Number ONE ENEMY and MUSIC in WAR TIME
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| MUSIC IN THE TIME OF WAR | |||
| EDITOR'S CHOICE | |||
The Cellist of Sarajevo When the Bosnian Serbs began shelling the city of Sarajevo in April 1992, they began the longest city siege in the history of modern warfare. It lasted till February 1996, thus outlasting the siege of Leningrad during World War II. The city was bombarded, and snipers imperilled the lives of people. The danger inspired, as extreme danger often does, acts of profound humanity and poignancy. This deeply moving novel is centred on one such act. In the afternoon of May 27, 1992, mortar shells killed 22 persons while they were waiting to buy bread behind the market on Vase Miskina. In a unique protest and display of courage against this needless killing of innocent and helpless people, a renowned local cellist, Vedran Smailovic, played at the site in memory of the dead for 22 days. The piece he chose to play was Albinoni's Adagio in G Minor for organ and strings. Most lovers of Western classical music know the somewhat bizarre history of this piece. It is a reconstruction from a fragment of a second movement from a Sonata in G Minor thought to be the work of the Venetian composer, Tomaso Albinoni (1671-1751). The reconstruction was done by Giazotto in 1958, and it is seen as his work rather than as a part of the oeuvre of Albinoni. (There is a rendering of this work available in CD, with the Berlin Philharmonic playing under the baton of Herbert von Karajan.) The novel tries to capture the lives of the ordinary people of Sarajevo through the experiences of three individuals and the travails they undergo. The experiences of these three come across as if the author is creating a rondo in words. The writing is always taut, but evocative. The lives, as they unfold, remind us that sometimes, to be a hero, one has only to behave like an ordinary, decent human being. In Sarajevo under the siege, fetching water — a necessary but scarce item — is an act of courage and heroism. Kenan has to perform this act every four days, putting his life at great risk. He gets water for his family and old Mrs Ristovski, who lives in the apartment below. Kenan is not particularly fond of the old lady, but he knows that if he doesn't get water for her, no one else will. As he sets out in the morning for the long trek to the brewery where water is still available, he knows it could be his last time. Dragan is one of the few people in the city who still has work. He works in the city's bakery. It is a long trudge from the middle of the town where he lives. As he walks, he recalls the city as it was before the war started. He sees a man being shot by a sniper, and the wife of a friend of his has a narrow escape with only a flesh wound. Dragan cannot stop himself from dragging the dead man away from the road into the shelter of a house, even though he knows he is an easy target for the snipers. The third character is a young girl called Arrow, who is an expert sniper. She is given the job of protecting the cellist. She spots her opponent and kills him even though he chose not to kill the cellist. On the last day of the cellist's "performance'', Arrow is ordered to take on a different job which involves the shooting of civilians. She refuses to do this even though she knows the heavy price she will have to pay. She waits in her rooms for "them'' to come for her. In the black and white of war, the refusal to obey orders is a crime. So Arrow waits for the knock on her door, and recalls "the notes she heard only yesterday, a melody that is no longer there but feels very close". Kenan as he returns home with the water, Dragan as he tries to get to work, and Arrow with her rifle — all of them encounter the cellist as he plays serenely. He is the music as long as the music lasts. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090814/jsp/opinion/story_11347881.jsp
Six of world's top 10 economies out of recession 14 Aug 2009, 2207 hrs IST, TNN
Some light showed up at the end of the recession tunnel on Wednesday as France and Germany announced unexpected returns to the growth path, which Adding to the sense of optimism, the US Federal Reserve left rates unchanged, saying that the world's largest economy was showing signs of leveling out. Both France and Germany had been predicted by most economists to face a decline of about 0.3% in their GDPs for the second quarter (April-June) of 2009, but they surprised themselves and the rest of the world by announcing that they've actually recorded growth of 0.3% each. Among the five largest economies of the world, measured in purchasing power parity (PPP) dollars — which is more of an apples to apples comparison — China and India are already growing at healthy rates, although lower than their own pace for the last few years. Japan too has climbed out of recession and so has Germany. These economies and the US account for 47% of world GDP in PPP terms. The Eurozone as a whole is also now projected to have contracted by just 0.1% compared to the 2.5% fall in GDP in the first quarter (January-March). The growth rates reported by Germany and France may seem like nothing to get excited about, but considering that German GDP shrunk by 3.5% in the first quarter and France's by 1.3%, it is quite a smart turnaround. Among the world's other large economies, Brazil is also now no longer in recession having grown by 1.5% in the second quarter. Among the world's large economies, UK, which is the seventh largest and Italy, the tenth, remain in recession, like the US. The UK economy shrunk 0.8% in the second quarter, while Italy's was down 0.5%. Unlike in the UK, however, economists in the US believe the worst may be behind them. ''It's quite possible, though not certain, that retrospectively, we'll say that the recession ended in July or August, may be September,'' Nobel laureate Paul Krugman was quoted as saying. There is evidence that his is not undue optimism. The pace of job losses in the US slowed more than forecast in July and the unemployment rate dropped for the first time in more than a year. US GDP also shrank by just 0.3% (equivalent to an annualized 1%) in the seconnd-quarter after a 6.4% drop in the previous three months. That explains why US Federal Reserve is willing to bet that the nosedive the economy had witnessed in recent months is behind it. Over the last two years, the US has witnessed its worst financial crisis in decades, but that could be ending, which is good news for the world since it accounts for a fifth of global GDP. |
| With you, every waking hour - If a Congress govt wants a name, it cannot look beyond three. The latest so blessed is an LPG scheme, the 175th to be named after a Nehru-Gandhi | |||||
| RADHIKA RAMASESHAN | |||||
New Delhi, Aug. 13: Indians can celebrate this Independence Day assured that a missing link in an adulatory welfare chain has finally fallen into place. A cooking gas scheme will be renamed after Rajiv Gandhi five days from August 15 on his birth anniversary. The launch of the very government-sounding Rajiv Gandhi Grameen LPG Vitrak Yojana should ideally have found pride of place in a state gazette or a Congress manifesto, but is being chronicled here because it represents a milestone moment. From dawn to dusk and beyond, just as at least one Amitabh Bachchan movie used to be viewed by a fan at any given point of time, one scheme or the other named after a Nehru-Gandhi will touch — or hope to touch — the everyday life of some Indians in some corner of the country. Another statistical gem: this is the 175th scheme to be named in India after a Nehru-Gandhi. For a young republic of 59 years, such a strike rate — never mind opponents are calling it sycophancy — was possible because of the messianic zeal of Congress ministers and satraps keen to catch the eye of the first family. But the latest round in an all-too-familiar name game also marks a "course correction". The eagerness to name the LPG scheme after the former Prime Minister stemmed from a perception among some Congress ministers that the party wasted a golden opportunity to name the rural job scheme after one of the Nehru-Gandhis. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, the UPA's flagship programme, considered a blockbuster after initial misgivings, remains "unnamed" so far, although the Congress has not yet shelved an initiative to get the scheme named after Rajiv Gandhi on August 20, his birth anniversary. In the first UPA, rural development, which handles the job scheme, was under the RJD's Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and the Congress did not push too hard to name the project after one of its leaders. An unintended consequence was that the lack of a name left room for state governments not run by the party to project themselves as the champion of the scheme. "The Madhya Pradesh government, for instance, pasted the chief minister's photograph on the job cards, which made some beneficiaries think that it was a gift from the BJP," a Congress leader said. "So at the outset, we must proclaim, loud and clear, that it is only the Congress and the Nehru-Gandhi family who are capable of conceptualising and executing welfare measures." The lesson could not have found better students than petroleum minister Murli Deora and his deputy Jitin Prasada. When Deora and Prasada, a close political aide of Rahul Gandhi, were toying with the rural LPG scheme for the past two months, they were clear it would not go the NREGS way. Prasada insisted it would be named after Indira Gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi. The Congress doesn't blush at such expressions of devotion, although it was at the forefront of the campaign against Mayavati installing her own statues in Uttar Pradesh. "These (UPA projects) are direct, Government of India schemes beneficial to the aam aadmi. They are named after eminent former Prime Ministers. Mayavati's disproportionate expenditure is on megalomaniac statues of herself," Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said. Political brand-management lessons, ironically learnt from Mayavati's experience, have only strengthened the Congress's resolve to stick to names that have a strong association with the party. In 1995, Mayavati named a scheme to develop Dalit-dominated villages after Ambedkar. But so high was the stature of Ambedkar that his name could not be as closely identified with Mayavati's party as the BSP thought it would be. The villages carry the Ambedkar prefix but few readily associate them with the BSP. When it was in power, the BJP, which dubs the name game "a typical colonisation" of democracy, did resist similar temptations. The Vajpayee government came under pressure from the Sangh to consider names such as Shyama Prasad Mookerji and Deen Dayal Upadhyaya. The then government opted for such sterile names as the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, the Golden Quadrilateral and the Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan, although it could not escape charges of saffronisation in other fields. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090814/jsp/frontpage/story_11360866.jsp
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71-year-old Ratan Tata took over the Tata Group, India's largest business conglomerate with businesses ranging from software, cars, and steel to phone service, from its legendary chairman J.R.D. Tata, in 1991, ushering in a wide array of reforms.
The current economic crisis is rolling back due to the significant progress made by countries in Asia like India and China, a top UN official said.
The free run at automated teller machines might end soon, with banks petitioning the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to put curbs on cash withdrawals at third-party ATMs.
http://news.in.msn.com/business
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The Prime Minister would make use of the presence of chief ministers, who are gathering here for a meeting on internal security, to discuss the worsening agriculture scenario following inadequate rainfall and shrinkage in area under cultivation, sources said.
According to recent data, as many as 161 districts out of a total of about 600 have been declared drought affected.
Singh in his address to the chief secretaries of various states last week had expressed concern over rising prices of essential commodities like pulses, sugar and vegetables and had asked them to activate the public distribution system (PDS), "which is an important safety net especially for the poor and helps cushion them against price rise."
The Prime Minister also emphasised the need for planning for the coming Rabi (winter crop) season to compensate for the loss in output during the Kharif (summer crop) season.
Singh, according to sources, is likely to ask the states to take steps to curb speculative trading by taking anti-hoarding measures and make use of funds available under NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) to expand irrigation facilities in the drought-hit areas.
Meanwhile, the centre has written to the states to initiate steps for saving crops for the forthcoming Rabi season as water scarcity is likely to continue.
In a letter to the chief secretaries of various states, agriculture ministry on Wednesday said, "we feel it is extremely important, more so for coming Rabi season, when water stress conditions are likely to persist, if the present monsoon trend continues."
The states, it said, should make use of the funds available under NREGA to develop irrigation facilities in different parts of the country.
The recent NREGA amendment, according to the letter, "opens a new window of opportunity for construction of water conservation structures and other ... moisture conservation measures, apart from providing irrigation in the fields of majority of farmers in the country."
The ministry also underlined the need for convergence and implementation of various schemes and programmes in a coordinated manner to mitigate the adverse impact of water stress and deficient rainfall on the agriculture sector.
As many as 59% of the respondents said they considered the US as the greatest threat to Pakistan, compared with 18% who said it was India.
The survey was conducted among 2,500 people across Pakistan on 26-27 July. Al-Jazeera shared details of the survey exclusively with Mint and the Hindustan Times, both published by HT Media Ltd. Fragments of the survey were reported by PTI news agency on 10 August.
The survey found that the respondents were deeply divided on their opinions about Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan. Although 43% favoured a dialogue with the Islamic group, 41% supported military action against them.
However, an overwhelming 67% opposed drone aircraft attacks by the US against Taliban and Al-Qaeda targets in Pakistan; 80% of those opposing were above 51 years of age.
"One of the abiding features of Pakistan is that in this region the highest incidents of anti-US protests and attacks have been on Pakistan's streets," said C. Uday Bhaskar, defence expert and former director of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis. "The paradox is that the Pakistani establishment is closely aligned with the US, so much so that it has been designated as the only non-NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) ally in the war against terror."
Also See Mood of the Nation (Graphics)
G. Parthasarathy, India's former high commissioner to Pakistan and an expert on foreign affairs, said: "It has been this way for a long time. It (anti-US sentiment) started with the US ending assistance to Pakistan after the Soviet pull-out (from Afghanistan)," he said. "Also, the US started acting against and asking Pakistan to act against the Al-Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Taiba, etc., whom the Pakistanis had been brainwashed into believing were great Islamic heroes."
The survey also had bad news for Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, with 42% saying his leadership has been bad for Pakistan, compared with just 11% who said Zardari has been a good leader. On a similar note, 38% said the Pakistan Peoples Party government has been bad for the country, against 20%, who say it has been good.
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif emerged as the most popular political leader in Pakistan, with 38% of the respondents saying his rule would be best for Pakistan. Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani emerged a distant second with 13% support, while only 9% favoured Zardari.
http://www.livemint.com/2009/08/13213819/Pakistanis-say-US-is-bigger-th.html
26/11 trial: Mobiles used by terrorists were from China
Mumbai: In yet another evidence of Pakistan link to the 26/11 terror attacks, a witness today told the special court here that five mobile phones used by terrorists in the dastardly act were manufactured by Nokia Inc in China and shipped to Pakistan in June 2008.
The witness, Enforcement Manager of Nokia in the US, whose name has been withheld, deposed through video conference from the FBI office in USA.
Five Nokia mobile phones were recovered by the Mumbai police from the nine slain terrorists and FBI's help was sought to determine from where they have procured.
She is the third witness to talk about Pakistan link in the case. Earlier, a forensic expert of FBI had told the court the terrorist had used GPS to arrive from Karachi to Mumbai by sea route.
Source: PTI
According to Pew Global Attitudes poll about 70 percent of Pakistanis are now against the Taliban's violent policies.
The poll revealed that out of 1,254 adult Pakistanis, with whom face-to-face interviews were conducted, about 64 percent considered Washington as an 'enemy'.
The public's view about the Taliban has marked major change since 2008 when only 33 percent of Pakistanis had an unfavourable view about the extremists.
The poll also revealed that Pakistanis are not satisfied with the Gilani government.
While President Asif Zardari's popularity has hit an all-time low of 32 per cent, 79 percent people see Pakistan Muslim League-N chief Nawaz Sharif as a more able leader.
However, most Pakistanis appeared to be satisfied with their personal live with 74 percent saying they are content with their living standard.
Meanwhile, India braced itself to celebrate its 63nd Independence Day Saturday under the shadow of heightened security threats, fears of swine flu spreading and the country heading into its worst drought in the last two decades.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will unfurl the national flag from the ramparts of the Red Fort and address the nation for the sixth consecutive year and is expected to focus on these pressing concerns.
While the biggest celebrations will be in Delhi, other state capitals and district headquarters will host smaller flag-hoisting ceremonies.
On Saturday, a three-tier security ring will be thrown around the Mughal-built Red Fort.
The capital will be declared a no-fly zone for the morning and air defence guns will be placed at strategic locations to ward off possible aerial attacks by unmanned or microlight aircraft.
"India has become accustomed to heightened security provisions at this time of year but after the Mumbai terror attacks last November, the security establishment is taking no chances," said a senior home ministry official.
As the country's top leadership is expected to be in full attendance at the Red Fort, the historic monument will be turned into a citadel. For starters, the entire Red Fort complex has already been sanitised.
This year, the threats are from multiple sources. Indian intelligence reports indicate that Islamist groups based in Pakistan and Bangladesh are planning strikes on Indian soil. Indian Maoist groups are also reportedly plotting attacks.
In the southern city of Hyderabad, where the World Badminton Championships are underway, a thick security blanket has been thrown around the indoor stadium after a warning by intelligence agencies about a terror threat.
Security has also been beefed up across India, especially in New Delhi, Kolkata and Hyderabad after advisories were sent to the police to raise their levels of preparedness to face terrorist attacks in the run-up to Aug. 15.
The home ministry has warned that the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba militant group was trying to sneak its operatives through the porous India-Pakistan border to stage attacks in New Delhi, Hyderabad and Kolkata around Independence Day.
Last week the Delhi Police detained two operatives of Kashmiri militant group Hizbul Mujahideen for allegedly planning terror strikes in the Indian capital.
Cadets from the National Cadet Corps will also participate in the flag hoisting ceremony at the Red Fort, while over 3,000 students from 32 government schools will sing the national anthem.
The Guard of Honour contingent for Manmohan Singh at the Red Fort will consist of one officer and 24 men each from the three defence services and the Delhi Police.
This year, with the Indian Navy being the coordinating agency, the Guard of Honour will be commanded by Commander Gurkeerat Singh Sekhon.
India can set international R&D benchmarks: President
India, expected to become one of the largest global economies, can set international benchmarks in research and development, President Pratibha Patil said Friday.
India had been playing a leading role in the knowledge economy and was "well placed to face the future with confidence", Patil said in her address to the nation on the eve of Independence Day.
"India can set high standards of research and development so that these can become the international benchmarks in a knowledge society."
Turning to the economy, she said: "The world expects India to be one of the largest economies of the world. We know we can achieve this position.
"After all," she noted, "history tells us that since ancient times India was a wealthy nation well known for its riches and its global importance".
Referring to the global economic slowdown, "which demands that we manage the economy to counter its effects", Patil said: "We must work to continue our upward trajectory."
"We have a large domestic market and inherent strengths to drive the economy forward. As we focus on areas of proven strength, on building of infrastructure throughout the country and rural development, it should be our incessant endeavour to expand into new areas of growth," the president added.
Terrorism anti-thesis of peaceful co-existence
Terrorism is the anti-thesis of peaceful co-existence and must be defeated "in the interest of the collective goal of humankind to build peaceful societies and a peaceful world", President Pratibha Patil said Friday.
"Peaceful co-existence is inherent in our culture. Terrorism, which targets innocent people, is the very anti-thesis of peaceful co-existence," Patil said in her address to the nation on the eve of Independence Day.
"It is condemnable because it is against the tenets of every religion and faith. It must be defeated in the interest of the collective goal of humankind to build peaceful societies and a peaceful world.
"We need to work together towards this end as humankind shares a common destiny," Patil maintained.
US satellites unlock secret to India's vanishing water
Unsustainable use of water in India's northern states threatens farm output and can trigger a major water crisis, distressing 114 million people living there, warns a new study.
The Wall Street Journal's survey of top economists, published Wednesday, found that 57 percent believe the recession is already over, while another 23 percent believe that the economy will turn in the next month or two.
Most economists now expect growth in the gross domestic product, the broad measure of the nation's economic activity, of about three percent or more in the period of July through September.
But the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), the body of economists charged with officially setting the start and the end of each recession, won't pronounce a start of the recovery until next year at the earliest, CNNMoney.com said.
Its statement that the 2001 recession ended in November of that year didn't come until 18 months later, it noted. Its pronouncement that the current recession had started in December 2007 didn't come until 12 months after the start. So by the time the NBER says anything about a recovery, it will already be well established.
The closest to an official pronouncement of the end of the recession came in the statement from the Federal Reserve Wednesday that it sees the economy as "levelling out" following its long decline.
But the Fed still cautioned that economic activity would remain weak in the near term. However, Lakshman Achuthan, managing director of the Economic Cycle Research Institute, which forecast in April the recession would end this summer, believes there is now a growing consensus about that turnaround.
"But if you've waited until today to consider the idea that the recession is ending this summer, you're already behind the curve," he was quoted as saying by CNNMoney.com.
Achuthan said it is very difficult to forecast a turn in the economy in real time, and that to try to make the distinction now between whether the economy turned higher in June or July is "a false sense of precision".
Economists say that the other reason that the start of the recovery is not a cause for celebration is it's not yet clear how strong this recovery will be.
And even some of the economists who believe the recovery has already started say this one will be more painful than a lot of recoveries in the past.
Peaceful solution of Kashmir cornerstone in Pak's FP: Gilani
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani today said the peaceful solution of the Kashmir issue is a "cornerstone" of Pakistan's foreign policy and hoped that the recent steps taken by New Delhi and Islamabad would lead to "solid progress" in improving the situation in the region.
Addressing a function here to mark Pakistan's Independence Day, Gilani referred to the meetings President Asif Ali Zardari and he had with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and said: "I am very optimistic about the outcome of these meetings."
"For the peace and security of the region, I expect that the steps taken by the two countries will lead to solid progress towards a better situation," he told a gathering that included federal ministers, parliamentarians and the three service chiefs.
"On the foundation of equality and in light of the principle of non-interference, we can play the role of exemplary neighbours," Gilani said.
At the same time, Gilani said, "the peaceful solution of the Kashmir issue according to the aspirations of the Kashmiri people is a cornerstone of Pakistan's foreign policy."
Dwelling on other aspects of the country's foreign policy, Gilani said a "peaceful and stable Afghanistan is very important for" Pakistan.
All functions in connection with the Independence Day were held indoors and entry restricted to few as part of stepped-up security measures due to threat from militants.
"Our government has taken steps from the outset to create an atmosphere of brotherhood and peace between the two neighbouring countries," Gilani said.
The relationship between the US and Pakistan has a special importance for world peace, he said.
Pakistan appreciates US President Barack Obama's efforts to build better ties with Pakistan and the speedy clearance of the Kerry-Lugar and Reconstruction Opportunity Zone bills to provide more economic aid to Islamabad would lead to greater improvement in bilateral ties, he said.
"Pakistan, as a peace-loving country and a responsible global player, has extensively contributed to attain peace both within and outside its borders.
"In this endeavour, our people, our armed forces and our law enforcement agencies have given great sacrifices. Our economy has suffered (and) our society has experienced great challenges," Gilani said.
The people and armed forces of Pakistan "courageously confronted the challenge of terrorism and extremism and continue to struggle and strive for lasting peace in an environment that is free from fear, where rule of law is the norm instead of terrorists dictating their terms", Gilani said.
Antony prescribes eternal vigil for armed forces
"Last year's terror attack on Mumbai showed us the extent of damage that can be inflicted on any nation's economy and the social fabric. It is, therefore, extremely important that our armed forces maintain eternal vigil - at all times," Antony said in his broadcast to the armed forces on the eve of India's 63rd Independence Day.
Outlining the measures taken to beef up the security apparatus post 26/11, Antony said: "Coastal security has been beefed up with acquisitions of new systems and platforms. Besides the three wings of our armed forces, the Coast Guard too has an important role to play in strengthening coastal security."
In this context, he noted that post-26/11, the Coast Guard has set up a GPS Fisheries Alert System "which would be of great utility to our fishermen".
"We also want to equip and strengthen coastal police stations along our coastline. However, all the concerned security agencies will have to work in close coordination. We continue to be firm in our resolve to defend our borders at all costs," the defence minister added.
Ten heavily-armed Pakistani terrorists had sneaked into Mumbai via the sea route Nov 26, 2008, spreading mayhem that lasted for over 60 hours till the security forces neutralised them. Nine of the attackers were killed while a lone gunman, Ajmal Amir Kasab, was captured alive and is currently being tried in a Mumbai court. The assault left over 170 people, including 26 foreigners, dead.
Underscoring the need for modernising the armed forces and making them "technology intensive", Antony said this has to go "hand-in-hand" with indigenisation.
"We are firm in our resolve to provide our armed forces with the latest equipment, but at the same time, we must reduce our dependence on foreign products. Here, I would like to particularly mention the development of INS Arihant - the indigenous nuclear submarine. Our short-term and long-term aim should be to make such examples the norm," the defence minister maintained.
Antony commended the armed forces and other security agencies for enabling the conduct of peaceful general elections in April-May, as also the Amarnath Yatra in Jammu and Kashmir.
"It is largely due to your endeavour that several misguided youth have returned to the mainstream, particularly in Jammu and Kashmir. Our armed forces have also undertaken several welfare programmes in the northeastern states," he added.
A pass-through in taxation means that the business entity need not pay tax. Instead, all taxable income is passed through to its owners or members.
According to the provisions of the Income Tax Act, VC funds that invest in nine designated sectors -- biotechnology, nanotechnology, IT hardware and software, research and development for new chemical entities, seed research, dairy, poultry, bio-fuels and large hotel-cum-convention centers -- do not pay any tax on the gains realised on such investments. But the investors or limited partners (LPs) in these funds pay the tax.
"It will create a level-playing field for investors. For instance, people who are investing from Malaysia will get the benefit of tax pass-through. At present, we have a trust structure where investors cannot exit from a fund in the middle. The direct tax code has opened various sources of funding and now we can even raise funds from high net-worth individuals," said Axis Private Equity CEO Alok Gupta.
Foreign VC funds registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) are exempted from paying any tax in India as most of them are also registered in Mauritius.
Funds have to pay tax while exiting their investments other than the prescribed sectors. VCs and private equity players said the tax treatment often discouraged a lot of domestic funds from investing in other sectors even if the underlying opportunity was good.
"It is unfortunate that most of the funds have registered in Mauritius. It is a welcome step, but a bit-too late since the industry has been demanding this for long. Since most PEs have raised funds, it will be beneficial for the new ones," said Arun Natarajan, managing director, Venture Intelligence.
"This will bring us in parity with foreign funds. There will be no difference as we will not pay any tax. We will have to see whether the funds raised in 2005 and will exit in 2011 will get the benefit of the new tax regime," said Rajesh Singhal, managing partner, Religare Milestone Private Equity.
At present, there are 132 Sebi-registered domestic VC funds and 129 foreign venture funds.
Addressing the who's who of India Inc at the Business Standard Awards function, Mukherjee said corporate tax collections were expected to increase in the second half of the year with economic activity picking up. "The cycle of tax reforms will also be completed with the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax from April 2010, with the co-operation of state governments. The direct tax code is also an important part of that," Mukherjee said.
However, the minister said there were some concerns in the form of a deficient monsoon. There were also "initial legitimate concerns" about high government borrowings, budgeted at Rs 4,51,000 crore during the current financial year, elbowing out the credit requirements of the private sector.
"But we have managed it well, with the cooperation of the Reserve Bank of India. So far, the credit requirements of the private sector have not been elbowed out," the finance minister asserted. He pointed out that RBI had taken steps to increase liquidity to the private sector. "I can assure you that there should be no reason for concern, both regarding the availability of credit and also the cost of credit," Mukherjee said.
The finance minister said the fiscal pressure would be reduced in the current year because there would not be any increase in government spending on account of higher wages for public sector employees as there was in the previous year, following implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations. Besides, the Rs 82,000 crore extraordinary spending incurred because of the fiscal stimulus packages would not recur. "No one can expect that this would be repeated," he said. At the same time, the minister advocated fiscal prudence but without compromising on growth.
The finance minister said there was reason to believe that the environment was improving, going by the robust inflows of foreign direct investment of $121.29 billion since 2001-02. "India has become one of the most attractive FDI destinations," he said.
Mukherjee observed that though the Indian financial system had not been directly impacted by the global financial crisis, some weaknesses in the system had been seen.
Mukherjee, who had attended the BS Awards five years ago in 2004, said the economic backdrop had changed completely since then. The first year of the UPA's first term in government had seen high growth, which then continued for three consecutive years. This time around, however, expectations of all stakeholders had risen and managing high expectations was a challenge, too.
The CEO of the Year award went to Thermax Chairperson Meher Pudumjee. As she was away in the US, the award was received on her behalf by the company's Managing Director & CEO M S Unnikrishnan. While receiving the award, Unnikrishnan said the fact that he was receiving the award even though Anu Aga, Pudumjee's mother, was present, showed the true spirit of Thermax.
Tata Motors was given the award for the Most Innovative Organisation of the Year for its small car Nano. Receiving the award, Tata Motors MD P M Telang said the rest of the world did not believe Chairman Ratan Tata when he said that he would make his Nano dream a reality. "But we didn't accept defeat. It spurred us into doing more," he said. Telang dedicated the award to the hundreds of engineers who had made the world's cheapest car possible.
Receiving the Banker of the Year award, HDFC Bank MD & CEO Aditya Puri sounded an optimistic note, saying that even if the monsoon was below normal, the economy would grow by 5.5-6.5 per cent. "India was seeing growth on a sequential basis and in that sense, we are privileged", he said.
The other award winners were Areva T&D (Star MNC), Power Grid Corporation (Star PSU), Optocircuits (Star SME) and Tractors and Farm Equipment (Star Unlisted). The Car of the Year award was won by Honda Siel for the new Honda City and the Bike of the Year award was bagged by Yamaha Motors for the Yamaha FZ-16.
India inks FTA with ASEAN, $50-billion trade by 2010
Business Standard reports:
The signing of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the Association of South-East Asian Nations, or Asean, would increase the overall trade turnover between India and the 10-country block by over a fourth to as much as $50 billion.
Under the pact, which forms a part of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, tariffs on most of the trade between India and Asean will be cancelled by 2016, while duties on 489 "very sensitive" products will be retained. The agreement would come into force from January 2010.
"India and Asean have set an ambitious target of achieving bilateral trade of $50 billion by 2010. The current agreement would help achieve this target," said a statement issued by the government.
Trade between India and Asean has grown at a compounded annual growth rate of 27 per cent since 2000. The pact will give a further impetus to the bilateral trade and investment linkages, the government said.
The agreement, which was inked after six years of negotiations, calls for gradual elimination of duties on items which account for 75 per cent of the trade between India and Asean. These include electronics, textile, machine and chemical goods.
The agreement would provide additional market access to exporters, fuelling the growth in bilateral trade and investment. Indian exporters which stand to benefit from the pact include those dealing in machinery, steel, agriculture products, auto components, chemicals and synthetic textiles.
In addition, Indian manufacturers now would also be able to source products from overseas at competitive prices from the Asean members.
The pact also provides for safeguard mechanisms to protect bilateral trade in case of a sudden surge in imports after the treaty. "In such an eventuality, if it hurts a domestic industry, measures like imposition of safeguard duties may be put in place for up to 4 years," the statement mentioned.
Commerce Minister Anand said that India's trade with Thailand alone -- one of the Asean members and ranking fourth in Indian imports -- may jump to around $10 billion by the end of 2010 from $6 billion currently.
The overall trade turnover between India and Asean was over $40 billion in 2007-08, making the bloc the fourth-largest trading partner for the country.
The domestic industry bodies have expressed hope that the pact would open up market for the exporters. "The agreement is not an agreement in goods alone. It would eventually cover services and investment too. Indian professionals and service providers would be able to have greater market access in the Asean region once the FTA in services is in force," said Amit Mitra, secretary general, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
"The FTA would give us access to a trillion-dollar Asean economy," added Chandrajit Banerjee, director general, Confederation of Indian Industry.
Nehru, Patel 'conceded' Pakistan to Jinnah: Jaswant Singh
New Delhi: Mohammed Ali Jinnah did not win Pakistan as Congress leaders Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel "conceded" Pakistan to the Quaid-e-Azam with the British acting as an ever helpful midwife, says senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh.
In his new book "Jinnah - India, Partition, Independence", which will hit the stands on August 17, he recalls the events leading to Partition as well as the "epic journey of Jinnah from being the ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity, the liberal constitutionalist and Indian nationalist to the Quaid-e-Azam of Pakistan".
Jaswant raises several questions on partition. "...How did you divide a geographic (also geo-political) unity? Through a 'surgical operation', Mountbatten (the last British viceroy) had said, and tragically Nehru and Patel and the Congress party had assented, Jinnah, in any event having demanded adopting to just a recourse," he writes in the book, excerpts from which have been reproduced by India Today magazine.
"...Jinnah did not win Pakistan, as the Congress leaders - Nehru and Patel finally conceded Pakistan to Jinnah, with the British acting as an ever helpful midwife," Singh says in his 669-page book.
"The cruel truth is that this partitioning of India has actually resulted in achieving the very reverse of the originally intended purpose; partition, instead of settling contention between communities has left us a legacy of markedly enhanced Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or other such denominational identities, hence differences...," the book says.
Jaswant describes the partition of India as the "defining event of the 20th century for this entire subcontinent.
"The searing agony of it torments still, the whys and what-fors of it, too. We relieve the partition because we persist without attempts to find answers to the great errors of those years so that we may never, ever repeat them. Also, perhaps by recounting them we attempt to assuage some of our pain," the former External Affairs Minister writes.
According to Jaswant both Jinnah and Nehru wanted special status for Muslims.
"It is ironical that among the great constitutionalists of those times, Jinnah and Nehru became the principal promoters of 'special status for Muslims'; Jinnah directly and Nehru indirectly.
"...The irony of it is galling when sadly, we observe that both of them, these two great5 Indians of their times were either actually or in effect competing to become the 'spokesman of Muslims' in India.
Source: PTI
14/08/2009
Permission sought for $1 bn tax-free bonds by Air India
New Delhi: The civil aviation ministry has sought the cabinet's nod for Air India to float tax-free bonds worth Rs 5,000 crore ($1 billion) and fresh equity from the government to fund its fleet expansion plans and other expenses.
The ministry said the bonds were necessary for the ailing state-run carrier, struggling to stay afloat after having accumulated losses worth $2 billion, to meet its expenses during the ongoing five year plan that ends 2011-12, officials said.
The airline currently has an equity base of Rs.145 crore (less than $30 million) and the fresh equity infusion has been sought to ensure that interest paid on some high-cost debt can be lowered, the officials added.
They also clarified that these issues will be considered by the cabinet separately and will not be a part of the mandate to be given to a high-powered ministerial group that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh intends to set up to look at the issue of high aviation fuel prices.
Air India has been pursuing an ambitious fleet expansion plan for the past few years to induct as many as 111 new aircraft, orders for which were placed with both the US-based Boeing and the European Airbus Industrie.
The airline's current fleet size is 152 aircraft.
Source: IANS
14/08/2009
Manufacturing sector relatively cheerful now: Survey
New Delhi: KPMG's business outlook survey reveals that Indian manufacturers are more optimistic about their business in the coming year, due to indications of firmer demand and improved domestic and global economic prospects.
As many as 22.5 per cent of Indian manufacturers surveyed now expect a rise in business activity in the coming year, as compared to a generally negative perce-ption in January 2009. However, the confidence level is lower than what was in the same month a year ea-rlier and the lowest among Bric (Brazil, Russia, Indian and China) nations. The ave-rage business improvement expectation of all the Bric nations is 46.5 per cent, which is 3.6 per cent higher than the last survey in January.
"The Indian manufacturing sector is expected to enhance its attractiveness over the coming year. Domestic dem-and, stimulated by gover-nment spending and coupled with favourable global senti-ments, will have a positive impact on confide-nce levels," said Yezdi Nagpore-walla, Head of Industrial Markets, KPMG India.
The survey, which covered 1,800 manufacturing firms across the Bric region, revealed that 47.7 per cent of Indian firms expected their own business revenues to rise strongly, up from 24.8 per cent in January, while 18.8 per cent expect a rise in new orders. Around a fifth of the manufacturers surveyed expect the profitability of their operations to improve ,while around 10 per cent expect staffing levels to increase over the next year.
However, the percentage of firms expecting an increase in research and development came down to 4.6 per cent from 16.1 per cent in January.
18.2 per cent of the firms anticipate a sharper inflation of input costs in the next twelve months, up from 10.8 per cent in January. Most of the companies also expect to pass on a significant portion of the rise in costs to clients through higher output prices.
Of the BRIC nations, Brazil witnessed the greatest improvement in business sentiments, followed by China. As mentioned earlier, Indian manufacturers, though more optimistic than in January, were the least upbeat about their business and profitability among the four nations.
Source: Business Standard
Saikat Chatterjee / Reuters
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Hyderabad: The outlook for farm output in India is a concern and price pressures could build up at some stage but it is too early to take action on inflation, the Reserve bank of India (RBI) chief said on Friday.
"The agriculture situation is disturbing, there would be pressure on food prices," RBI governor Duvvuri Subbarao told reporters.
"We are monitoring the situation and will take appropriate action but it is still too early to be concerned about inflationary pressures," he said.
Although the widely watched wholesale price index fell an annual 1.74% at the start of August, its ninth straight drop, prices of food items have been rising on a weekly basis.
In its July review, the central bank revised its inflation forecast to around 5% by the end of March 2010 from 4% projected earlier.
Poor rainfall are expected to affect farm output and put upward pressure on inflation.
"You have to be sensitive to inflation. It is still too early to be taking action on inflation," Subbarao said.
Monsoon rains were 56% below normal over the past week, government data showed on Thursday, painting an increasingly grim picture for the farm sector and fuelling talk of a full-blown drought.
Since the start of the four-month monsoon season on 1 June, rains are 29% below normal, denting agriculture outlook and threatening to slow a burgeoning economic recovery and sending food prices 10% higher during the week ended 1 August from a year earlier.
"I am unable to say how the drought situation will translate into crisis and what action will have to be taken at what point of time," Subbarao said.
http://www.livemint.com/2009/08/14155708/Agriculture-situation-is-distu.html?h=A1
New tax code promises lower rates for individuals and companies; solicitor general slams government, says its move in Ambani case hurt NTPC
New Delhi: A revolution in India's tax system got started on Wednesday. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee unveiled a draft of the new direct tax regime, which he says will be simpler and easier to understand. The proposed tax code is now open to debate and discussion and could replace the existing income tax act, which is 48 years old. Mukherjee said that the proposed tax regime had many benefits. For instance it promises lower tax rates for individuals and companies.
The gas supply disputes involving RIL continued to trouble the government. India's solicitor general said that the government's stance was harming the interests of state-run power company NTPC. On Thursday the government decided to put an end to internal disagreements. The ministers of finance, law, petroleum, and power are now going to meet to come up with a unified stance. In the past, the petroleum ministry and the power ministry have taken conflicting positions on the gas dispute. Energy company RIL, owned by Mukesh Ambani, is fighting separate court cases on gas supplies with both NTPC and Anil Ambani-owned RNRL.
There was good news for the Indian economy on Wednesday. India's industrial output rose by 7.8% in June from a year earlier. This is the highest growth in 16 months. Manufacturing output was also up on a year on year basis by 7.3%. Economists say higher government salaries and stimulus spending boosted consumer demand. This raised hopes of revival. But keep your fingers crossed, poor monsoons could play spoilsport.
There is countrywide panic over swine flu. Schools and colleges were closed in Pune and Mumbai. In Delhi too some schools were shut. Masks sales are zooming in some cities on a premium. People are avoiding enclosed spaces. According to some observers hysteria over the flu was proving to be more infectious than the viral itself.
The UPA government may have swept back to power with a strong mandate, but as hundred days of the new government draws closer the Congress party is going back to the drawing board. Controversial joint statement with Pakistan, soaring food prices and rapid spread of swine flu has put the government on the back foot. Some within the party are calling for a dramatic initiative to regain momentum, while others are suggesting a cabinet reshuffle.
CavinKare plans to take on fast-food industry giants like McDonald's and KFC in India , and then expand overseas.
While full-fare airlines lose money and ask for government help, low-cost carrier IndiGo made Rs60 crore in the first quarter.
Delhi airport charges could go up for passengers. Mint queries under the Right to Information Act (RTI) reveal that the cost for modernization was not finalized and has already overshot by Rs3,000 crore.
It was a volatile week in the stock markets. Markets lost ground on Monday only to partially recover on Tuesday and then again fall on Wednesday. On Thursday, the sensex shot up nearly 500 points, the most it has gained in three weeks.
The government plans to set up an expert panel to advise it on a viable and sustainable system of pricing petroleum products
Reuters
The government plans to set up an expert panel to advise it on a viable and sustainable system of pricing petroleum products, he added.
In a separate reply, Meena said the sharp decline in the overall inflation rate in 2009 stemmed from a major decline in the fuel group and a lesser decline in the group of manufactured products, accruing from a high statistical base in the corresponding period in 2008.
"Despite this decline, inflation in essential commodities continues to remain high, on account of lower agricultural production in some crops, increase in the minimum suport prices and growth in demand," he said.
The Prime Minister would make use of the presence of chief ministers, who are gathering here for a meeting on internal security, to discuss the worsening agriculture scenario following inadequate rainfall and shrinkage in area under cultivation, sources said.
According to recent data, as many as 161 districts out of a total of about 600 have been declared drought affected.
Singh in his address to the chief secretaries of various states last week had expressed concern over rising prices of essential commodities like pulses, sugar and vegetables and had asked them to activate the public distribution system (PDS), "which is an important safety net especially for the poor and helps cushion them against price rise."
The Prime Minister also emphasised the need for planning for the coming Rabi (winter crop) season to compensate for the loss in output during the Kharif (summer crop) season.
Singh, according to sources, is likely to ask the states to take steps to curb speculative trading by taking anti-hoarding measures and make use of funds available under NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) to expand irrigation facilities in the drought-hit areas.
Meanwhile, the centre has written to the states to initiate steps for saving crops for the forthcoming Rabi season as water scarcity is likely to continue.
In a letter to the chief secretaries of various states, agriculture ministry on Wednesday said, "we feel it is extremely important, more so for coming Rabi season, when water stress conditions are likely to persist, if the present monsoon trend continues."
The states, it said, should make use of the funds available under NREGA to develop irrigation facilities in different parts of the country.
The recent NREGA amendment, according to the letter, "opens a new window of opportunity for construction of water conservation structures and other ... moisture conservation measures, apart from providing irrigation in the fields of majority of farmers in the country."
The ministry also underlined the need for convergence and implementation of various schemes and programmes in a coordinated manner to mitigate the adverse impact of water stress and deficient rainfall on the agriculture sector.
- Posted: Thu, Aug 13 2009. 3:04 PM IST
- Economy and Politics
India monsoon 'grim', 29% gap up to 11 Aug
Ratnajyoti Dutta / Reuters
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New Delhi: India's monsoon was 29% below average from 1 June –11 August, while food prices rose 10%, officials said ahead of a government report likely to show rainfall was below normal for the third straight week.
Weather officials said low rainfall so far, the worst in at least five years, would hit winter-sown crops such as rapeseed and wheat, while a trade body said edible oils imports by the world's top buyer would surge as rains will hit output of oilseeds, particularly groundnut.
The weak monsoon has already damaged the cane crop, and prospects of big purchases by the world's top sugar consumer has helped New York sugar rise to the highest level in nearly three decades.
A government source said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was likely to meet chief ministers of all the states on Monday to discuss the drought-like situation.
The weather office chief, Ajit Tyagi, said on ET Now television channel that the situation was grim and low rainfall may hurt winter-sown crops as well.
Difficult year
"Yes, it's a difficult year ... we have advised the states well in advance that there are some areas of concern particularly over northwest India and parts of Andhra Pradesh, maybe central India also," he said.
Northwest India is a key sugarcane area, while central India grows soybean. Andhra Pradesh cultivates rice and corn.
But Tyagi said he was not in a position to saw if that the country was suffering from a drought.
"We don't declare drought. We are meteorologists. Agriculture department does that," Tyagi told Reuters.
The government says India has grain stocks to last more than a year, and that it would act against hoarding and speculation, but analysts said they are worried about rising inflation in the months ahead.
India's wholesale price index fell 1.74% on 1 August from a year ago, but the "food articles index" was up 10%.
Erratic monsoon rains, which began with the driest June in 83 years and improved last month, were 29% short of normal in 1 June-11August, unchanged from the previous day, government sources said.
Soybean
But the key soybean crop, which had received virtually no rainfall in the past three weeks, got a shot in the arm on Wednesday, when rainfall was up to four times of normal, the weather office said.
It said the region was likely to receive heavy rains in the next few days also, cheering traders who had feared that further delay in rains would reduce soybean yield by 5-7%.
Annual monsoon rains in India, where farmers depend on the June-September showers to irrigate 60% of their farmland, are likely to be 87% of the long-period average this year.
The weather office, which initially predicted normal rainfall for the season, has scaled down the forecast twice.
Padmaparna Ghosh
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New Delhi: India has reacted strongly to efforts by the US and the European Union (EU) to use statements made by it in non-United Nations (UN) forum to attempt to influence the agenda of the climate change negotiations due in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December.
The Indian response came during the five-day climate talks in Bonn, Germany, hosted by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)—the UN forum which is responsible for any internationally binding agreement on climate change.
The developed countries were drawing on the declaration signed by India at the Major Economies Forum (MEF) in Egypt, which laid down that 17 countries had agreed to cap the increase in temperatures leading to global warming at 2 degrees Celsius. The US is now arguing that this will form the basis for the "shared vision" at Copenhagen meet.
The Indian stand had been criticized domestically on the grounds that it could end up bearing some of the burden of this commitment in terms of cuts in emission of global warming gases. This was because no burden-sharing agreement had been included in the declaration.
India has all along argued that developing countries like it cannot accept mandatory emission cuts because it could jeopardise development as it inevitably means accepting lower economic growth.
Shyam Saran, Prime Minister's special envoy on climate change and leading the Indian delegation at Bonn, said: "MEF discussions are to take direction, but it is not negotiation. It is strange that the poverty reduction goal from the declaration was not picked, but the 2 degrees Celsius goal was mentioned."
At the Bonn meet, the US drew attention to MEF, while Australia said that outcomes from meetings such as the Group of Eight and MEF provide useful inputs for the Copenhagen discussions. Mint reported on non-UN talks on climate gaining more traction and its dangers on 12 August.
According to Earth Negotiations Bulletin, an independent reporting service that provides daily information from multilateral negotiations on environment and sustainable development, the EU claimed that developed and developing nations have not only made progress to limiting warming, but also on the idea of peaking emissions (after which emission levels have to contract) and a move towards low-carbon economies.
The risk associated with the idea of limiting peaking year for developing countries is because it restricts emissions growth and the aim of 2 degrees Celsius, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the UN body that quantifies the impact of climate change, requires peaking of global emissions by 2015. Both Japan and the EU highlighted the need for a long-term goal and peaking.
"It is a very tough situation for India. On the one hand, if you don't attend these meetings, you are regarded as a spoiler. And on the other hand, if you do, then it is misused," said a policy analyst, who did not want to be identified.
He added that aspirational goals such as the MEF declaration are nothing new. "But here we are seeing aspirational goals being taken as commitments, and commitments (under the Kyoto Protocol) made by developed world being taken as aspirations, as we hardly see any progress on those elements."
http://www.livemint.com/2009/08/13221441/India-clashes-with-EU-US-at-B.html
CavinKare to take on fast food MNCs in India, abroad
The menu for the chain in India will be a combination of Indian fare such as idlis, dosas and sandwiches, and American favourites such as burgers and fries
Anupama Chandrasekaran
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Chennai: The Chennai-based company that was among the first to popularize the sale of shampoos in sachets plans to take on fast food multinational corporations (MNCs) such as McDonald's Corp. not just in India, but also overseas with a multi-cuisine fast food restaurant format that it is currently testing.
Dishing it up: In July, CavinKare decided to study the fast food business by opening its first outlet, branded CK's Foodstaurant, in Puducherry.
Considering most Indians spend far more on food than on personal care, India has a potential for 500 restaurants, said C.K. Ranganathan, chairman and managing director of CavinKare Pvt. Ltd.While CavinKare invested nearly Rs75 lakh for the first restaurant it opened a month ago, the cost for each additional restaurant is likely to come down to Rs60 lakh, he added. The restaurants are branded CK's Foodstaurant, like CavinKare, a play on the name of the founder.
CavinKare, maker of shampoos, fairness creams as well as pickles and juices, started life as Beauty Cosmetics. Ranganathan's brother C.K. Rajkumar is known as the man who launched the sachet revolution in India when he started selling a brand of shampoo, Velvette, in sachets. Ranganathan followed suit with his own shampoo-in-sachet offering, Chik.
The menu for the chain in India will be a combination of Indian fare such as idlis, dosas and sandwiches, and American favourites such as burgers and fries, but the restaurants will take on a slightly different avatar overseas. "In Italy, we could be selling a combination of pasta and burgers, while in Taiwan the restaurant menu will feature noodles, dumplings as well as fries and burgers," said Ranganathan.
In July, the Chennai-based company decided to study the fast food business by opening its first restaurant in Puducherry (formerly Pondicherry).
"Food is very localized and something that works in Chennai may not work in Mumbai or Delhi," said Anand Shah, a research analyst with Angel Broking Ltd.
Delhi-based fast food chain Nirula's planned to go national with its restaurants two years ago, but is yet to be successful, Shah said. "So, it is very easy to say (you want to build a national or international chain), but it is actually very difficult to implement and expand."
The family-owned CavinKarelogged sales of Rs700 crore in 2008-09 and expects to nearly double its sales to Rs1,500 crore in 2009-10, excluding the expected sales from the restaurant business. Ranganathan declined to give any sales forecast for the fast food business, but said that a chain spread over a state such as Tamil Nadu could yield Rs1,000 crore in annual revenue. More financial details of the privately held company weren't available.
Through the 1990s and 2000s, CavinKare has held its own—and even won some skirmishes—with Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), India's largest consumer goods company. HUL posted a net profit of Rs2,115 crore on sales of Rs16,476 crore for the year ended March 2009.
"You need to be right on two counts to unsettle a leader—product innovation and pricing. CavinKare worked well to get both of them right," said Nikhil Vora, an analyst with IDFC-SSKI Securities Ltd.
Still, that may not work in the fast food business.
"CavinKare's expertise is in consumer goods, so I don't understand the logic of them moving into the fast food outlets," Angel Broking's Shah said.
Freedom to study | Anil Sadgopal
Pallavi Singh
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Every important event in Anil Sadgopal's life has its roots in a classroom. He says if he were 17 today, he wouldn't have done what he did as an aspiring botanist at St Stephen's College in Delhi five decades ago.
Inspired by Bhagat Singh: He not only fought for India's freedom but also fought for a vision for post- independence India based on equitable distribution of resources and a just society based on equality. Madhu Kapparath / Mint
A panel of academics resisted admitting him to the prestigious college because he had been educated in the Hindi medium. Sadgopal insisted on being interviewed until he was told, through a note scribbled on a piece of paper, that he had been rejected. "I returned that piece of paper to the panel and asked them to stamp their decision on an official letter, explaining the reasons why they were denying me admission." The panel was appalled, but the young man had a ready explanation: "I will take this chit, take a bus straight to Rashtrapati Bhavan and ask the President why we ever fought for our independence when I don't even have the freedom to study in my mother tongue."
Ten minutes later, the "Hindi-medium" student of science from Birla Vidya Mandir, Nainital, had been admitted to St Stephen's College to study botany and biochemistry.
From then on—1957 onwards—he dedicated himself to fighting for a host of issues, including children's right to education, learning in one's mother tongue and teaching science in government schools—a struggle that won him the Jamnalal Bajaj award in 1980.
The 69-year-old botanist-turned-educationist spent two decades teaching before he finally made a small, creeper-lined house in Bhopal his home. He had a brief teaching stint at Delhi University and then taught science in government schools in the villages of Madhya Pradesh's Hoshangabad district. Along the way, he served long tenures as member of various government-appointed committees, including the Central Advisory Board of Education (Cabe), where his role was to recommend academic reforms in the education system.
After a five-year gestation period, the legislation to make education for children in the 6-14 age group free and compulsory was passed by the Lok Sabha last week. But in contrast to the generous welcome the legislation has received in most quarters, Sadgopal's newspaper editorials and sit-in protests on the law are full of dissent, in keeping with his record of speaking up when he feels he has to.
The Bill, in his words, is "a law to snatch away the rights of children" since it only guarantees right to education for children in the 6-14 age group and creates "layers of education" with its classification of government-run and private schools.
http://www.livemint.com/2009/08/13204730/Freedom-to-study--Anil-Sadgop.html
Robespierre 1794
On the Enemies of the Nation
Speech given from the tribune of the Convention;
7 Prairial, Year II (May 26, 1794);
Translated: for marxists.org by Mitch Abidor;
CopyLeft: Creative Commons (Attribute & ShareAlike) marxists.org 2004.
Citizens:
It would be a beautiful subject for conversation for posterity; it's already a spectacle worthy of heaven and Earth to see the Assembly of the people's representatives placed upon the inexhaustible volcano of conspiracies bring to the feet of the Eternal Author of all things the homage of a great people with one hand, and, with the other, with the lives and the wrath of tyrants gathered against it, found the first republic in the world and recall exiled freedom, justice and nature among mortals.
They will perish, all of the tyrants armed against the French people! They will perish, all the factions that rely upon their power in order to destroy our freedom. You will not make peace, but you will give it to the world, taking it from the hands of crime.
This approaching prospect offered itself to the sight of the frightened tyrants, and they decided with their accomplices that the time had come to assassinate us; we, that is, the National Convention, for if they attack you now en masse and now individually you still recognize the same plan and the same enemies. Without a doubt they are not foolish enough to believe that the death of a few representatives can assure their triumph.
If they believed, in fact, that in order to destroy your energy, or to change your principles, it was enough to assassinate those to whom you have especially confided the care of overseeing the salvation of the republic; if they believed that in throwing us into the tomb the spirits of Brissot, Hebert and Danton would emerge triumphant to deliver you a second time to discord, to the empire of factions and to the mercy of traitors, they were wrong.
When we will have fallen under their blows, you would either complete your sublime enterprise or share our fate. Or rather, there is not one Frenchmen who would not want to stand over our bloody corpses to swear to exterminate the last of the enemies of the people.
Nevertheless, their impious delirium attests both to their hope and their despair.
They once hoped to succeed in starving the French people; the French people still lives and will survive all its enemies. Subsistence was assured, and nature, faithful to Liberty, already presents it abundance. What resource then remains to them? Assassination.
They hoped to exterminate the national representation by bribed revolt, and they so counted on the success of this attack that they didn't blush to announce it in advance to the wrath of Europe and to confess it in the English parliament. This project failed. What remains to them? Assassination.
They thought they could overwhelm us by the efforts of their sacrilegious league, and especially by treason. The traitors tremble or perish, their artillery falls into our power, their satellites flee before us, but assassination remains to them.
They sought to dissolve the National Convention by degradation and corruption. The Convention punished their accomplices and rose triumphant on the ruins of factions and under the aegis of the French people. But assassination remains to them.
They attempted to deprave public morality and to extinguish the generous sentiments of which the love of freedom and of the fatherland are composed by banishing from the republic good sense, virtue and divinity. We proclaimed the divinity and the immortality of the soul; we commanded virtue in the name of the republic. Assassination remains to them.
Finally, slander, treason, arson, poisoning, atheism, corruption, famine, assassinations. They were lavish with these crimes: assassination and yet more assassination still remain to them.
Let us then rejoice and give thanks to heaven since we have so well served our country as to have been judged worthy of the daggers of tyranny.
We thus have glorious dangers to run! The city offers as many such dangers as the battlefield. We have nothing to envy our brave brothers in arms; we pay, in more than one way, our debt to the fatherland.
Oh kings and valets of kings! It is not we who will complain of the kind of war you make, and we recognize that it is worthy of your august prudence.
In fact, it is easier to take our lives than to triumph over our principles and our armies. England, Italy, Germany, and France itself will furnish you soldiers to execute these noble exploits. When the powers of the earth league together to kill a feeble individual he must not insist on living; it is thus that living a long time doesn't enter into our calculations. It's not in order to live that we declare war on all tyrants and, what is even more dangerous, on all crimes.
What man on earth has ever defended the rights of humanity with impunity?
A few months ago I said to my colleagues on the Committee of Public Safety: "If the armies of the Republic are victorious, if we unmask the traitors, if we put down factions, they will assassinate us." And I was not in the least astonished to see my prophecy realized. I myself find that the situation in which the enemies of the republic have placed me is not without its advantages, for the more uncertain and precarious are the lives of the defenders of the fatherland, the more independent they are of men's evil.
Surrounded by assassins I have already put myself in the new order of things where they want to send me. I only hold to fleeting life by the love of the fatherland and the thirst for justice and, separated more than ever from any personal considerations, I find myself better disposed to attack with energy the villains who conspire against us and humankind.
The more they hurry to terminate my career down here, the more I hasten to fulfill those actions useful to the happiness of my like.
At least I will leave a testament whose reading will make tyrants and their accomplices tremble. I will perhaps reveal redoubtable secrets that a pusillanimous prudence would have pushed me to hide.
I will tell what the salvation of my fatherland and the triumph of freedom depend upon. If the same perfidious ones who guide the rage of the assassins aren't yet visible to all eyes, I will leave to time the task of lifting the veil that covers them, and I will restrict myself to recalling those truths that alone can save this Republic.
Yes, no matter what lack of seriousness with its lack of foresight might think, whatever perfidious counter-revolutionaries might say! The destiny of the republic is not yet fixed, and the vigilance of the people's representatives is more than ever necessary.
It is not the pomp of denominations, not victory, nor riches nor fleeting enthusiasm that constitute the republic; it is the wisdom of laws and especially the goodness of mores; it is the purity and the stability of the maxims of government.
The laws are to be made, the maxims of government to be assured, and the mores to be regenerated. If one of these things is missing there is in a state naught but errors, pride, passions, factions, ambitions and cupidity. Far from repressing vices the republic would then only allow them freer expansion, and vice necessarily returns us to tyranny.
Whoever is not master of himself is made to be the slave of others. This a truth that applies to peoples as well as individuals. Do you want to know who are the ambitious?
Examine who they are who protect the rogues who encourage counter-revolutionaries, who execute attacks, who hold virtue in contempt, who corrupt public morals: it was the march of the conspirators who fell under the mailed fist of the law.
To make war on crime is the path to the tomb and to immortality; to favor crime is the path to the throne and the scaffold.
Perverse beings managed to throw the Republic and human reason into chaos. It's a matter now of pulling them from this in order to create the harmony of the moral and political worlds. The French people have two guarantors of the possibility of executing this heroic enterprise: the current principles of representation and its own virtues.
The moment in which we find ourselves is favorable, but it is perhaps unique. In the state of equilibrium in which things are it is easy to consolidate liberty, and it is easy to lose it. If France were to be governed for a few months by a corrupted legislature, freedom would be lost. Victory would fall to the factions and immorality.
Your concert and you energy have astonished and defeated Europe. If you come to know this as well as your enemies you will easily triumph. I spoke of the virtue of the people. Attested to by the entire revolution, this virtue would not alone suffice to reassure us against the factions who attempt without cease to corrupt and tear apart the republic.
What is the reason for this? It's that there are two peoples in France.
The one is the mass of citizens, pure, simple thirsting for justice and friends of liberty. It is this virtuous people that spills all its blood to found the republic that is imposing to internal enemies and shakes the thrones of tyrants.
The other is a mass of the ambitious and intriguers, it's the chatting, charlatan, artificial people who show themselves everywhere, who persecute patriotism, who grab onto the tribunes and often the public functions; who abuse the learning that the advantages of the ancien regime gave them in order to fool public opinion. It's this people of rogues, of foreigners, of hypocritical counter-revolutionaries who place themselves between the people and their representatives in order to fool the one and slander the other; to block their operations, to turn against the public good the most useful laws and the most salutary truths.
As long as this impure race exists the Republic will be unhappy and precarious. It's up to you to deliver it by an imposing energy and an unalterable concert.
Those who seek to divide us, those who stop the march of the government, those who slander it every day among you by perfidious insinuations, those who seek to form against it a dangerous coalition of all the evil passions, of irascible pride, of all the interests opposed to the public interest are your enemies and those of the fatherland. They are foreign agents.
They are the successors of Brissot, of Hebert, of Danton. If they were to reign one day the Fatherland would be lost.
In saying these things I sharpen daggers against myself, and it is precisely for this that I say them.
You will persevere in your principles and in your triumphal march. You will put down crime and you will save the fatherland...
I have lived long enough... I saw the French people rise up from degradation and servitude to the heights of Glory and Freedom. I saw the chains broken and the guilty thrones that weigh upon the earth near to being overthrown by triumphant hands.
I saw a yet more astonishing marvel, a marvel that monarchical corruption and the experience of the first period of our Revolution barely allowed to be seen as possible: an assembly invested with the strength of the French nation, marching with a rapid and firm step towards public happiness, devoted to the cause of the people and to the triumph of equality, worthy of giving to the world the signal of Liberty and the example of all the virtues.
Accomplish, Citizens, accomplish your sublime destiny. You have placed us in the vanguard to bear up under the first efforts of the enemies of Liberty; we will be worthy of this honor, and with our blood we will trace the route of immortality.
May you constantly deploy that unquenchable energy which you need to put down the monsters of the universe that conspire against you, and to then enjoy in peace the benedictions of the people and of the fruits of your virtues.
'most of maoist cadre are christians'
daily pioneer oct 6, 2008
http://www.dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?main_variable=front%5fpage&file_name=story2%2etxt&counter_img=2
advani, singhal, togadia are 'natural targets', not naveen, says orissa naxal chief
a section of maoists has claimed responsibility for the murder of vhp's 86-year-old monk swami laxmanananda saraswati. claiming responsibility, a prominent maoist leader sabyasachi panda, who is in the "most wanted" list, said the maoist groups in orissa derive major support from minority communities.
noting that most of the cadre members and supporters in orissa belonged to christian community, panda said, "it is a fact that christians are in majority in our organisation. our supporters in rayagada, gajapati and kandhamal districts also belong to christian community."
Addressing a public rally on Sunday October 7, Mrs Sonia Gandhi described opponents of the Indo-US Nuclear deal as enemies of India's development. It would be instructive to identify the forces opposed to the deal.
China and US big business have a cozy relationship. For the last three decades China has acted as a giant manufacturing factory, providing also cheap labor working in slave conditions, to enable US multinationals vastly increase their profit margins. Consequently, US big business happily diverted investment from domestic markets to China causing loss of jobs to American workers. Meanwhile big business leaned on US governments to allow a five to one trade surplus to China. A huge chunk of Chinese exports to America are low-tech goods manufactured largely in firms owned by China's People's Liberation Army (PLA). At one time the PLA owned an estimated 15000 commercial firms.
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Over the years this resulted in hugely augmenting PLA funds for expanding and modernizing China's army. And it led to China owning over a trillion dollars worth of US treasury securities. This relationship has joined China and America at the hip. China's system runs on exports for which US cooperation is crucial. America's system runs on overdraft for which China's lending is crucial. China's links with US big business allow it to exercise powerful influence over all democratic governments with which it deals.
Recently Australian Prime Minister John Howard admitted as much while allaying China's concerns over the emerging US-Japan-Australia-India axis. This lobby comprising US business and China overlooks global security while it pursues profit.
Now consider, in this general context, the Indo-US Nuclear deal. Initially, China discouraged the deal to block India. Recently, it has softened its stand. Does that indicate change of policy? No. As a member of the big powers club, China wanted to conform to the views of the other members to appear respectable.
After other big powers backed the deal, China got aboard to retain respectability. Now it seeks to block the deal through its admirers among Indian politicians, and through influencing its corporate allies in the US. Mainstream American media is the voice of the corporate lobby. That is why US mainstream media serves China's interests as faithfully as it does the interests of US big business. A fine example of this symbiotic relationship in US media is provided by the world's most powerful media baron, Rupert Murdoch.
On June 26th New York Times writer Joseph Kahn reported from Beijing: "Mr. Murdoch has flattered Communist Party leaders and done business with their children. . . . Mr. Murdoch's third wife, Wendi, is a mainland Chinese. . . . Mr. Murdoch cooperates closely with China's censors and state broadcasters . . . . He cultivates political ties . . . often supports the policies of Chinese leaders and attacks their critics. His courtship has made him the Chinese leadership's favorite foreign media baron. He has dined with former President Jiang Zemin and repeatedly met other members of the ruling Politburo in Beijing, New York and London . . . . Murdoch's book unit published a biography of Mr. Deng written by his daughter, Deng Rong . . . . He also cultivated ties with Mr. Deng's eldest son, Deng Pufang . . . . Xinhua said: 'President Jiang expressed appreciation for the efforts made by world media mogul Rupert Murdoch in presenting China objectively and cooperating with the Chinese press over the last two years'. . . . Retired prime minister, Mr. Zhu (Rongchi) invited Mr. Murdoch to become Chinese."
Apart from owning Fox News, which was considered the most pro-US government TV channel during the Iraq war, Murdoch owns Star TV channels in India and is expected to buy the most powerful US financial paper, The Wall Street Journal. But Murdoch is not the only voice in US mainline media. The New York Times is another powerful voice for America's East Coast Establishment. What does it say?
In an editorial on October 6th NYT wrote: "Congress was far too uncritical when it gave preliminary approval to the agreement in December . . . . All nuclear trade with India has been banned since it refused to sign the nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and tested nuclear weapons . . . . The agreement could benefit New Delhi's weapons program as much as its pursuit of nuclear power, while making it even harder to rein in the ambitions of nuclear wannabes, including Iran."
The newspaper's concern over nuclear proliferation is touching. It is also inexplicably selective. India, which transparently refrained from signing the NPT and was belatedly compelled to become a nuclear weapons state due to the growing China-Pakistan threat, is considered encouragement to nuclear proliferation. But China which is the fountainhead of global nuclear proliferation – made clear in a number of articles exposing this, written by David Sanger and William J Broad published in the NYT itself – attracts not a whisper of protest from the paper's editorial writers. So much for objectivity!
And if US media opposes the nuclear deal, can Israel be far behind? Israel approached the Nuclear Suppliers' Group (NSG) seeking a "criteria-based approach" to opening nuclear commerce with non-NPT states. Reportedly, Indian government sources viewed this as Israel indirectly supporting China's and Pakistan's efforts to make the NSG stall India's deal. The Washington Post confirmed that this Israeli move could seriously complicate US efforts to win exemption for India from the NSG.
This unspoken alliance between the so-called Left and so-called Right should explain the odd reactions that the Indo-US Nuclear Deal has aroused within India. Leftist politicians like Prakash Karat and Bardhan fiercely oppose the deal because it would draw India close to the US. Rightist politicians like Arun Shourie and Yashwant Sinha oppose it because the deal would impinge on India's sovereignty. The New York Times is worried about nuclear proliferation and about Iran getting the bomb. The CPI-M is worried about the deal crippling India's foreign policy and preventing Iran getting the bomb. Pro-Muslim journalists are dead set against the deal because it involves Bush who attacked Iraq. Pro-Israel Indian security analysts oppose the deal because it will destroy India's N-weapons programme.
You name it, you've got it: there are worries expressed about nuclear proliferation, about India's losing its sovereignty, about India getting sucked into America's wicked global plans, about India abetting anti-Islamic war-mongering through collusion with President Bush, about destroying India's future nuclear weapons programme, about blocking Iran's nuclear programme, about encouraging Iran's nuclear programme – the concerns wide and varied. The demand remains the same. The most influential section of US media, US big business, China, Israel, pro-Islamists, CPI-M, BJP – they are all on the same side. With one voice they chant the same refrain: "Kill the Indo-US Nuclear deal!"
They add up to a formidable group and a powerful voice. Should it be called Leftist? Rightist? Or does money make the world spin? If so, it clearly operates at a level far above the heads of our own pathetic Leftists and Rightists who seem not even to know whose interests they serve.
Indians should ignore these disparate arguments from questionable sources betraying dubious links, and focus on a single fact: if a non-NPT nation like India signs the deal it will achieve a unique distinction. It will be recognized as a nuclear power. That would enhance significantly its global role.
October 10, 2007
| ENEMIES WITHIN THE BORDERS | ||
| Richard Holbrooke's demand to open a new front in Baluchistan is unlikely to be met by the Pakistani leaders, writes Abhijit Bhattacharyya | ||
An unexpected but interesting development seems to have taken place during Richard Holbrooke's recent visit to Pakistan. During his meetings with the president, Asif Ali Zardari, the prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, the army chief, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and the minister of state for finance, Hina Rabbani, Holbrooke insisted on intensifying operations in Helmand, coupled with enhanced intelligence-sharing and military offensive in Baluchistan. The sudden emphasis on Baluchistan by the US special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, coming in the steps of the joint statement issued by Manmohan Singh and Yousaf Gilani at Sharm el-Sheikh, has created waves across South Asia. Holbrooke reportedly referred to India as a "great regional power", to be "taken on board on actions against militants that are the common enemy of the US, India and Pakistan". It also appeared that Holbrooke made a subtle distinction in his references to the United States of America, India and Pakistan. He referred to the actions of militants in the US and in India as "attacks". But when it came to militant strikes in Pakistan, he stated that the extremists were "killing innocent people and had murdered Pakistan's great leader, Benazir Bhutto". Holbrooke seemed to have created two distinct categories. The US and India — victims of a common terror — have been bracketed together. As for Pakistan, Holbrooke suggested that it faces a threat from 'within'. Holbrooke's concerns for the US and India are easily discernible. He seems to share the belief that the origin of terror lies in Pakistan. Hence his stringent demands on Pakistan and its government. Holbrooke, in keeping with his special status, also declared that "tension between Pakistan and India was now over, and both countries needed to move forward and take action against the common enemy." However, it is unlikely that Holbrooke's demand of a military offensive in Baluchistan will be met by the Pakistani authorities. Pakistan is unlikely to open a new front in Baluchistan because of a number of factors that might inconvenience its military deployments. To begin with, one must have a clear understanding of Baluchistan, and its geo-strategic importance to Pakistan. Baluchistan is the largest province in Pakistan, and comprises nearly 48 per cent of the total area of the country. Baluchistan's one crore population makes up, approximately, six per cent of Pakistan's total population. Nevertheless, governing the province has never been easy, ever since it became a part of Pakistan a year after the partition of India. Baluchistan continues to be volatile and violent owing to several mistakes committed by the Pakistani generals. The tribals in Baluchistan, led by the chieftains called sardars, have been sensitive about the non-Baluchi dominance over their tradition, culture and natural resources ever since the province became a part of Pakistan. Things have not changed much ever since, in spite of the advent of Taliban and the presence of Nato forces in the vicinity. In the early days, Baluchistan did not pose a significant threat to the Pakistani state. Consequently, army excesses were also unheard of. All this changed because of the ill-conceived military action on August 26, 2006, when Akbar Khan Bugti, the head of the Bugti tribe, was killed by bombs dropped from army helicopters on his hideout. This single, monumental blunder proved to be disastrous for General Pervez Musharraf's political career as he succeeded in opening multiple war fronts, which, in turn, resulted in the escalation of violence within Pakistan. For the army in Pakistan, Baluchistan is still a small trouble spot. The bigger and graver threat to the nation, from the army's point of view, is the Taliban. The Taliban, according to the Pakistani army, is 'pro-India', and has been 'created' by India to foment trouble inside Pakistan. This, the army thinks, has been done in response to Pakistan's proxy war against India which is being carried out in the form of terror strikes across the border. When the marauding Taliban faced the might of the Pakistani military in Swat valley, Sajjad Ghani, the sector commander, mentioned the alleged Indian role in the violence in that region. "The Taliban", explained Ghani, "is being directed, commanded and controlled by some of hostile intelligence agencies." He also added that the Taliban was "being controlled by our neighbouring country." In his references to "hostile intelligence agencies", and "neighbouring country", Ghani could have only alluded to the Research and Analysis Wing and to India respectively. The exasperated Ghani also made another fascinating comparison. He went on record stating, "Matta, a major Taliban stronghold in Swat, is the Benares of terrorism." In fact, credible reports suggest that virtually everyone in Pakistan — street-side tea vendors, students and senior officials — genuinely believe that the Taliban's advance in Pakistan is part of a larger Indian conspiracy to encircle the country by building ties with the US and Afghanistan. Never mind that the Taliban is fighting the White House and Kabul simultaneously. An ordinary Indian will be surprised to learn that some circles in Pakistan sincerely believe that the Indian consulate in Afghanistan, fully supported by the US, is creating mayhem and sabotaging peace in Pakistan. Daily Express, an Urdu newspaper, expressed its opinion in an editorial in June that "the Pakistani army should come down hard on any one who is playing into the hands of foreign powers." However, Pakistan blaming India for http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090811/jsp/opinion/story_11343040.jspits problems in Swat and in the other Taliban-infested regions has served a useful purpose. It has led to the broadening of anti-Taliban operations undertaken by the army. The idea that fighting the Taliban amounts to fighting India has created an anti-Taliban and pro-army image among the people. Anti-Taliban sentiments have also played a critical role in rallying the nationalist army to support and execute a wide range of operations to crush the insurgents. Hence, full-scale operations by the Pakistan army against the Taliban implies that the army will not be able to open similar fronts in Baluchistan. But it has to be borne in mind that not all Islamists pose a problem for Pakistan: only those who are being commandeered, funded and guided by hostile neighbours are a threat. Hence, while the Pakistani Taliban and their Indian handlers need to be crushed, the Afghan Taliban deserve to be nurtured. Under the circumstances, how can Holbrooke expect that his demands will be met by the Pakistan establishment? Little wonder then that Afghan Taliban fighters cross the Durand Line with ease and manage to find safe haven deep inside Pakistani territory. Holbrooke is trying to nudge the Pakistani leaders to act against the Afghan Taliban and the Baluchistan-based terrorists by deploying more troops. But most Pakistani leaders believe that the Pakistani Taliban fighters, sponsored by the US and India, are enemies while the Afghan Taliban are their friends. Thus, Holbrooke's worries are far from over. Difficult days lie ahead for diplomats dealing with Pakistan.
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| GENTEEL DEBATES - The Indian middle class and the new Afghan war | |
| Cutting Corners - Ashok Mitra | |
The Congress will, of course, not say it. Not just because polite society has its own norms, the Opposition too has skirted round the real issue in the parliamentary discussions on the India-Pakistan joint statement. That the venue chosen for the statement was a Non-Aligned Movement gathering was neither here nor there; it was signed at the prodding of the United States of America. Its contents — interpreted in India as slightly tilting towards Pakistan on account of the reference to 'threats' in Baluchistan — were again something Foggy Bottom must have persuaded India to, please, go along with. Both subcontinental countries are now firmly launched as strategic partners of the US, courtesy demands that subsidiary partners offer, every now and then, a helping hand when the major domo encounters trouble And the US, indeed, is in deep difficulties. It has been laid low by the worst economic recession in eight decades. Resources are being drained away by economic fire-fighting operations at home. 9/11 was a good enough pretext for George W. Bush to overrun Iraq and capture and kill Saddam Hussein. However, the American nation is convinced that that outrage was more the handiwork of al Qaida and its alter ego, the Taliban currently entrenched in Afghanistan. The Taliban must be destroyed. Crushing them is proving to be no easy matter though. Coming on top of the seemingly inexorable entanglement in Iraq, the expedition against the Taliban, who have meanwhile spilled over into Pakistan, calls for deployment of enormous further resources, including human resources. The recession-hit US is in a jam. The Western allies are most reluctant to send their troops to be ambushed and killed in Afghanistan. The Obama administration is also under pledge to the electorate to wind down the war in West Asia. In the circumstances, the allies in South Asia have to be called upon to bail out the US. The obvious first choice, Pakistan, abuts Afghanistan and, in any case, is already a hotbed of Taliban conspiracy. But there have been problems. Pervez Musharraf, whom the Americans had lent full support in the beginning, was losing his grip over the country's military establishment. He was careless enough to let the Taliban penetrate into the country's Inter-Services Intelligence, and committed the equally grievous folly of allowing them both to take control of most of the country's mosques and set up thousands of madrasas to indoctrinate Pakistan's younger generation. He therefore needed to be replaced. The US administration preferred Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party to Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League as the former promised a firmer anti-Taliban stand. Still, Zardari cannot fight on two fronts; there must be some sort of détente with the traditional enemy, India, before Pakistan could give its undivided attention to the task of tackling the Taliban. Americans, appreciative of Pakistan's argument, have gone to work. The US has enough clout to nudge a reluctant India to the negotiation table with Pakistan. The emerging Indian middle class has not only nuclear ambitions; it has also begun to weave dreams to be China's equal in military and industrial might. The US administration is willing to humour India along in the matter and supply the much-coveted weaponry, including the strategically most sensitive ones. It is, however, going to be a conditional willingness: the contours of New Delhi's foreign policy must not stray beyond guidelines set by Foggy Bottom. Actually, Americans are in a position to drive home another advantage. While India's merchandise exports are declining, close to 90 billion dollars accrue to the country from software exports to the US; another 60 billion dollars are coming in as remittances by expatriate Indians serving mostly as software technicians there. This total kitty of 150 billion dollars is sustaining the comfortable, often luxurious, living of India's affluent class, who also happen to be the backbone of support for the ruling politicians. The US administration is thus well placed to cajole the Indian authorities into seeing reason. Not that New Delhi has not done its own arithmetic. Given the overlapping class base of the two main political parties in the country, it is not difficult to persuade them to reach a tacit agreement to abide by American advice to go somewhat easy with Pakistan. Since one of the two parties constitutes the major Opposition, it has to make the standard noises alleging compromise of national interests embedded in the Sharm el-Sheikh statement. The reference to Baluchistan is irksome, but a balancing factor is Pakistan's admission that 26/11 was perpetrated by its citizens, to apprehend whom the Interpol has been called in. Pakistan has also banned a number of terrorist outfits named by India. The greater cause — to be on the right side of the US — needs to prevail. It is for the sake of that cause too that the odious 'arrangement' on end-use inspection of sensitive weaponry and materiel shipped from the US has to be swallowed. Common sense must not be taken leave of: once you have signed the nuclear deal with the US, you have already accepted the cloying provisions of the Hyde Act. So far, so good. The Americans, however, have yet other ambitions. It is their covert desire that India should also agree to recognize the Taliban as the principal threat to its own national security. Once that realization dawns, India too, the Americans hope, will agree to form a joint front with Pakistan against the Taliban. In pure vernacular, the US wants India to bear, sooner or later, sooner rather than later, a part of the burden of fighting the Taliban. For is it not a great noble cause? South Asia, along with the rest of the world, has to be made rid of those barbarians, the Taliban, who have been terrorizing India through surreptitious attacks organized by subsidiary outfits. India should not, must not, flinch from deploying its troops and security forces to the hilt to fight the common enemy. To optimize the effectiveness of the effort, India should also explore the possibility of joint action with Pakistan under the umbrella of the overall strategy mapped out in the Pentagon. A century and a half later, India is no longer enslaved in the technical sense. But there is such a thing as enlightened self-interest; the country's rising middle class might still agree to share, if not in full, at least in part, the burden of America's Taliban war. It knows which side its class bread is buttered. Someone, some day, will perhaps have the guts to tell the US that the problem is not the pestilential 'common enemy', the Taliban, representing global terror; it is the American establishment which is the problem. Their overarching aspiration is to establish a global hegemony; therefore wars have to be launched in different parts of the world, people have to be killed and civilizations destroyed. The Indian middle class will have no part in such plain-speaking, at least not at this juncture when they never had it so good. The Indian parliament, it follows, will only indulge in genteel debates. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090814/jsp/opinion/story_11347465.jsp |
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