Development fails to pickup

By Ashok Thakur

Biharis who have gone for employment in different parts of the country are being very often ill treated. What is even more shocking is that not for once has "sober" chief minister taken the pain to visit the victim Bihari families in those states and apply at least a verbal balm on their wounds. Instead, Mr. Nitish Kumar washed his hands of this responsibility by just sending a team of helicopter-riding ministers to such places, unlike RJD chief Lalu Prasad who at least visited them personally.

Crime in Bihar is at its worst and this has damaged the already poor reputation of the state.

A Patna High Court report prepared on the basis of data collected by the district judges says that an alarming number of 4,849 cases of kidnapping took place in Bihar in the last one year (between July 2006 and June 2007) yet the entire state machinery goes on saying that everything is "fine". The CM sings a different tune now: "Crime has been an integral part of the society since time immemorial and that no one can check it fully."

Previously, we were at least able to get our children back by paying up ransom to the kidnappers, but today we are getting skeletons and bodies of our children. In no way, this could be described as an improvement in law and order, though everyone, from officials to ministers, goes on likening it to sushasan (good governance).

How the law and order situation has deteriorated can be understood from the fact that except for one, all gates of the Bihar Legislature were kept locked for security reasons this time, forcing the lawmakers to wait in a long queue to enter the Assembly premises. This has resulted in a ruckus in the state legislature in the current session almost everyday. Not only the Opposition but the ruling party members too have taken a strong exception to such a move by the law-enforcing authorities.

What's more funny is that the state police repeatedly goes on highlighting its "achievements" while comparing the crime figures with that of the previous regime, obviously to escape immediate criticism by the media and the Opposition, instead of assessing its own performance independently. Nothing is complete without making a comparison with the previous RJD regime, although many governments, including those of the Congress, have ruled Bihar since Independence.

Every time the courts made scathing observations over the functioning of the previous RJD regime, the Bihar CM exulted and made it a point to criticise the previous regime; when the same court came out with those kidnapping figures, the government differed, nay contradicted, the court's report.

While the High Court report has said that close to 5,000 people have been abducted by criminal gangs in the last one year, the government report claims only 74 (seventy four) persons have been kidnapped in the last 10 months since January this year! If that is not enough, the state police has invented a peculiar idea of "honeymoon kidnapping" to play down the abduction cases through which it has tried unsuccessfully to explain that many of the kidnapping cases turned out to be elopement for marriage!

However, the official figures regarding murder and road robberies remain as alarming as was witnessed during the previous regime and the Government has no answer for its failure. If the official figures are to be believed, a whopping 2,506 cases of murder were reported between January and October this year as against 2,753 in 2006, 2,864 in 2005, 3,243 in 2004, 3,062 in 2003, 3,096 in 2002 and 3,071 in 2001 in the corresponding period, indicating only a slight improvement on the law and order front. Likewise, 133 cases of road robberies were reported between January to October this year against 176 in 2006, 177 in 2005, 233 in 2004, 207 in 2003, 202 in 2002 and 202 in 2001 in the corresponding period. Remember, these are "official" figures. The opposition says the ground realities were even more alarming.

According to a Government report, a total of 189 government officials have been caught red-handed while accepting bribe, whereas corruption cases have been filed against 231 officials in the last two years. This explains how corruption has spread in the administration and the Government has failed to check it.

What is peculiar is that majority of the staff trapped by the anti-corruption bureau are just "small fries" like clerks, BDOs, peons, engineers and Anganwadi sevikas while the "big fishes", the lone exception being a promoted IAS officer, still continues to go unpunished.

Worse, the Government is yet to initiate any action against party leaders like Anand Mohan and his wife Lovely Anand, both ex MPs, and Munna Shukla, party legislator. They were convicted in Gopalganj DM G. Krishnaiah lynching case by a local court. While Anand has been given death sentence, the rest two leaders were given life term.

The opposition says the double standard in initiating action against the guilty party leaders "exposes" the hollowness of the NDA's much-trumpeted "good governance" in Bihar.

In Bihar everyone, from ruling party to Opposition leaders have been accusing the Government of allowing the bureaucrats to grow too big. "They don't listen to our requests. They ignore our demand for transfer of local officials or with regard to disposal of certain cases relating to the common man. Why then will people vote for us in future when we can't meet their small demands?" This is the most common refrain of the ruling party legislators. The issue has rocked the state Assembly in the past and this time again has figured in the current session of the Assembly but the government continues to play it down.

Kumar with over 30 officials and ministers went on a week-long tour to Mauritius to woo investors in a country that is as small as some of Bihar's district and that too at a time when almost entire North Bihar was submerged in flood-waters. Everyone blamed the Government's lack of preparedness as well as little or no preventive flood measures, but the government blamed "nature".

Till date, the country's top industrialists like Mukesh Ambani, Ratan Tata, Anand Mahindra, Sunil Bharati Mittal are still to decide about investments in Bihar, although several of them have visited the state more than twice. But the State Government has not been able to present a blue print to investors to put their money in the state for the development of infrastructure like electricity. Out of 24 hours the capital city of Patna receives electricity for only 10 hours, and rural areas are in dark in the night. Whatever goes by the name of industry in the state doesn't work as it is starved of power. INAV

PM goes to China

By Atul Rama

The success of India’s ‘Look East’ policy, it may not be wrong to say, depends a great deal on New Delhi’s relations with Beijing. So far, they have looked to be moving in the direct direction despite some disturbing media reports—denied by the government—of Chinese incursions into Indian borders. But then the border dispute was for years the main hurdle in improving relations between the two giant Asian neighbours, till they decided some years ago not to let that stand in the way of their efforts to become bhai bhai’ gain. The pace of cultivating good bilateral relationship may have been slow but the two sides have stuck with that resolve for close to three decades.

In this backdrop the two-day (January 13-15) visit of the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, to Beijing can well be expected to be yet another step for closer bilateral relations. The Chinese government spokesperson said days ahead of Dr Singh’s visit that bilateral (India-China) relations had kept a ‘good momentum’ in 2007, the year of ‘friendship through tourism’ and strengthening of cooperation in various fields.

Though the spokesperson, Jiang Yu, did mention that China expected the prime minister’s visit to help find a ‘fair and rational’ solution to the boundary problem, the emphasis in her statement was not on this seemingly intractable bilateral problem. After noting that the special representatives of the two countries had had three rounds of ‘good, helpful’ consultations on the boundary question, she suggested that the more positive expectation from Dr Singh’s visit could be talks on promotion of strategic cooperation partnership ‘in the long term and in a healthy way.’

During the year just gone by there were really no serious hiccups in our bilateral relations. Both sides were able to display ‘smooth coordination’ in international and regional affairs. The bilateral trade increased by 54 percent in one year. The Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, visited China and met the top Chinese leadership after which it was agreed that the two countries should upgrade their relations to a strategic level that would ‘change Asia and the world in a profound way.’

The Chinese desire, if it is indeed so, to seek strategic ties with India in order to change ‘Asia and the world’ is laudable. But looking at the present situation in South Asia, the pious Chinese expression would look more meaningful in seeking a better world if it takes a hard look at its old friend and ally in India’s western neighbour that is very clearly in a big mess. China had started cultivating Pakistan as anti-dote to India when New Delhi and Beijing had shed their ‘bhai bhai’ mask.

Helping Pakistan militarily, diplomatically and economically China came to be looked upon by Pakistan as its patron. There can be no doubt that it is China, and not the United States with all the billions of dollars it spends on Pakistan, that commands the most powerful ‘outside’ influence on Pakistan. There were a few moments when the United States felt the urge to display its displeasure towards Islamabad, leading to some savouring of relations between the two. But China never gave any occasion to Pakistan to complain. After the so-called US sanctions against Pakistan following its 1998 nuclear test, China was the only major world power that stood by Pakistan.

Now time has come when the Chinese should use their influence over Pakistan for stopping its inexorable march towards chaos and mayhem that can, so say all experts, pose danger to the whole world. It is not that China has never given its solicited or unsolicited advice to Pakistan. Indians would remember that China had advised some time ago Pakistan stop raising its Kashmir problem with India at every global fora and pin its faith more on bilateral dialogues with India.

There is an urgent need to stop Pakistan from plunging into a burning pot of civil strife and radicalisation of its society, largely because of obstinacy of the country’s ruler, Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf. It is apparent to any outside observer that he has become the symbol of disunity and disharmony in Pakistan.

Thanks to their persistent mollycoddling, Musharraf pays at best only selective heed to what the US president George W. Bush or the leaders of other leading Western nations tell him. But he keeps stumbling from one grave folly into another, pushing his country further towards the brink. Despite doffing his uniform reluctantly, he has kept all the powers in his hands but failed to stop his country moving towards a dangerous path, instead of the desired path of democracy. The eight year rule of Musharraf has seen the rise militancy and radical Islam and his alienation with the civil society is nearly complete.

The situation, as Western observers might say, is so bad that the ascendancy of the fanatic elements as rulers of Pakistan looks only a step away. The consequences of that event may be disconcerting to the outside world but in India that will be seen as a real and imminent threat to its security, especially when even the so-called responsible leaders of that country have never shied from threatening India with their nuclear bombs.

Dr Manmohan Singh during his visit to China will and must talk about bilateral matters with his Chinese counterpart. But when he takes up matters of ‘mutual interest’ or regional affairs with the hosts, it is imperative that he raises the issue of Pakistan’s instability and its ruler’s refusal to encourage restoration of democracy and genuine civilian rule in his country.

Despite the arrogance that he has been able to show towards his Western benefactors, Musharraf is not in a position to dismiss cautious words of advice from China. And China cannot assume that it will face no danger from a ‘rogue’ Pakistan.

(Syndicate Features)