EDITORIAL
Good
gesture
Nothing can ever perhaps match
India's overwhelming gesture in sending more than
90000 Pakistani prisoners of war (POWs) back to
their homes following their surrender in the wake
of Bangladesh war in 1971. It can be said that
New Delhi was bound by international conventions
to do so. Whatever that may be the historic event
is part of the country's military legends on the
one hand and its humanitarian saga on the other.
The world had watched such planned massive human
transfer with awe. For long, however, India had
not got matching warm response from the
neighbouring country. Instead, all of us have
been exposed to the extremely shocking spectacle
of being handed over mutilated bodies of our
soldiers as recently as immediately after the
Kargil war in 1999. Mystery had also shrouded the
whereabouts of many of our uniformed men believed
to be languishing in anonymity in Pakistani jails
for decades. Happily the wounds of the past are
being gradually healed. There is definite
improvement in Pakistan's behaviour after the
winter of 2003. It appears to have understood the
necessity of peaceful co-existence. There is no
doubt that complaints do persist about our
officers and jawans having been kept in solitary
confinement on the other side of the Wagah
border. At the same time, it can't be denied that
the Musharraf administration has set free several
of them including those belonging to this region.
There has been more than one cheerful reunion in
our part of the country. On the whole one does
notice that the two countries make conscious
attempts these days to distinguish inadvertent
crossing of borders from deliberate violations.
Innocent civilians are beneficiaries of this
healthy approach. Fishermen unintentionally
crossing into each other's waters are no more
being detained on the spot. They are given the
benefit of the doubt. This is unlike in the past
when they would just be picked up and thrown into
dark prisons. In our State the bus services
across the Line of Control (LoC) have
considerably flattened barriers of hatred and
distrust.
With this background in view one should warmly
greet the Border Security Force's decision to
honourably repatriate three Pakistani soldiers
who also happened to be wrestlers. The trio of
Nasir Ahmed, Amzad Farooq and Syed Zia-ul-Shah
had accidentally entered this country through the
international border in the R.S. Pura sector.
Aged between 24 and 26 years they are
understandably thrilled over their prompt release
in less than 24 hours. One of them has summed up
their feelings: "We never felt that we were
in a neighbouring country and that too the one
with which we used to exchange bullets four years
ago." They praised the BSF for its
hospitality. A warm send-off was organised for
them by involving officers of the Pakistan Army.
They were given sweets and gifts. Clearly a
decision about them could not have been taken
without getting a nod from the men at the helm in
the national capital. One must admire the
sagacity of our leaders. It is stated to be the
first time that the Pakistani soldiers have been
given such fast reprieve. It is an indication of
strengthening ties between New Delhi and
Islamabad.
One sincerely hopes that the two neighbours
continue to exhibit mutual goodwill. We can't be
faulted if we tend to keep our fingers crossed
because of the tense security milieu in Pakistan.
It is only too well known that Pakistan is
presently fraying at its fringes under the
harmful impact of the triple menace of terrorism,
extremism and sectarianism. It is for its
leadership to find an answer to all these ills.
So far as we are concerned we should remain on
guard and ward off every possibility of any
adverse fall-out on our security. Simultaneously,
we should not be found wanting in sending a
message that we would abide by all commitments
made to Pakistan. We will respect the bilateral
ceasefire which has been in force for more than
four years now. We will in fact do everything to
beef up the existing bonhomie. The latest move is
a meaningful signal in that direction. .
The
missing file
The story of a missing government
file in the district magistrate's office is
indeed bizarre. According to a report in this
newspaper, an alleged criminal was arrested in
2001 along with an unlicensed pistol. A file for
obtaining necessary sanction of the district
magistrate (DM) before filing a challan was
prepared at the Domana police station. It was
sent to the DM's office in 2003 but it never came
back. The first investigating officer (IO) has
since died. However, before his passing away, he
had come to know the fate of the file: it had
gone missing from the DM's office. The police was
then officially informed to prepare a duplicate
file. The directive was faithfully followed. But
by the time this was done three years had passed.
The DM refused to given the sought-for permission
saying that the maximum punishment for the crime
was three years and the time had already lapsed.
The result was that the supposed accused went
scot-free. His weapon intriguingly was declared
"unaccounted" (a big difference from
being unlicensed) and kept at the police station.
The tale does not does end here. An inquiry was
held into the reasons for the delay in pursuing
the case and readying the duplicate file. Those
conducting it took their own sweet time. Finally
they recommended filing of a first information
report (FIR) against three IOs and a judicial
clerk in the DM's office during whose tenure the
papers had disappeared. Of the IOs only one is in
service at the moment. As mentioned earlier one
of them has died while another has retired. It
was suggested that the FIR be registered at the
Pir Mitha police station under whose jurisdiction
the DM's office is. The police station, however,
finds it legally untenable that it should be
admitting an FIR without a complaint from the
DM's office which has lost the file.
Does it not read like whodunit? It is an open
secret that the Government's files move slowly.
One reason for this is that officers consider it
below dignity to personally carry them --- a
hangover of the colonial regime. What has
happened in this instance is totally
unacceptable. How can the official machinery be
so callous in matters involving weapons in this
State which has been a hotbed of militancy? The
"unaccounted" firearm in the meantime
mocks at the concerned police and the
administrative wings. Most of all it shows chinks
in our system.
Political
economy restricts growth
By
S. Sethuraman
Increasingly
pressure is being mounted
on the Finance Minister
Mr. Chidambaram on the
type of budget he should
frame for the UPA's fifth
full-fledged budget
before the 2009
elections, more
importantly keeping in
mind this year's series
of state polls. The
Congress Party, which
leads the UPA Government,
has put before him
radical ideas to be able
to retain power at the
Centre, and not allow it
to go the BJP way in
2004. In short, a
"pro-poor"
budget with a strong dose
of credible measures to
benefit farmers, weaker
sections and youth
assured of employment.
While his principal
concern remains to keep
India's robust growth
story intact, with
certain reforms and
incentives, during a year
of global slowdown with
the US economy close to a
recession, he is being
pulled in other
directions from across
the political spectrum.
Inflation is a key issue
on which the Government
has drawn flak from the
Left for the rise in food
and edible oil prices as
well as from other
opposition parties with
BJP taking lead role. The
Left has also warned that
it would resist the
pending financial sector
reforms (pension fund and
insurance), given its
ideological predilections
against privatisation.
Mr.. Chidambaram has
acknowledged that for
Government, inflation
becomes a matter of
higher priority than even
growth but the effort
should be to balance
growth and inflation. His
options to frame a budget
which seeks to fulfil the
long-term growth
objective through fiscal
and other reforms may
once again be frustrated
by political compulsions.
Far from cutting
subsidies, widening the
tax base and
strengthening fiscal
consolidation, Mr.
Chidambaram is confronted
by his own party's
formidable list of
demands to give his
February 29 budget for
2008-09 a distinctly
populist flavour.
The party's expectations
are for a debt waiver for
small and marginal
farmers and lowering
credit rates to 4 per
cent, low lending terms
for house-building by
low-income groups, higher
tax exemption level,
holding the price line
and ensuring an effective
delivery mechanism for
the employment and other
socially-oriented
progrmames. "We want
the budget to deliver,
" Mr. Veerappa
Moily, Chief AICC
spokesman said after the
meeting with the Finance
Minister..
Mr. .Chidambaram even
otherwise was widely
expected to make his
budget multi-dimensional
without giving up
progress toward further
fiscal consolidation, tax
policy adjustments to
reactivate the
manufacturing sector,
expenditure reform to
contain, if not reduce,
the level of major
subsidies, and select
measures to regulate
capital flows in concert
with the Reserve Bank of
India and strengthen
capital and debt markets.
It was assumed that he
would provide for special
measures of relief to
farmers, including\
debt-stressed, further
enlarge credit flows to
agriculture and announce
a stabilisation fund for
farm products.
The fiscal policy in the
forthcoming Budget while
aiming at maintaining and
enhancing the growth
momentum would provide
for some 'safety"
measures which would be
in the nature of economic
stimulus, especially for
industries affected from
a spillover of the US
downturn and the sharp
cuts in American interest
rates, He has also
promised some steps to
give relief to sectors
"stressed" from
the appreciation of the
rupee (like textiles and
leather goods) and
relative loss of
competitiveness.
In personal taxation, the
Budget is unlikely to
reduce tax rates despite
demands for bringing down
the marginal tax rate but
he may propose
adjustments in income
slabs to give more relief
to tax-payers, especially
in the middle and lower
income brackets coupled
with a possible raising
of the exemption limit
from the present Rs.one
lakh to about Rs.1.5
lakh. It is unlikely he
would do more such as
raising of the standard
deduction limit,
especially when already
there are wage rise
trends and Government
would soon have to
implement the Sixth Pay
Commission
recommendations..
For the corporate sector,
the Finance Minister may
aim at some
rationalisation so that
the net tax burden,
inclusive of surcharges
and cess, is lowered to
some extent. This and a
whole range of measures,
both in direct and
indirect taxes, in
farm-related and non-farm
activities in rural areas
would be included in the
package for agriculture.
Government has already
approved waiver of small
farmer loans of over
Rs.60,000 crores and the
Finance Minister is also
expected to respond to
the demand for cheaper
credit, as part of an
overall package for
agriculture.
But the Congress party,
and more so the Left, let
alone the opposition,
would not be satisfied
with anything which is
less than comprehensive
and substantial in terms
of both reliefs for
farmers and for strong
revival of agriculture.
The Finance Minister has
to please both the rural
poor and urban low-income
groups by a tax policy
which is friendly to the
aam admi, though at one
stage, he remarked that
the budget may not be
"kindly"
received. He, however,
clarified later that he
did not mean it would be
harsh,
Representations have also
been made to Government
to extend the tax holiday
for the IT sector beyond
March 31, 2009 and for
similar and other
incentives for
infrastructure sectors,
especially oil
exploration under the New
Exploration Licensing
Policy with larger
contracts being awarded.
As it is, several tax
exemptions have outlived
their utility and the
Finance Ministry has been
in the process of
removing them gradually.
Any exercise to
rationalize the direct
tax structure should be
aimed at not only
plugging loopholes and
avoiding needless
exemptions but also
making it equitable.
A whole range of
concessions in direct
taxes is expected to be
announced for
agricultural research and
farm-related activities
while customs and excise
duty cuts and adjustments
would be tailored to help
bring down prices, where
necessary, and also
stimulate demand, as in
the case of consumer
goods, especially
durables, where output
has been declining over
the last year. The
Finance Minister has
already laid out in his
earlier budget the road
map for the country
moving toward a national
Goods and Services Act by
April 2010. Government
would await the
recommendations of the
13th Finance Commission
(Kelkar Panel) on further
steps in this regard.
While growth of the
economy is investment-led
and sustained by domestic
demand, so far, the signs
of a global slowdown and
the moderating impact it
would have on emerging
economies including India
is one of the major
considerations in
formulating the budget.
Already, in the third
quarter, several
industries and IT
services seem to have
lost the momentum of
growth of the first half
of the year. Sops may
also be provided to
fast-growing sectors like
aviation and tourism.
(IPA)
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Skeletons in
Left’s cupboard
By Amulya
Ganguli
Nandigram will
seemingly continue to haunt the
CPI(M) and the West Bengal Left
Front for a fairly long time.
Just when the incident had begun
to fade from public memory, the
National Human Rights
Commission's report has again
drawn attention to it.
As may be expected, the report is
embarrassing to the Marxists not
only because of its indictment of
the Buddhadev Bhattacharjee
government, but also because of
the parallel it has drawn with
the Gujarat riots of 2002.This is
exactly the kind of comparison
which the Left has been eager to
avoid.
However, the head of the
investigating panel Justice, S.
Rajendra Babu's observation that
irrespective of whether Hindu
fundamentalists or Leftists are
involved, "ultimately, it is
the minority groups that
suffer" places the Left
government in West Bengal on the
same footing as Narendra Modi's
government.
The report has been explicit
about the links between the
CPI(M) supporters and the police,
stating that when the Marxist
cadres launched their offensive
to "recapture"
Nandigram, a police outpost in
the area was withdrawn.
"Thus the attack by the
CPI(M) supporters was
facilitated".
However, the report was equally
critical of the Bhumi Uchhed
Pratirodh Committee (BUPC), which
spearheaded the anti-CPI(M)
agitation, and the media. About
the former, the report said that
its supporters indulged in
unlawful activities while the
media ignored the fact that the
BUPC's blockade of Nandigram was
"unconstitutional".
It is this point which the Left
has been harping ever since it
became the target of criticism
from the media and even a section
of the Left intelligentsia. The
Leftists said that it was curious
that no attention was paid to the
fact that a large area remained
virtually out of bounds for the
CPI(M) sympathisers for months.
Yet, all hell broke loose when
the latter made an attempt to
return to their home and hearth.
As a statement issued by, among
others, historian Irfan Habib and
economist Prabhat Patnaik pointed
out, "in the absence of
intervention by the state
machinery and civil society
organizations, and of
unwillingness for a political
dialogue by the opposition
Trinamool Congress, is it
surprising that the displaced
CPI(M) sympathizers made their
own moves to return to their
homes ?"
About the Left intelligentsia
which is critical of the CPI(M),
the People's Democracy, which is
the party's mouthpiece, had this
to say: "What is striking
about the attitude of the
intellectuals arrayed against the
organized Left … is their
complete withdrawal from the
realm of political praxis to a
realm of messianic
moralism". It was critical,
therefore, of an "attitude
that does not distinguish between
types of violence … that
condemns all violence with equal
abhorrence".
Since this argument is typical of
communist thinking which does not
rule out violence altogether
(like Gandhi, for instance),
there is an element of
justification for the
"type" of violence
perpetrated by the CPI(M) cadres
and condemnation for the kind in
which the BUPC indulged. However,
to what extent this line will be
accepted outside the Leftist
circles is unclear.
The Marxists, therefore, will
have to bear the brunt of the
NHRC's criticism, which will be a
disadvantage for them since their
allies in the Left Front like the
Forward Bloc and the RSP have
been unhappy about the Nandigram
incident. As such, it is a stigma
which the CPI(M) will be unable
to share with its partners.
Notwithstanding the sophisticated
doctrinal line taken by the
People's Democracy, the fact that
a section of the Left
intellectuals and parties like
the Forward Bloc and the RSP are
arrayed against the CPI(M) on
this matter is something which
the latter must find unsettling,
especially because it has been
used for decades to have the
final say on contentious issues.
What is obvious, therefore, is
that it made a major tactical
blunder. That it subsequently
realized its mistake was evident
from Buddhadev Bhattacharjee's
retraction of his earlier
statement about the BUPC
activists having been paid back
in their own coin.
To make matters worse for the
CPI(M), the Nandigram issue has
been followed by several other
incidents in West Bengal - the
ration riots, Rizwanur Rahman's
"suicide", Taslima
Nasreen's departure from Kolkata,
and now the firing in Dinhata on
Forward Bloc workers - which have
shown the state government in a
poor light.
On top of this, the Forward
Bloc's decision to contest the
panchayat polls in West Bengal
and the assembly elections in
Tripura on its own means that
cracks have developed in the Left
Front for the first time in 30
years.
It goes without saying that the
Forward Bloc, with its 5.67 per
cent votes and 23 seats in the
West Bengal legislature against
the CPI(M)'s 36.97 per cent and
175 seats, would not have dared
to pose a challenge to Big
Brother if it did not believe
that the Marxists had suffered a
loss of influence over the last
few months.
There is little doubt that
Nandigram, Singur and a sense of
unease in the Leftist ranks over
the government's pro-private
sector industrial policy are
responsible for the CPI(M)'s
present travails.
The party had evidently started
to take the three-decade-old
unity among the Leftists for
granted and did not feel the need
to explain its policies with
greater care.(IPA)
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Terrorism
and violence : An Indian perspective
By Sreedhar
Any examination of terrorism
and violence at macro level should take
into consideration three types of
activities-secessionism, extremism and
terrorism and violence. In all these
cases the Oxford dictionary gives
different meanings and presents them in
different context. For instance a
secessionist is the one who wants to
secede from the mainland. Similarly
extremism in the context of state would
mean intense feelings /actions, resulting
in violent action. Terrorism and violence
is also in the same category. In all
these cases, there is an element of
violence against the state and its
citizens. Therefore, all these three
activities can be clubbed together in
understanding terrorism and violence.
Before we analyze the trends of terrorism
and violence in India one should take
cognizance of the broads trends
experienced during the nation building
process. In the 1950s and 1960s India
experienced secessionism, extremism and
terrorism and violence (SET) in the North
East and South. The secessionist
movements of North East India were partly
ethnocentric ambitions finding an
expression through violence at the time
of the birth of the new Republic. There
were the famous agitations and
insurgencies of the Nagas, Mizos and
various other ethnic groups. And in the
1960s we had exprienced the agitation in
South India by the Dravida Munnethn
Kazagham (DMK) to secede from India.
These intense agitations with a heavy
close of terrorism and violence made many
western scholars like Selig Harrisan to
talk in terms of India being divided in
to six or seven countries.
Interestingly most of these movements
received external aid either in the form
of military aid and or political support
or moral support or financial assistance.
During those years some of the India's
immediate neighbours thought extending
aid to such movements will enable them to
acquire pressure points over the new
Republic. Whether such an assumption is
right or wrong can be debated. But
countries like China did perceive that it
will not only provide the pressure point
but would also not allow a strong and big
neighbour to emerge in their
neighbourhood.
Most of these movements were often
described by the international strategic
community as ‘‘low intensity
conflicts’’ or
‘‘proxy wars’’ or
‘‘liberation
movements’’. However, India
always looked upon them as acts of
terrorism violence as is described in the
post 9/11 period by the rest of the
development world.
While the North East India was infested
with secessionist tendencies, East and
Southern India experienced another form
of violence in the form of ideological
opposition to the emerging political
order in the nascent Republic.
The proletariat revolutions, popularly
called as Naxalite movement (because the
movement started in Naxalbari), strongly
opposed secular democratic credentials on
the plea that it is not providing an
equitable distribution of nation's wealth
among all the people. This ideological a
section of inspiration due to
developments in Europe and in People's
Republic of China found some favour among
the masses.
By late 1960s it became clear to the
external powers, other than Pakistan,
that encouraging SET in India is not
going to pay any dividends. With the
result we saw a decline in the patronage
of SET movements by outside powers.
However, this in no way brought down SET
with in the Indian polity. The
developments in Afghanistan added a new
dimension to the SET in 1970s and 1980s .
Suddenly the international community
realized that SET had acquired a new
ideological over tones in terms of
religion.
There are a number of interpretations for
the advent of religion into SET syndrome.
One popularly given explanation is that
the Islamic world is being exploited by
the developed West and was not able to
offer any resistance to it. The much
debated injustice to Palestinians from
1948 onwards is often cited as an example
of this injustice. Therefore, to meet the
challenges posed by this unequal fight,
SET became a new instrument to meet the
injustice being inflicted on the Islamic
world.
At another level separatism and extremism
to achieve the limited political
objectives took the form of terrorism and
violence. In the process the whole issue
of SET got bracketed into one broad
canvas, terrorism and violence. In
addition, the international strategic
community realized that its
conceptualization of these movements into
various categories has given them certain
amount of legitimacy. Therefore, they
refused to segregate them into any
category other than terrorism and
violence.
In the process, the tactics of SET
activists have undergone a change. The
activists of SET today are far more
familiar than their predecessors in
understanding the technology and using it
effectively against the adversary. The
terrorism and violence of 9/11 was a best
example of this aspect.
To examine one such development closely
will reveal some interesting insights
into the whole concept of SET. When the
former Soviet Union occupied Afghanistan
in December 1979 the western strategic
thinkers perceived it as an unique
opportunity to teach a lesson to the
Soviet Union. They conceived the idea of
‘liberating’ Afghanistan from
Soviet occupation. In the process they
gave an ideological outlook to the entire
war in the name of Jehad (Holy War). For
this purpose some of the best brains
familiar with Islam in the West were
pulled together and elaborate study
material was prepared. The whole conflict
revolved around the idea that Islam is
under threat by the atheists. While the
rationals for the war was created, it was
to be financed by the Custodians of
Islam, Saudi Arabia and its allies.
Then came the mobilisation of masses to
fight for the cause. Since Saudis took
active part in the whole operation for
their own strategic reasons, there was
not much difficult in mobolising Islamic
activists from across the globe.
According to unofficial estimates,
Islamic activists from 94 Islamic
countries participated in this Jehad.
In the process countries like Pakistan,
adjacent to Afghanistan became the front
line states in this ‘Holy War’.
Interestingly, Pakistan decided to call
these Jehadis as Mujahideen (Holy
Warriors).
Even the Pakistani army, a professional
army by international standards, took
active part in this ‘Holy
war’.Thus began the terrorism and
violence in its current form from the
Indian subcontinent. In the process
countries like Pakistan made terrorism
and violence as a part of their overall
state craft.- CNF
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