Daily Excelsior... Editorial

EDITORIAL

Merry-go-round

Don't be smug

Strikes, a matter
of concern

By Joginder Singh

Oh, that elusive 3rd
front again

By Deepayan

A matter of gas

By Allabaksh

If political pundits of the Left camp in New Delhi are to be believed Mani Shankar Aiyar was shifted from the ministry of petroleum because he had annoyed the Americans with his vigorous championing of a gas pipeline project that is supposed to bring natural gas from the ‘evil’ state of Iran to energy-hungry India via Pakistan. Indeed, he was an ardent supporter of the gas pipeline idea. But regardless of the unnecessary and deplorable US ...more

EDITORIAL

Merry-go-round

Some times politics of the State is compared with a merry-go-round. The only difference can perhaps be that the revolving circular platform fitted with seats is ridden solely for amusement. On the home turf we see instead varying scenes at different times. On some occasions there is a rush for occupying chairs. On other junctures nobody may seem to be interested in them. Since there are many claimants and several brands of politics one comes across quite a few moods and ideologies. When, for instance, the Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar Farooq-led Hurriyat Conference assumed a prominent pro-peace role drawing warm response from most quarters it had invited derision from its friends-turned-foes on the home turf. However, at least one of its open critics adopted the same posture afterward. This was when it became virtually inevitable for him to take an unambiguous position. The fact is that in today's world one can dissociate oneself from a peace process only at the risk of one's credibility. At times, however, personal equations and dissimilar styles do come into play. One will, therefore, tend to keep one's fingers crossed about the real motive behind the Mirwaiz Hurriyat to stay off the Prime Minister's proposed roundtable conference of the State leaders in the national capital on February 25. For the record it has stated that its participation will "harm" its dialogue process with the Centre as it "is bound to create confusion". In fact, there was little doubt that it would say no after the People's Conference (PC-Bilal Lone), one of its key constituents, had announced its decision to shun the gathering. It is no secret that the moderate Hurriyat is annoyed after the Prime Minister had held discussions with Mr Sajjad Lone and his faction of the PC. Earlier it had allowed itself to be caught in a labyrinth of its own marking. It had insisted upon first meeting Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf before calling on the Prime Minister. As a result it had to cool its heels before being called to New Delhi.

Thus it is increasingly clear that no secessionist leader of significance will join the assembly. Syed Ali Shah Geelani heading the hardcore Hurriyat was the first to make it known that he would never be available for any such exercise. His stand on this issue is consistent and too well known to bear any elaboration. Democratic Freedom Party chief Shabir Ahmad Shah is in his company so far as this matter is concerned. It is a little surprising for he is normally ready for the talks at every level. Possibly he is cut up because he has burnt his fingers in one or two cases. One will also find it amazing that both Mr Yasin Malik and Mr Sajjad Lone, who have otherwise held separate deliberations with the Prime Minister, are among those having indicated their non-availability. The proposed show will, therefore, be dominated mainly by the members of the mainstream political class.

The get-together is meant to provide an opportunity for conflicting opinions to test each other. It is an age in which one has to bring round the others to one's viewpoint purely on the strength of logic and conviction. People miss such chances at their peril. It will be even worse if they do so at someone else's behest.

Don't be smug

There can hardly be two opinions that India's 4-1 triumph over Pakistan in the one-day series in the neighbouring country will be etched in golden words in the country's cricket history. It signals an amazing come-back. Going by the past experience one had thought that the loss in the Test series that had preceded would have had a demoralising effect. To add salt to the wounds there was set-back in the opening one-dayer as well. Instead of giving up hands in despair the "team India" has shown tremendous ability to fight back in order to have the last word. A distinguished Pakistani commentator has made an apt observation. According to him, the Pakistan outfit ought to have been in top mood after its success in the Test matches. In sharp contrast, he added, it was India that was upbeat throughout the one-day ties. For India it is necessary to keep up this tempo. It has a busy schedule ahead. Even if one excludes Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (his career though in international cricket is not very long he is already being seen as an experienced batsman-wicketkeeper) one will find a new bunch of players raising hope for India's future in cricket. Rudra Pratap Singh, Sreesanth and Suresh Raina have in particular acquitted themselves extremely well. They have shown the right temperament for big occasions watched by millions across the cricket-playing nations. Rahul Dravid has in the process established himself as a captain to reckon with. He leads by personal example is the tribute that has been bestowed on him by one and all. Sachin Tendulkar is already counted as one of the all-time greats of the game. He has once again proved the prophets of doom wrong. He was being advised to bid good-bye to the bat because of "slower reactions" and poor scoring for some period. He has ended up emerging as the main anchor on a number of crucial moments. His presence around no doubt will be serving as a source of inspiration for younger colleagues. All other players too have made handsome contributions. For coach Greg Chappell the climax to the Pakistan tour must have been highly pleasing after the hullabaloo involving him and former skipper Sourav Ganguly. On the present reckoning one can visualise an exciting scenario in the days to come. Sooner than later every player regardless of his seniority will have to fight to keep his place in the side. This should augur well for domestic cricket the crowd's response to which is poor when compared with its enthusiasm for Tests and one-day encounters.

Having said this one must strike a note of caution. Our players need to remember that consistency is the greatest virtue in any show. Therefore, they should overcome the weaknesses in fielding (though they have been just superb in this department they should not forget that they had dropped three important catches in one of the matches) as well as batting and bowling. Pacers, for instance, have not always done well. The team has raised the expectations of the country. What is encouraging is that it has the requisite capacity to live up to them. Our joy at this moment is laced with disappointment: our State's input in this glory is totally missing.

Strikes, a matter of concern

By Joginder Singh

The Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that nobody has a fundamental right to strike. It also held in 1998, while dismsising the CPM's appeal against a Kerala High Court judgment that ''No political party or organisation can claim, that it is entitled to paralyse industry and commerce, in the entire state or nation and is entitled to prevent the citizens not in sympathy with its viewpoints, from exercising their fundamental rights or from performing their duties for their own benefit or for the benefit of the state or the nation'', In the same 1998 case, of CPI (M) vs Bharat Kumar, SC had said: ''There cannot be any doubt that the fundamental rights of the people as a whole cannot be sub-servient, to the claim of fundamental right of an individual or only a section of the people.''

Incidentally the CPM had openly backed the just ended strike (Feb 1-5) by airport employees, after the Government gave assurance in writing about no loss of jobs.

The flavour of the season is to go on strike. Government is the largest employer, with a total of 18.7 million employees of the State and Central Governments. The Finance Commission said in 2002-''more than 98 per cent of staff strength lies in Group C and D employees, or what the Fifth Pay Commission calls, supporting and auxiliary staff, who account for about 95 per cent of the wage bill, currently at Rs30,230 crore (including allowances, but excluding pensions of another Rs 15,000 crore. The total bill now has crossed Rs 70000 crores in the case of Central Government.

According to a Hyderabad based NGO, cost of governance of India by the 800 politicians at the Centre, 6000 in the 30 States, and the 18.7 million employees of the Central and State Governments cost the country, about Rs 1800 crore. Per day or Rs 650,000 crore per year. About 1.87% of Indians govern 1020 million people ! This comes to about US$138 billion or nearly 30% of India's Gross Domestic Product (or GDP). Still each successive Government at the Centre and in the states promises more and more jobs. More jobs does not necessarily mean more productivity. Fragile Governments with a tenuous majority, happily indulge in populist measures, which are not necessarily in the public interest. The orders and observations of the Highest Court are overlooked, because it will annoy the allies on whose support the Government of the day survives.

Infact the Executive not only expects, but conveys, implicitly and explicitly to the enforcement agencies to deal with all agitations and strikes with kid gloves and sometimes hands off.Take for instance the ongoing strike against the modernisation of airports and entrusting the work to private agencies. The reasons are not far to seek. Private operators would expect people working with them, to earn their salary but putting in their best. However, the present culture in the Government is that a Government job, is for life, whether you work or do not work. Infact, action may be punished, but never inaction. Indeed, the strike by the Airport employees from 1st to 5th February, this year was only to safeguard their jobs. The strike involved not only work stoppage, but also making a positive effort to disrupt the life of the society.It also grossly violated the guidelines and rulings of the Supreme Court.

In a 1962 case, of Kameshwar Prasad vs State of Bihar, the SC upheld a rule prohibiting strikes. It said the rule ''cannot be struck down, as there is no fundamental right to resort to a stike''. At the same time, it knocked down another rule forbidding employees to hold even demonstrations. It observed that 'A ban on demonstrations, violated the fundamental right to ''freedom of speech and expression''as well as to ''assemble peaceably''.

Again in 2002, SC gave its ruling on the law on strike while upholding the Jayalalithaa Governments's tough action against 1.70 lakh employees who had gone on strike for three weeks despite the in-vocation of ESMA. The court said (a) there is no fundamental right to go on strike, (b) there is no legal/statutory right to go on strike and (c) there is no moral or equitable justification to go on strike. It added that ''strike as a weapon is mostly misused''.

The Delhi High Court on a petition filed by AAI, observed on 2nd February, 2006 that ''agitators can't hold dharnas/demonstrations within 500 m from the main gates of the airports all over the country...

''The right of strike has to balanced with large public interest.. The striking employees cannot cause loss to public property, inconvenience to the public at large''. It also issued a direction, against ''continuing the strike in any manner and creating any obstruction in the functioning of the domestic and International airports.''

Despite the High Court orders, passengers flying in and out of metro airports, faced a lot of turbulence, including make certain by the strikers, that the terminals remained dirty and toilets, were virtually unusable right from day one of the strike. Besides, the employees had laid a siege on the roads. In front of airports to prevent passengers from reaching the terminals for achieving their objective of, shutting off' the airport. All the airports were affected in varying degrees, due to flight delays and cancellations. Late or no arrival of aircraft from other places was common.

Apprehending that the strike may turn violent, the security forces had to be very patient as well as on a very high alert to avoid any security breach. In actual fact, the first of effort of anybody, protesting or going on strike, is to bring about a situation, wherein the law and order machinery is provoked and compelled to use force.

In another episode to sabotage the opening of another fast track court in the Capital, lawyers of the Delhi Bar Association demonstrated violently in January, this year. Hundreds of lawyers, after holding a demonstration outside the court complex marched to-wards the meditation cell on the third floor of the Tis Hazari Courts building, breaking through police barricades, shouting slogans against Chief Justice of India and Delhi High Court Chief Justice. Their demands included the closure of mediation cell, opened to resolve long pending disputes between litigants. They are also, even now protesting against the newly opened Rohini Court complex.

One thing which comes out most glaringly is that even the elite do not respect the highest judiciary if any ruling does not suit it. But on the contrary, it must also be mentioned that it is only the protests, which move the powers that be, which otherwise remain unresponsive. Obviously Mahatma Gandhi or Bapu's methods are being applied in a wrong way.

Our National problem is that of self above society's interests. It is a bit hard, to appreciate, how the opening of a new court can clash with lawyer's interests, if the common objective is to provide quick, ready and prompt justice. Strike obstructing the working of courts directly affects the life and liberty of thousands of persons, who are on trial or in jail found 26 million cases are pending in the courts, some for over 5 to 20 years. In the current situation, litigants become old and some even die, waiting for the final judgment of their case. This prolonged delay in the disposal of the cases further aggravates the situation.

Democracy cannot function effectively, without an expeditious judicial system. In other words, justice delayed is democracy denied. The real problem is, that if you do not become a nuisance, and create some inconvenience for others, you do not get heard. Actually, what we are witnessing, is a strife of interests, masquerading as a contest of principles, which is at the back of all strikes. It ultimately boils down, that there is only one power which really counts. The power of political pressure and to know, how to apply it. What we need is forward-looking leadership, which can tackle the problems (facing the nation) so that the country can progress peacefully. There is a difference between a politician and leader. A politician will focus only on the next election, whereas a statesman will think of the next generation. The choice is there for our leaders whether they would be Statesmen or puny self serving puny individuals, who are content to survive politically for one day more.

- PTI Feature

Oh, that elusive 3rd front again

By Deepayan

Though some tend to be harsh on politicians, despising them for reasons that need not be mentioned here, it might help matters to occasionally look at the species called Indian politicians with some admiration for their incorrigible optimism against all odds. The periodic talk of reviving the Third Front (efforts on since the 1960s) in the hope that it will edge out both the Congress and the BJP is something that requires appreciation for the distant dreams of its protagonists. Those who view this ‘threat’ to the government with a sense of déjà vu may be inclined to look for some comic relief.

Since the task of forming a stable Third Front has been pending for so long anyone attempting it no doubt requires some luck, beginning with a miracle that sees a metamorphosis in the outlook of the class of Indian politicians who enter politics for the power and pelf that it begets them instead of serving the people honestly and sincerely. ‘Ideology’ no longer figures much in politicians’ calculations. But numbers do. Could it be that the comrades in the CPI (M) having declined—once in recent past and then at the formation of the UPA Government—the chance they had of tasting the fruits of power at the Centre are pining for that lost opportunity? With his party’s future clearly declining in UP—its only base-- Mulayam Singh Yadav has no alternative but to make one last desperate attempt to fulfil his dream of becoming the PM.

The previous experiments in forming the Third Front have tended to centre round one major player which had numbers far in excess of the others who joined the group. It looks impossible that the Samajwadi Party or the CPI (M) will ever emerge as the single largest party in parliament around whom will revolve the Third Front.

If in the NDA it was the BJP with membership way ahead of the other constituents, in the UPA it is the Congress. The pattern in future may change—but more likely to see one of them getting a clear majority. An overbearing presence of one party can make the rest in the alliance partners or outside supporters uncomfortable and unhappy. During the NDA days, a number of parties were in and out of the NDA. The UPA has been lucky so far in avoiding desertions from its stable.

The Samajawadi Party and the CPI (M) may be thinking of withdrawing support to the Government. The more important thing is when do they take that plunge. For the moment it looks like that the withdrawal of support may come, if it does, close to the date of the next round of Lok Sabha poll. That will not help the formation of a Third Front of the kind envisaged—the nucleus of a permanent political alternative without its partners walking in and out in pursuit of power.

For their own reasons, the Samajwadi Party and the CPI (M) may not like to see continuation of the UPA government but they hesitate before taking the final plunge for fear of adverse political fallout on their own fortunes. Stung by a series of ‘humiliation’ at the hands of the Congress, a party that it claims to support, albeit from outside, the Samajwadi Party, and the CPI (M)—another party that says it has been short changed by the ‘capitalist’ Congress yet supports it from outside—have taken the lead to give shape to a Third Front.

Past experience induces many to presume that the fate of this nth exercise for floating a viable Third Front is unlikely to be different from the previous exercises. And despite the convergence of their immediate goals, the Samajwadi Party and the CPI (M) are on different platforms at the moment. As shown in a series of opinion polls in UP, the Samajwadi Party is on the decline with the Bahujan Samaj Party set to edge it out of number one position. On the other hand, the CPI (M) must be on a high as it has little to doubt about repeating yet another success in the forthcoming West Bengal assembly election and stands a more than fair chance of regaining power in its second stronghold in the country, Kerala. Because of its larger numbers, it is the CPI (M) that has to first decide to vote out the UPA before its enterprise with Samajwadi Party can gain any momentum.

There are some ‘positives’ for the brave souls having a yet another go at forming the elusive Third Front. It will keep Mulayam Singh Yadav busy for awhile doing something other than fighting the allegation that his ‘Lohiawadi’ party has been hijacked by men who prefer opulence and lavish parties in the company of the rich and the glamorous to reciting Lohia’s home-spun socialist formulations, much less adopting the kind of Spartan life he led.

The Comrades of the assorted Left parties, under attack for paying obeisance to privatisation in Kolkata and damning it in the rest of the country, and under attack for their sudden advocacy of nuclear arms proliferation in the region, will be better occupied by rekindling fervour in the Cold War era cries that appear to be in danger of becoming extinct in a globalised world.

Perhaps the biggest hurdle in the way of a Third Front is the posturing of its present spearheads. The Samajwadi Party is ready to do deal with the ‘communal’ BJP and those who support it in private, not in public. Even before the latest Third Front race was flagged off, Comrade Prakash Karat, general secretary of the CPI (M), said something that might dampen the spirits of Mulayam and all other aspiring torchbearers of the mythical Third Front. According to him, the Left parties will not jump headlong into the efforts to cobble up a Third Front right now as it will bring back the ‘communal’ BJP back in power at the Centre.

Clearly, over the next three years the CPI (M) or the Left parties collectively, will not precipitate any action that might derail the Congress-led UPA government. And three years is a very long period in Indian politics where the virtue of patience is becoming virtually unknown among power-hungry politicians.

Men like Mulayam and Comrade Karat, it will appear, have to reconcile themselves to the dominance of parties that in their eyes are ‘communal’ or ‘anti-people’, or both. There is no sign of an escape from another likelihood of India being subjected to the mother of all sins: voting with Washington on certain crucial matters of ‘national interest’ at the UN or other international bodies instead of supporting ‘enlightened’ regimes that think nothing of calling for nations being wiped off the map and describing the unspeakable horror of Europe of 1940s as a ‘myth’.

Could it be that an enduring Third Front cannot be built on words and phrases like ‘anti-people’, ‘national interest’ and ‘independent’ policies? These words from the lips of the high-flying (literally) ‘Lohia’ socialists of today and comrades inspired by foreign ideologues of a bygone era have only a rhetorical value?

The political congregation claiming to be rooted in the iconoclastic preaching of the late Ram Manohar Lohia (who had honed his political skills in Germany) and draws inspiration from Marx and Engels may like to find out how does the bulk of the country views their efforts.

(Syndicate Features)

A matter of gas

By Allabaksh

Not the least of the hurdles comes from the frequent fluctuations in Indo-Iran relations and the very determined American attempts, covert and overt, to scuttle the project before it progresses any further. The Left lobby in India says that Iran has linked its decision to supply gas to India on the latter’s stand on Iran’s nuclear programme.

Then, there is this growing restiveness in Pakistan’s western region where the angry Balochs and the tribals in the Waziristan region have been attacking Pakistani security forces as well as Pakistani assets, including a natural gas line that starts from Sui in Balochistan but serves the demands of the privileged province of Punjab. Having once taken the unusual step of commenting on the Balochistan situation, India should know very well that there can be no guarantee of the safety of any pipeline and regular supplies that passes through the region.

India and Iran may have drifted too far apart in view of their differences over the nuclear issue with India seeking de facto recognition as a nuclear state and Iran opposing it. If the gas pipeline project is not de-linked with the nuclear issue it can be considered to have died already. India in any case will be very chary of seeing Iran developing its ‘secret’ uranium enrichment programme reach its climax with a nuclear bomb.

When bilateral talks on the gas pipeline between India and Iran began there were no signs of a future serious disagreement between the two countries over the nuclear issue. In any case, they are nowhere near finalising the proposed pipeline project. Iran will turn hostile towards India if India continues to tow the US line on Tehran’s nuclear issue. However, there is also a possibility that after a period of cooling off, an increasingly isolated Tehran might again come round to seeking Indian interest in the gas pipeline project to enrich its depleting coffers. Iran will need plenty of money not only for the welfare of its people but also to refurbish its oil and gas infrastructure if its is to earn money from these two resources—openly or clandestinely Two things that have not been so far sorted out in black and white by Iran and India are the price of gas that Iran expects India to pay and a trilateral understanding about the finances for the project that may cost up to $7 billion. Tehran has been wavering on the issue of price for reasons that could be either economic or political, or both. It may have drawn some lessons from what happened in the month of January between Russia and some of the European countries that buy natural gas from Russia.

A series of interruptions in gas supplies from Russia to parts of Europe in January, the coldest month in northern hemisphere, had caused much concern in western capitals. Some analysts said that the Russians had deliberately created the problem to use their rich gas and oil resources as a political leverage to re-establish their eminence as a world power and boost revenues.

The break in gas supplies to parts of Europe had come at a time when the continent was facing the severest winter in decades. The countries that faced sudden stoppage of supplies included many that were once part of the former USSR. But a highly industrialised nation like Italy had also reported drop in gas supplies from Russia, as did Georgia, Ukraine, Croatia, Hungary and Moldova. Germany too was worried as it also receives gas from Russia. Ukraine found its gas supply shut out for three days and the matter was sorted out after intense bargaining that ended with Ukraine agreeing to a considerable enhanced tariff for the Russian gas supplies. Russia wanted to more than double the price but settled for a price of $95 per 1000 cubic metres (up from $50 per 1000 cm). But this bargain created an internal political crisis in Ukraine with its parliament seeking dismissal of the government for bowing before the Russian ‘blackmail’.

The Russian monopoly gas company, Gazprom, blamed Ukraine for the temporary gas shortage in Europe, accusing it of drawing from a key gas pipeline to Europe more gas than it has contracted for. Most of the Russian gas reaches Europe via Ukraine. And Russia meets nearly 20 percent demand of natural gas in Europe—and 30 percent of oil supplies.

Another former USSR state, Georgia was also hit in January by a sudden drop in gas and electricity supplies from Russia following two explosions in the gas pipeline in southern Russia and damage to a high-voltage power line. The Russians said the accidents were the work of saboteurs. Georgia said that the Russians were lying because the country was getting closer to Europe. President Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia is not seen as a pro-Russian leader.

Assuming that the gas pipeline from Iran does materialise one day, problems similar to the ones faced by the receivers of the Russian gas can also be foreseen in India. If Russia can open and shut the gas taps to meet its political or economic goals why should Iran not do likewise? With the demise of the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq, Iran certainly sees itself as a regional power and because of stiff American opposition Iran with its weakening economy will always be looking for ways to earn more money.

The trouble in the Russian supplies to countries like Ukraine and Georgia arose after Moscow virtually disowned an earlier price agreement with Ukraine and had found itself helpless in arresting the pro-European and anti-Russian drift in its former ‘colonies’. Such strong-armed tactics may not succeed but they do cause a lot of problems, both economic and political, in the short term.

(Syndicate Features)