely for India to operate. It is for India to name its military and civilian facilities. The facilities that India names as military – BARC, Kalpakkam’s IGCAR, FBTR and the upcoming 500 MW prototype Fast Breeder Reactor, supporting infra structure and reprocessing plants – will determine India’s strategic programme, out of IAEA safeguards purview. India is also free to build any fresh military facility to keep its nuclear deterrent in vibrant condition. The shape of the Indian nuclear deterrent is for the Indian government to comprehend and decide – based on its threat perception and global overview.

Major Concerns

Some senior nuclear scientists have criticized the inclusion of R&D centers under the safeguards regime. And also future fast breeder reactors. This they contend will stifle scientific creativity and serve as a conduit leaking Indian innovation abroad. They lay moratorium on nuclear tests should go: further tests are needed for India’s credible nuclear deterrent. Others are critical that not allowing import of enrichment and reprocessing technology by India envisaged in the Hyde Act cripples US nuclear cooperation for India. Aside from the civilian nuclear cooperation, critics apprehend that Indian foreign policy will become a tail of US global interests, as in Iran.

These are major concerns. But there are good reasons to believe that the Indian authorities – political and nuclear establishments – have taken care to deal with the issues raised. The Prime Minister has given clear assurance that innovation and research in R&D centers placed under safeguards will have no constraints. That is what an India-specific safeguards agreement with the IAEA means. As for bringing 14 Indian built reactors and future fast breeder reactors under safeguards, this is all to India’s benefit since curbs on uranium imports will go. There is assurance in the accord announced by President Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that uranium supplies for the safeguarded reactors will be available for lifetime, which is a major boost to the Indian nuclear power programme.

It has to be understood that the Indo-US nuclear accord is contained in the two agreements of July 18, 2005 and March 2, 2006, not the Hyde Act. This Act serves as a facilitator. The 123 Agreement between the United States and India is the key requisite to give the Indo-US accord legal shape: the terms of this Agreement will be binding on both governments.

The 123 Agreement

Drawing up the 123 Agreement is thus the most important task, and it should meet all valid concerns, such as the specifics on the provision for uranium imports for the safeguarded nuclear facilities. Reprocessing of spent fuel – a top-end nuclear technology that India along with a select band of countries has mastered – is the corner-stone of the Bhabha-planned three phase thorium power programme, and the core of India’s weapon programme. There can be no limitations on use of Indian built reprocessing plants. This has to be specified in the final Indo-US bilateral agreement, embodied in the 123 Agreement. It is necessary to speedily work out the 123 Agreement on the lines of the two statements of President Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

A New Era

The event will usher in what might be called a new era in India’s nuclear programme. A nuclear renaissance, advancing the target of 20,000 MW nuclear power from 2020 in just five years, is on the anvil. A nuclear renaissance for the Indian economy, giving not only a vital input for India’s growth at a crucial juncture, but also clean energy that does not add to global warming. (PIB Features)