Daily Excelsior... Editorial

EDITORIAL

By Tushar Charan

These must be truly bad days for George Fernandes. Yes, some sympathetic words have been heard and as could be expected from him he lost no time in blaming the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, for his problems relating to alleged kickbacks in defence deals when he was the Defence minister in the BJP-led NDA government. The sums involved are said to be running into crores of rupees, an astronomical figure to be associated with someone who has been ...more

Monopoly of the middle

By Sondip Bhattacharya

The fragmentation of many of the Opposition parties raises important questions for the Indian polity. To blame it on the machinations of the Congress party alone begs the question. The causes lie deeper in the malaise of the political system and the direction party politics is likely to take. . .......more

India's development

S. Zafar Mehdi Safvi

The fuss over the probability of India getting a berth in UN Security Council is gaining momentum with each passing day. Though the lone superpower Uncle Sam has made it crystal clear that it won't support India's candidature, but some of the 21st century economic superpowers like Russia and Britain besides the countries in subcontinent have pledged their support to India's claim........more

EDITORIAL

Beware of them

The arrest of a quack in Udhampur district brings to the fore a serious problem facing the healthcare system. The man had come all the way from Kerala and claimed to be functioning on behalf of a Mumbai-based charitable trust. To further buttress his credentials he managed to fake a stamp of a surgeon of the State health services. While he posed himself as a doctor he knew nothing about the medical profession. To camouflage his identity he employed nurses with whose help he would give vaccinations to the people at large. Evidently what came in handy for him were poverty, ignorance and lack of general awareness about the existing facilities. He obviously managed to make hay before being booked for fraud, forgery and cheating. From the available information the exact number of his victims has yet to be found. The police has given clues to health functionaries in this behalf to do the needful. What appears to have been established by now is that he was carrying out an entirely illegal activity. Only the naïve would be surprised by the detection of such an impostor in our midst. There is always a possibility that many more like him are working in the State. It is an open secret that these swindlers exploit prevailing deficiencies in our society and dispensation. At the same time they play on widespread superstitions. It is very easy to sell the Kerala as a health brand because of the well-deserved high credibility the southern State enjoys in Ayurvedic therapy in particular. All details about the pretender in this case should be publicised for the benefit of one and all. It will not only be advantageous for us but also for genuine practitioners in the faraway coastal State who can isolate black sheep from amongst them.

Responsible organisations have been seized of the menace created by quacks. A speaker at the 29th Indian Social Science Congress held in Lucknow last year had estimated "one million quacks operating in rural areas in the country in comparison to half a million doctors in the cities." However, a study conducted by the Association of Medical Consultants (AMC) way back in 1998 had put their number in India "around 1.5 million." They have made their dent everywhere including in urban areas. Published this year a study titled "Awareness and attitudes about disease mongering among medical and pharmaceutical students" (C. Jairaj Kumar, Abhizith Deoker, Ashwini Kumar, Arunachalam Kumar, B.M. Hegde) has revealed a nexus between pharmacists and quacks. According to it, "Pharmaceutical companies in India offer various schemes and incentives (including television sets, motorcycles, and the opportunity for higher profit margins) to lure pharmacists into buying more drugs than they would normally need. As a result, the pharmacists make every effort to sell these drugs to patients visiting them for medical advice. They may also associate themselves with quacks or physicians in their efforts to shift their stock of the drugs"

There is thus a perfect case for treating human existence with respect. Nobody can be allowed to fiddle with it and go scot-free. Citizens need to be extra careful. After fake currency notes and fraudulent financial companies we now have to contend with fraudsters directly handling physical well-being. All of us should keep our eyes and ears open.

Parody or politics

Military dictators and despotic rulers have a tendency to identify their country with themselves. Prisoners of power they are convinced in their actions and thoughts that they can't do anything wrong. They flaunt superiority while actually suffering from an inferiority complex. Surrounded by sycophants they are unable to look beyond the end of their noses. They tend to have closed minds. In our country too we had at one time heard loud voices equating a leader with the country and the nation with the leader. Fortunately, however, good sense had prevailed before much damage could be done. We can well and truly be proud of being the world's largest democracy that is also emerging as an economic superpower. It is an extraordinary achievement. We as the country and the people have always nursed genuine interest in seeing democracy firmly established in our neighbourhood. It is not a secret that our political leaders have evinced special interest in Pakistan in this behalf. This is a measure of their patience and sagacity. Despite all provocations they have not allowed themselves to be swept by blind hatred. Even those who have vomited fire against Pakistan while being in the opposition have meant it well when in power. This is a healthy perception because peace in the vicinity is beneficial for one and all. This has been visible after the winter of 2003 in particular when the two countries had embarked upon ceasefire along the Line of Control and International Border. Admittedly any change of rule in Pakistan or for that matter in any country is its internal manner. But this does not in any way nibble into the merit of the argument that democracy is a better option than a dictatorship --- military or otherwise. We will, for instance, be more reassured about the ultimate outcome of the ongoing peace process if it has the direct backing of political parties and ordinary masses of Pakistan. Instead, we are exposed to a parody in the name of politics with a uniformed President claiming to speak on behalf of the country after having ousted an elected Prime Minister. It does not bear elaboration that Gen Pervez Musharraf has captured power through the back door. What is worse is that he is determined to keep it.

In his latest utterances too he has made it clear that he has neither time nor patience for two leading opposition leaders Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto who are living in exile. He has left no doubt that he will not let them come back. According to him their homecoming will cause "political instability". He has said that he will "consider" meeting them if they made a request. In a television interview he has minced no words that he has held both posts of the President and the army chief in Pakistan's "best interests". This gives rise to a serious question: whether the General will hold elections in 2007 or will he just carry out a mock exercise? For their part Mr Sharif and Ms Bhutto have already announced that they will boycott the polls if they are not allowed to contest. As a ringside viewer one does not expect a fair play in these circumstances. Pakistan it seems is condemned to live with travesty of self-rule.

George the lonely warrior

By Tushar Charan

But what is this? He is in all sorts of trouble and not a sign of 'hartal' and 'chakka jaam' in the country, not to mention a nation-wide 'rail roko'. Not even a noisy 'morcha' that ends in violence. Those who had hailed him for the past 50 years variously as a 'fiery socialist', a charismatic trade union leader and the champion crusader against the Nehru-Gandhi family appear to be rather lukewarm in coming to his defence. But, of course, he needs no one's help. He likes to fight and fight, all by himself-and for himself.

And that seems to have been his problem-fighting for self, not necessarily an ideology or a team of like-minded ideologues. Consistency is not defined as a virtue in his lexicon. He could be a 'pacifist' but will not hesitate to defend India's 'second' nuclear test, which was carried when he was in power. The 'first' atomic test was a sin because the 'credit' for it had gone to someone he hated with gusto. As a human rights champion he has been critical of 'excesses' of the Indian army in Kashmir and all the dictatorial regimes in the world, including neighbouring Burma. But that did not stand in the way of his defending the same Indian army when he was the defence minister or doing business with the military rulers in India's neighbourhood, including Burma even as some of the Burmese 'rebels' continued to have his sympathetic ears.

He was lucky that for decades after he entered politics in the 1950s the country perhaps needed political characters in the opposition who could keep the nation alive to the likely dangers of a prolonged one-party rule at the centre. If these characters acted unconventionally so much the better for them as it only ensured a wider attention-and following. The leader at the top of such a pack was undoubtedly Ram Manohar Lohia. He was followed by a string of maverick politicians who enjoyed a sort of star following, though it must be said that there can be no other Lohia just as there can be no other Gandhi in the country. One particular 'darling' of the genre of uncharacteristic politicians was Raj Narain who preferred to be seen as the legendry Hanuman to his favourite politician of the time. Lalu Prasad Yadav's name might also crop up among the stars from the former Indian 'socialist' stable. But suffice it to say the present railway minister belongs to a different era and is the creature of a different set of circumstances. However, the one 'maverick' who outlasted them all, and proved to be more durable is George Fernandes.

He had the fire power in both his words and action that moved the masses, be they mill workers, taxi drivers, government employees or farmers. He loved taking on the high and the mighty, revelling in showing his disrespect for them. The only politician who he ever truly respected is perhaps himself. Many would probably insist that Lohia was his idol. But if Surendra Mohan, another 'ex-Socialist', is right then Fernandes had disregarded even his mentor Lohia at an early stage of his political career. In the 1960s Lohia had asked all those who opposed the Congress to come together to dislodge the party from power. Fernandes did not heed to his mentor's call on the ground that it would weaken the 'socialist' movement in which he was so thickly involved.

The reason for Fernandes' cool response was perhaps that he saw that such a move would dilute his importance or role in the opposition. Lohia, who was a remarkably witty person, snubbed Fernandes by alluding to the latter's links with a trade union run by the Jana Sangh (now BJP), an 'untouchable' party for any true blue socialist of the time, as being responsible for his negative response.

Apparently with his long association, in whatever form, with the Jana Sangh it was not difficult for him to embrace the BJP when he became part of the NDA. But not for nothing do his detractors within the 'socialist' movement in India see him as a political chameleon. Between his hey days as a socialist trade union leader and taking up the leadership of the BJP-dominated National Democratic Alliance, George Fernandes had a serious brush with the 'communal' Jana Sangh. That was during the first 'Janata' rule in the country just after the emergency. The Janata Party was a hastily cobbled conglomerate in which one of the prominent allies was the Jana Sangh, an offspring of the patently communal Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh. For the 'socialist' Fernandes this link between the Jana Sangh and its parent was unacceptable.

Was his dislike at the time for a 'communal' political outfit a put on act? No, if you see that he is prone to do political U-turns. What was wrong becomes right almost overnight as he had most famously shown during the last days of the Janata Party rule when within hours of putting up a stirring defence of the then prime minister. Morarji Desai, in parliament he crossed over to the other side to bring down the government he had so strongly supported.

He has been in and out of many political variations of the 'Janata' amoeba, though a common feature running through them was that they had a strong presence of 'socialist' members. More important was the fact that he always liked the parties that were willing to assign him a key job at the top. He floated the Samata Party but found it hard to reconcile himself to the ambitious ways of men like Nitish Kumar of Bihar. The same Bihari leader continued to bug him in the JD(U) where he has not only been deposed by Nitish Kumar in cahoots with Sharad Yadav (another 'socialist' and Lohia follower) but subjected him to 'humiliation' as, in his own words, nobody in the party has any use for him.

So, he is back at what he can still do very well. He has made another ideological switch. Without giving up his post as the convenor of the BJP-dominated NDA, Fernandes has decided to campaign for the 'secular' Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Singh Yadav in UP, who, like him, is a former follower of Lohia. That the Samajwadi Party and the BJP are actually rivals in UP does not matter to him. Nor does he bother that political correctness demands that as the NDA convener he should be supporting the BJP in UP.

After all, George Fernandes does his politics in a different way. He sets his own rules and fights his own way-just as he will fight the present glut of charges against him regarding NDA era defence deals; more so since BJP is keen to distance from him. The only thing he might miss is the accompanying high decibel protests that have been a part of most of his previous fights. He does retain his lungpower, though. That is enough to vindicate him. (Syndicate Features)

Monopoly of the middle

By Sondip Bhattacharya

Significantly, the break-up of the Janata Dal, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and the Telugu Desam happened without cries of a realignment of centrist forces, over the years the beacon for politicians' disillusioned with the Congress. Even hardened politicians realise that none will buy an argument that offers an ideological treason for waywardness.

As the three failed experiments of non-Congress parties to get together to rule the country have shown, no one has been able to displace the Congress to occupy the centrist space in the political spectrum. The beginning of an effective challenge to the Congress hold on power at the centre is coming from the right in the shape of a new ideological blend of nationalism represented by the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Until recent years, challenges to the Congress have been more effective at the regional level -from the two varieties of the DMK in Tamil Nadu from the Telugu Desam in Andhra, from folk heroes such as Mr. Lalu Prasad Yadav the late Biju Patnaik and N.T. Rama Rao paying lip-service to the Janata Dal, and from political acrobats such as Mulayam Singh Yadav and Ms. Mayawati. These regional challenges, however, are built around personalities and come a cropper when the heroes run out of steam.

Despite the National Front experiment of the regional parties combining to boost an Opposition coalition at the centre, the internal contradictions of such an opportunistic exercise came into play sooner, rather than later. The electorate does not take long to discover that the newly crowned kings are no saviours, and the Congress strikes to exploit the all too apparent weakness of the Khichdi Sarkar (coalition government).

The shuffling of politicians from regional experiments back to the Congress has continued for many years. But it is only now that many have come to realise they have reached the end of the road. It is perhaps the destructive capacity of Mr. V.P. Singh that has taught many Janata Dal leaders there is little profit or prospect in remaining in a national organisation. Of course, leader such as Mr. Lalu Prasad Yadav, Mr. Dewe Gowda or Mr. Chandrababu Naidu go their ways without leaving the Janata Dal.

There is an element of truth in Mr. Chandrababu Naidu's assertion that the strides made by the BJP have altered the political picture, that anti-Congressism must give way to countering the new challenge. But it is not a complete answer to the upheavals in political parties we are witnessing.

Even as insular a country as India cannot remain unaffected by the cataclysmic changes that have taken place in the world. The two communist parties are not the only ones to have lost their bearing. The conversion of the communist Fatherland and the rest of the European fraternal world from communism to capitalism, however opportunistic and skin-deep it might be, have shaken the Indian political establishment.

The Indian ruling elite outside the politicians' circle - the professionals and the bureaucracy - remained deeply influenced by Nehruvian thought. They find it difficult to adapt to a new world in which communism and socialism are reviled by their former practitioners and even countries such as China, which continue to pray at the Marxist shrine, indulge in mind-boggling economic heresies.

The Indian political class has been even slower to change. At other times, one could think of confirmed socialists of various hues clubbing together against a centrist Congress and a rightist BJP. The communists, battling for their own survival in the new world, have little to offer other socialists. Some old socialists are so steeped in their opposition to the Congress that they cannot return to the fold; others are making friendly noises in the hope of belonging to the mother party again.

The irony is that the old labels of socialists and rightists have lost much of their meaning in a world where self-proclaimed communists are in the forefront promoting the free market and economic reforms. But the Indian political lexicon has not changed, and even the BJP with its pronounced free market tendencies feels the need to buttress its ideology with large helpings of the swadeshi credo. Many Indian politicians continue to believe that the route to success runs along a left-centre course.

The Congress ploy is not very different from that of the Chinese Communist Party. It continues to worship the party's icons even while radically departing from Nehruvian economic policies. But it has still to find an answer how to separate the strands of the new economic policies from the evocative cries of nationalism. India's unstructured socialists and communists are relying on using the stick of nationalism to beat the government's economic policies with.

Outside of the BJP, the Opposition can not aspire to power at the centre and flying the regional flag is becoming a less attractive proposition by the day. Acquiring majority status in the Lok Sabha is less significant than the fact that the Congress party's attraction to those outside it has increased. The motives of those seeking to return to the fold or join it vary. There are obvious attractions for sharing the spoils of office. But a number of persons in the Opposition ranks find it futile to belong to parties that are going nowhere, headed by leaders ploughing their egocentric furrows.

Congress party's slogan of consensual politics had helped to make the return of former Congressmen easier. However, intra-state and personality clashes create complications for individual politicians. In theory, it is entirely desirable to buttress the party that says it is seeking to place the country's interests above partisan considerations. The danger in the contraction of centrist Opposition parties lies in the temptation it holds for desperate leaders to try to make a mark by taking their fight to the streets. The imitative streak being a strong element in Indian politics, the Congress has taken a leaf out of the BJP's book to launch its own agitational yatra.

With Parliament finding less and less time for genuine debate - until the new proposed committee system can be made to work - a more raucous political time lies ahead, with the risk of agitations turning violent. Unlike the BJP, which is constrained by its desire to present itself as the alternative ruling party, leader of disintegrating parties have little to lose as long as they can hog newspaper headlines.

The one gain to the Indian political system is that it has laid to rest the much-trumpeted theory of a realignment of centrist forces. Outside the Congress, there are not many such forces worth talking about, particularly with the communists preoccupied with nurturing their esoteric beliefs to retain their strongholds. INAV

India's development

S. Zafar Mehdi Safvi

No doubt, the Bull Run on Sensex is refusing to abate, markets are zooming, as India is emerging out as an economic heavyweight along with China, and these Asian countries are going to rule the roast in the upcoming decades. But looking deep down inside our country, we certainly have to cover miles before the mirage could turn into an oasis for us. I endorse what Thomas L Friedman, a New York Times foreign affairs columnist says "India is a six lane super highway, but full of potholes, cracked cement, and unfinished sidewalks". Government in India is brazenly corrupt, when a state allots a million rupees for polishing the primary education system, by the time you say school, it has diminished to become 10,000 rupees.

Polarization between rich and poor has sharply increased over the years. According to the latest data, almost 90 percent of our money is concentrated among mere 10 percent of population, means capitalism has peeped into our country making people unequally rich. Besides that, unemployment rate has soared up and the decline in infant mortality rate has been too slow to be considered in progressive terms. The basic amenities of electricity, water, social infrastructure are still absent in many parts of states like Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh. The much hyped about plank of 'Vikas' is yet to provide healing touch to them. In last decade, economic inequality has seen an upswing, resulting which our societies have become more prone to the incidents of crime and violence, which are seen as the precursors of an economic inequality. It is believed that India lives in her villages but I say India dies in her villages, because thousands of disillusioned farmers due to their indebtedness are committing suicides while the work has too vanished. According to reports, a child dies of hunger every five seconds in the world and the largest numbers are Indians.

There is no doubt that the percentage of population living below poverty line has decreased over the period of time but that does not mean the overall poverty has come down. In 1951, population of India was around 36.10 cr. and the poverty rate was 52 percent. Again, in 2001, the population climbed to 102.7cr. , while the percentage of poverty declined to 26 percent. This clearly indicates that although the percentage of poverty has decreased but the number of poor persons has increased persistently.

In 1966, there was hardly any developing country which matched India as far as Industrial strength was concerned. India was among the top ten Industrial powers of the world. India was the first producer of Computer and Jet plane in the world. But today India does not stand even under the top fifty Industrial powers of the world. Policies of India, let alone their implementation, have not been in favour of making India an economic super power.

As far as educational opportunities are concerned, there is still a huge gap between rural and urban India. Although there are many IITs, IIMs and other internationally reputed educational institutes in urban areas, yet the 'Bharat' that lives in rural India have no opportunity to go to school. This is a paradox which is not to be seen in other developing countries of the world. There are many boys and girls living in rural areas who possess enormous potential but do not get the opportunity of schooling. Consequently, huge amount of such brains are getting wasted.

Although literacy rate in India has persistently increased but still India is not at par with other nations. The criterion for the evaluation of literacy rate in India is absurd, which considers that person literate who is able to write his name. This is indeed the reason that even though the literacy rate of India is 65.75 percent (2001), yet only 2 percent of Indians are formal graduates. However, it is very unfortunate that the country which claims to become an economic super power in 2020 has one of the lowest Education budgets in the world. Government of India need to cut down the subsidies and spend that much of money in education. Schools run by the government must be specially taken care of. Children living in the rural areas should be encouraged to go to school and be given free education at least up to class fifth.

Employment opportunities in India are very poor, particularly in the public sector. Nearly seven million youths are added to the list of job seekers every year. Even if a person gets a job then he/she does not get the salary of his/her choice. Last few years have witnessed a high demand for technical minds from India in the world. These factors have led to the mass departure of potential Indians to outside India, confirming the fact that Indians are 'shinning', but outside India.

UPA Govt has come up with programme called 'Bharat Nirman', which is meant to empower India. Again, the person at the helm, Manmohan Singh, is worth putting your money on. You need not to explain it to him. But Government of India needs to assess its policies and ensure their proper implementation. There is no denying the fact that India has all that takes to become an economic super power provided it amends its policies and ensures their effective implementation. However, keeping in view the prevailing circumstances, it is highly illogical to believe India to become a super power in 2020. India has still a long way to go to make an impression on the international stage.