Monday, April 11, 2011
A NOTE
I will be away to New Delhi from the AN of April 12 to the night of April 14. During this period I may or may not write depending on the time available and my comfort level with my laptop ---B.Raman
BARKHA DUTT: Q & A
BARKHA DUTT: Q & A
B.RAMAN
The following are some comments tweeted by me yesterday and this morning in response to questions received from one of my readers, who has specified that he does not belong to any Hindutva group. To be read from bottom upwards. (12-4-11)
She demonises her critics which is wrong in a journalist.Criticise your critics, if need be, but don't demonise them.
Lot of criticism of Barkha is based on prejudices and pre-conceived notions.She has many wonderful qualities---but one negative.
I agree we have a right to criticise her objectively. Prejudices and pre-conceived notions shd not influence the criticism.
She is a professional journalist with no political agenda. I find her coverage objective.
Nor is she the favourite of any political party.Hereafter, I will ignore all Tweets on this subject.
From whatever I know of Barkha, she has no political favourites.
If I say she is exuberant, you guys say it must be because Congress (I) is winning.If I say she is subdued, U guys say opposite.
U guys all the time try to give a mischievous political twist to any remark on or about Barkha.Am sick & tired of this.
All I was hinting was she seemed to like WB (West Bengal) countryside more than TN ( Tamil Nadu) countryside.Her liking for WB cuisine is evident
B.RAMAN
The following are some comments tweeted by me yesterday and this morning in response to questions received from one of my readers, who has specified that he does not belong to any Hindutva group. To be read from bottom upwards. (12-4-11)
She demonises her critics which is wrong in a journalist.Criticise your critics, if need be, but don't demonise them.
Lot of criticism of Barkha is based on prejudices and pre-conceived notions.She has many wonderful qualities---but one negative.
I agree we have a right to criticise her objectively. Prejudices and pre-conceived notions shd not influence the criticism.
She is a professional journalist with no political agenda. I find her coverage objective.
Nor is she the favourite of any political party.Hereafter, I will ignore all Tweets on this subject.
From whatever I know of Barkha, she has no political favourites.
If I say she is exuberant, you guys say it must be because Congress (I) is winning.If I say she is subdued, U guys say opposite.
U guys all the time try to give a mischievous political twist to any remark on or about Barkha.Am sick & tired of this.
All I was hinting was she seemed to like WB (West Bengal) countryside more than TN ( Tamil Nadu) countryside.Her liking for WB cuisine is evident
CHINA'S FIRST AIRCRAFT-CARRIER
B.RAMAN
The following post has been extracted from the China Forum blog of the "China Daily". The abbreviation SCMP in the post stands for the "South China Morning Post" .Pics of the aircraft carrier are available at http://bbs.chinadaily.com.cn/viewthread.php?gid=2&tid=697241&extra=page%3D1
China's first aircraft carrier
Twenty high-resolution pictures of China's first aircraft carrier, the 67,500-tonne Varyag, appeared on the Xinhua website yesterday, with captions saying the vessel was almost finished and expected to sail this year.
It was the first time official state media reported on the nation's first aircraft carrier project as well as indicating its construction progress at a shipyard in Dalian , Liaoning .
It said while there had been a marked upswing in Beijing's assertiveness in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, that, too, had been toned down in recent months.
The Xinhua picture captions said refitting work on the Varyag, a Soviet-designed Admiral Kuznetsov-class carrier that China bought from Ukraine in 1998, was almost complete after more than a decade spent on reconstruction.
"A 70-year dream of an aircraft carrier that is all-Chinese will come true soon," one caption said.
Citing the latest report of Canadian-based Kanwa Asian Defence Monthly, the captions confirmed the carrier would start sea trials this year after an active phased array radar system was installed on the vessel.
It was at least the second time official media had quoted a source from the internet posted by military enthusiasts and overseas media to reconfirm Beijing's new weapon plans.
The first test flight of a new generation J-20 stealth fighter jet in January was another well-known example.
Chang estimated the carrier would undergo sea tests - including power system trials, harbour trials, close-range and high-sea trials - for about two years.
"After the sea trials are finished, it will also need at least eight years to test its radar and weapons systems such as the J-15, early warning planes and others on board," he said.
But China would have its first formal carrier fighting group in 10 years, after all the trials and tests were completed, he said.
"Since Varyag is a carrier for training purposes, it's possible that it will be equipped with magnetic or steam catapults instead of its originally designed ski-jump ramp take-off system," Chang said. (SCMP)
The following post has been extracted from the China Forum blog of the "China Daily". The abbreviation SCMP in the post stands for the "South China Morning Post" .Pics of the aircraft carrier are available at http://bbs.chinadaily.com.cn/viewthread.php?gid=2&tid=697241&extra=page%3D1
China's first aircraft carrier
Twenty high-resolution pictures of China's first aircraft carrier, the 67,500-tonne Varyag, appeared on the Xinhua website yesterday, with captions saying the vessel was almost finished and expected to sail this year.
It was the first time official state media reported on the nation's first aircraft carrier project as well as indicating its construction progress at a shipyard in Dalian , Liaoning .
It said while there had been a marked upswing in Beijing's assertiveness in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, that, too, had been toned down in recent months.
The Xinhua picture captions said refitting work on the Varyag, a Soviet-designed Admiral Kuznetsov-class carrier that China bought from Ukraine in 1998, was almost complete after more than a decade spent on reconstruction.
"A 70-year dream of an aircraft carrier that is all-Chinese will come true soon," one caption said.
Citing the latest report of Canadian-based Kanwa Asian Defence Monthly, the captions confirmed the carrier would start sea trials this year after an active phased array radar system was installed on the vessel.
It was at least the second time official media had quoted a source from the internet posted by military enthusiasts and overseas media to reconfirm Beijing's new weapon plans.
The first test flight of a new generation J-20 stealth fighter jet in January was another well-known example.
Chang estimated the carrier would undergo sea tests - including power system trials, harbour trials, close-range and high-sea trials - for about two years.
"After the sea trials are finished, it will also need at least eight years to test its radar and weapons systems such as the J-15, early warning planes and others on board," he said.
But China would have its first formal carrier fighting group in 10 years, after all the trials and tests were completed, he said.
"Since Varyag is a carrier for training purposes, it's possible that it will be equipped with magnetic or steam catapults instead of its originally designed ski-jump ramp take-off system," Chang said. (SCMP)
Sunday, April 10, 2011
LANZHOU--URUMQI FAST RAIL LINE
B.RAMAN
On April 11,2011, the Government-controlled Xinhua news agency of China has disseminated from Lhasa a report on the construction of a fast rail line to connect Lanzhou, the capital of the Gansu province, with Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang province. The construction of this line, capable of carrying trains moving at 300 KMs an hour, was started in 2009 and is due to be completed in 2015. Annexed is the text of the Xinhua despatch.The Xinhua despatch has quoted some Chinese analystys as viewing the line as significant more from the national security and political angle than from the economic perspective.Though the Xinhua has not spelt it out in such terms, it should be apparent that the railway line will help strengthen Beijing's control over the Tibetan and Uighur-inhabited areas of the country (11-4-11)
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
ANNEXURE
China takes fast rail ambition to new heights
Deep in the Qilian Mountains in northwest China, early spring is marked with heavy snow and freezing temperatures.
In this desolate place in Qinghai Province, at an altitude of 3,700 meters above sea level, migrant worker Li Bingui is seldom separated from his jackhammer, which moves his whole body as he works to break apart bedrock.
Li, along with more than 1,800 other workers, are at the mercy of a ruthless environment as they construct the world's highest high-speed railway.
HIGHER, TOUGHER
Li and others are carving out a 9,490-meter tunnel through the rugged mountain range, one of the most difficult parts of the building the line to link Lanzhou, capital of Gansu Province, with Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
The 1,776-kilometer second line of Lanxin Railway runs across Gansu and Qinghai provinces to Xinjiang, traversing the wind ravaged Gobi Desert.
Started in late 2009 and scheduled to be completed in 2015, the line is designed for trains traveling at up to 300 kilometers per hour, much faster than the current 120 kilometers per hour on the existing line, cutting travel time between Lanzhou and Urumqi to about six hours.
Ren Shaoqiang, chief engineer with the China Railway 20th Group Co., Ltd., which is in charge of the construction, told Xinhua that compared with the Qinghai-Tibet plateau railway and the existing line between Lanzhou and Urumqi, construction of this fast rail line is more challenging.
Take the tunnel project for example. There's no precedent to draw from, said Ren, who also played a significant role in building the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the highest rail link in the world.
We have to make innovations, just like when we worked on the Fenghuoshan Tunnel of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.
In the past year or so, engineers have worked with researchers from several universities in China on natural disaster forecasting, water discharge, measuring of wall rock transfiguration, among other things.
Other worries are more immediately pressing, such as the lack of oxygen in the air because of the high altitude, which poses a threat to the health of workers.
Zhang Hong, a director at the site, said natural oxygen content in the tunnel is only around 65 percent of that in low-lying areas.
Besides, from October to June, the mountain is frequently covered by ice and snow, Zhang added.
Construction worker Wu Xuelin said working on the tunnel project is far more stressful than working on similar projects in coastal areas like in Shandong Province or Shanghai.
I could not adapt well at the beginning, suffering headaches, nausea, and had difficulty sleeping, Wu said.
The company has stepped up safety measures to better protect workers, providing them with oxygen tanks and setting up rooms at cave exits for workers to inhale oxygen.
It has also built oxygen-generating stations to provide more oxygen in the tunnel.
Live video surveillance and alarm systems have also been set up.
We only need to switch on a computer and log in to our accounts to know what's happening in the tunnel, even if we are thousands of kilometers away, Ren said. We can also remotely control operations.
Despite all these measures, Guo Yuhong, Secretary of the Communist Party of China and Union Committee for the Qilian Mountains Tunnel, said, Under such conditions, nobody can stand a high workload for a long time.
Guo, 44, has been stationed at the construction site since last year, and his hair has turned gray during that period of time.
MORE EXPENSIVE, MORE CONTROVERSIAL
According to Ren, building the line through difficult terrain like in the Qilian Mountain area requires twice as much investment compared with similar high-speed line construction on low-level flat areas.
Wages for construction workers is also double, he said.
For regular high-speed rail lines with a designed speed of 350 kilometers an hour, construction costs can reach 100 million yuan (about 15.15 million U.S.dollars) per km, much higher than lines designed for allowing trains to travel at a speed of 200 kilometers per hour.
As the first long-distance high-speed rail line in west China, the second line of Lanxin Railway has a planned investment of more than 140 billion yuan in total, but the actual figure is yet to be revealed.
The project, designed as a passenger route, will make way for the existing Lanxin Railway to be used exclusively for freight.
Analysts are divided over whether the benefits outweigh the costs of building high-speed lines in the ecologically fragile western regions.
Some say higher construction costs will only push up ticket prices and, like other high-speed lines in coastal areas, might not be much favored by many passengers. Others take it as an effective means to develop the economy in the generally under-developed regions.
A senior researcher with the China Academy of Railway Sciences told Xinhua, on condition of anonymity, that it will be difficult to make money from building such a line.
It's more of a political thing, he said. It's more about national defense and ethnic unity.
The new railway is expected to facilitate transport of energy resources from the vast desolate northwest to other regions of the country.
Take Xinjiang for example rich in oil, coal and natural gas reserves, the region is aiming to supply more of its resources to other areas in the coming five years.
Wang Tieshan, a PhD of economics at the Xi'an Jiaotong University, said high-speed railways are vital for closer links between cities in the west regions as they are usually far apart.
So far, several provinces and regions in the west, including Shaanxi Province in the northwest and Guizhou in the southwest, have laid out ambitious plans for high-speed rail construction over the next five years.
Currently, high-speed rail has linked Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi, with Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan Province. More such links between Xi'an and other west cities like Chengdu and Yinchuan are either under construction or in the planning.
At the political sessions held in early March, high-speed rail remained one of the hottest topics among national legislators and political advisors, particularly as the high-growth industry was shrouded in uncertainties following the sacking of former railway minister Liu Zhijun in February on suspicion of graft.
Sheng Guangzu, the new railway minister, said Liu's case was only an individual one and that China would continue to develop the industry in the coming years in accordance with the country's mid-and-long-term railway network plan.
Under China's economic master plan unveiled in March for the next five years, China aims to have more than 16,000 kilometers of high-speed railway by 2015. Currently, more than 8,000 kilometers of high-speed rail line are in operation, already the most in the world.
As to concerns about the massive debts caused by high construction costs and low occupancy rate due to expensive ticket prices, Sheng said the debt ratio of around 56 percent is normal and controllable.
Sheng also has pledged strict and high quality standards on the construction of high-speed rails to ensure safety.
However, legislators and political advisors have called for a restraint on the expansion of the high-speed rail network to avoid over-investment driven by an irrational pursuit for speed.
Political advisor Feng Pei'en suggested that new railway construction plans be made public to solicit feedback and that decisions be made based on objective analysis of passenger flows by air, rail and road.
Zhuang Wei, another political advisor, argued that China should focus on building railways with speeds at around 250 kilometers per hour because those at higher than 300 kilometers an hour are not only much more expensive but also tend to produce more pollution.
From: Xinhua
On April 11,2011, the Government-controlled Xinhua news agency of China has disseminated from Lhasa a report on the construction of a fast rail line to connect Lanzhou, the capital of the Gansu province, with Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang province. The construction of this line, capable of carrying trains moving at 300 KMs an hour, was started in 2009 and is due to be completed in 2015. Annexed is the text of the Xinhua despatch.The Xinhua despatch has quoted some Chinese analystys as viewing the line as significant more from the national security and political angle than from the economic perspective.Though the Xinhua has not spelt it out in such terms, it should be apparent that the railway line will help strengthen Beijing's control over the Tibetan and Uighur-inhabited areas of the country (11-4-11)
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
ANNEXURE
China takes fast rail ambition to new heights
Deep in the Qilian Mountains in northwest China, early spring is marked with heavy snow and freezing temperatures.
In this desolate place in Qinghai Province, at an altitude of 3,700 meters above sea level, migrant worker Li Bingui is seldom separated from his jackhammer, which moves his whole body as he works to break apart bedrock.
Li, along with more than 1,800 other workers, are at the mercy of a ruthless environment as they construct the world's highest high-speed railway.
HIGHER, TOUGHER
Li and others are carving out a 9,490-meter tunnel through the rugged mountain range, one of the most difficult parts of the building the line to link Lanzhou, capital of Gansu Province, with Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
The 1,776-kilometer second line of Lanxin Railway runs across Gansu and Qinghai provinces to Xinjiang, traversing the wind ravaged Gobi Desert.
Started in late 2009 and scheduled to be completed in 2015, the line is designed for trains traveling at up to 300 kilometers per hour, much faster than the current 120 kilometers per hour on the existing line, cutting travel time between Lanzhou and Urumqi to about six hours.
Ren Shaoqiang, chief engineer with the China Railway 20th Group Co., Ltd., which is in charge of the construction, told Xinhua that compared with the Qinghai-Tibet plateau railway and the existing line between Lanzhou and Urumqi, construction of this fast rail line is more challenging.
Take the tunnel project for example. There's no precedent to draw from, said Ren, who also played a significant role in building the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the highest rail link in the world.
We have to make innovations, just like when we worked on the Fenghuoshan Tunnel of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.
In the past year or so, engineers have worked with researchers from several universities in China on natural disaster forecasting, water discharge, measuring of wall rock transfiguration, among other things.
Other worries are more immediately pressing, such as the lack of oxygen in the air because of the high altitude, which poses a threat to the health of workers.
Zhang Hong, a director at the site, said natural oxygen content in the tunnel is only around 65 percent of that in low-lying areas.
Besides, from October to June, the mountain is frequently covered by ice and snow, Zhang added.
Construction worker Wu Xuelin said working on the tunnel project is far more stressful than working on similar projects in coastal areas like in Shandong Province or Shanghai.
I could not adapt well at the beginning, suffering headaches, nausea, and had difficulty sleeping, Wu said.
The company has stepped up safety measures to better protect workers, providing them with oxygen tanks and setting up rooms at cave exits for workers to inhale oxygen.
It has also built oxygen-generating stations to provide more oxygen in the tunnel.
Live video surveillance and alarm systems have also been set up.
We only need to switch on a computer and log in to our accounts to know what's happening in the tunnel, even if we are thousands of kilometers away, Ren said. We can also remotely control operations.
Despite all these measures, Guo Yuhong, Secretary of the Communist Party of China and Union Committee for the Qilian Mountains Tunnel, said, Under such conditions, nobody can stand a high workload for a long time.
Guo, 44, has been stationed at the construction site since last year, and his hair has turned gray during that period of time.
MORE EXPENSIVE, MORE CONTROVERSIAL
According to Ren, building the line through difficult terrain like in the Qilian Mountain area requires twice as much investment compared with similar high-speed line construction on low-level flat areas.
Wages for construction workers is also double, he said.
For regular high-speed rail lines with a designed speed of 350 kilometers an hour, construction costs can reach 100 million yuan (about 15.15 million U.S.dollars) per km, much higher than lines designed for allowing trains to travel at a speed of 200 kilometers per hour.
As the first long-distance high-speed rail line in west China, the second line of Lanxin Railway has a planned investment of more than 140 billion yuan in total, but the actual figure is yet to be revealed.
The project, designed as a passenger route, will make way for the existing Lanxin Railway to be used exclusively for freight.
Analysts are divided over whether the benefits outweigh the costs of building high-speed lines in the ecologically fragile western regions.
Some say higher construction costs will only push up ticket prices and, like other high-speed lines in coastal areas, might not be much favored by many passengers. Others take it as an effective means to develop the economy in the generally under-developed regions.
A senior researcher with the China Academy of Railway Sciences told Xinhua, on condition of anonymity, that it will be difficult to make money from building such a line.
It's more of a political thing, he said. It's more about national defense and ethnic unity.
The new railway is expected to facilitate transport of energy resources from the vast desolate northwest to other regions of the country.
Take Xinjiang for example rich in oil, coal and natural gas reserves, the region is aiming to supply more of its resources to other areas in the coming five years.
Wang Tieshan, a PhD of economics at the Xi'an Jiaotong University, said high-speed railways are vital for closer links between cities in the west regions as they are usually far apart.
So far, several provinces and regions in the west, including Shaanxi Province in the northwest and Guizhou in the southwest, have laid out ambitious plans for high-speed rail construction over the next five years.
Currently, high-speed rail has linked Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi, with Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan Province. More such links between Xi'an and other west cities like Chengdu and Yinchuan are either under construction or in the planning.
At the political sessions held in early March, high-speed rail remained one of the hottest topics among national legislators and political advisors, particularly as the high-growth industry was shrouded in uncertainties following the sacking of former railway minister Liu Zhijun in February on suspicion of graft.
Sheng Guangzu, the new railway minister, said Liu's case was only an individual one and that China would continue to develop the industry in the coming years in accordance with the country's mid-and-long-term railway network plan.
Under China's economic master plan unveiled in March for the next five years, China aims to have more than 16,000 kilometers of high-speed railway by 2015. Currently, more than 8,000 kilometers of high-speed rail line are in operation, already the most in the world.
As to concerns about the massive debts caused by high construction costs and low occupancy rate due to expensive ticket prices, Sheng said the debt ratio of around 56 percent is normal and controllable.
Sheng also has pledged strict and high quality standards on the construction of high-speed rails to ensure safety.
However, legislators and political advisors have called for a restraint on the expansion of the high-speed rail network to avoid over-investment driven by an irrational pursuit for speed.
Political advisor Feng Pei'en suggested that new railway construction plans be made public to solicit feedback and that decisions be made based on objective analysis of passenger flows by air, rail and road.
Zhuang Wei, another political advisor, argued that China should focus on building railways with speeds at around 250 kilometers per hour because those at higher than 300 kilometers an hour are not only much more expensive but also tend to produce more pollution.
From: Xinhua
LEAD, KINDLY LIGHT
( A favourite poem/hymn of mine when I was a school student. I will try to upload periodically favourite poems of mine as a student and an adult---B.Raman)
"Lead, Kindly Light, amidst th'encircling gloom,
Lead Thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home,
Lead Thou me on!
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene; one step enough for me.
I was not ever thus,
nor prayed that Thou shouldst lead me on;
I loved to choose and see my path;
but now lead Thou me on!
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will. Remember not past years!
So long Thy power hath blest me,
sure it still will lead me on.
O’er moor and fen, o’er crag and torrent,
till the night is gone,
And with the morn those angel faces smile, which I
Have loved long since, and lost awhile!
Meantime, along the narrow rugged path,
Thyself hast trod,
Lead, Saviour, lead me home in childlike faith,
home to my God.
To rest forever after earthly strife
In the calm light of everlasting life."
---Cardinal John Henry Newman (1833)
"Lead, Kindly Light, amidst th'encircling gloom,
Lead Thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home,
Lead Thou me on!
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene; one step enough for me.
I was not ever thus,
nor prayed that Thou shouldst lead me on;
I loved to choose and see my path;
but now lead Thou me on!
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will. Remember not past years!
So long Thy power hath blest me,
sure it still will lead me on.
O’er moor and fen, o’er crag and torrent,
till the night is gone,
And with the morn those angel faces smile, which I
Have loved long since, and lost awhile!
Meantime, along the narrow rugged path,
Thyself hast trod,
Lead, Saviour, lead me home in childlike faith,
home to my God.
To rest forever after earthly strife
In the calm light of everlasting life."
---Cardinal John Henry Newman (1833)
Saturday, April 9, 2011
FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION: STRATEGIC & TACTICAL
B.RAMAN
What one saw on the morning of April 9,2011, when social activist Anna Hazare broke his fast unto death after the Government of India accepted his demands relating to the enactment of legislation to set up an independent institutional mechanism to deal with corruption was the end of the initial tactical phase of this confrontation between the Government and a group of civil society activists and the beginning of the strategic phase.
2. The victory in the initial tactical skirmishes was with the civil society activists led by Anna Hazare. Confronted with a rapidly developing movement, which assumed the dimensions of a storm within four days of its start ---aided by widespread anger and disgust over the perceived foot-dragging by the Government on the issue of action against those allegedly involved in serious cases of corruption-- the Government of Dr.Manmohan Singh caved in and accepted all the demands in order to buy for itself time to recover from the surprise caused by the assertion of Youth Power on the issue and the emerging unity of action between social and student activists. This was a phenomenon that the Government had not anticipated.
3. The Government accepted the demands of the civil society coalition not because it was fully convinced that their demands are legitimate, but because it realised that having been taken totally by surprise, it had no other option but to concede their initial demands. It was a tactical concession to the view-point of the civil society coalition and not a strategic acceptance of it.
4. The Government's decision to concede a tactical victory to the civil society coalition was based on two apparent calculations. Firstly, the unexpected coalition between the social and students, activists may not be durable and may break asunder with the flux of time. Secondly, once the coalition demobilises its fighters after its tactical victory it may find it difficult to re-mobilise them if another confrontation develops and this could give the necessary time to the Government to prepare itself for the next round. Histories of people's movements often show that once they demobilise half-way, they find it difficult to re-mobilise. We are seeing this in Egypt now.
5. It would be unwise on the part of the Government to take advantage of the breather offered by the agreement on the setting-up of a joint committee of Government and civil society representatives in an attempt to create divisions within the civil society coalition. It could prove counter-productive and further weaken the credibility of the Government. The national movement against corruption spearheaded by Anna Hazare and the long chain of Government inactions on the issue of corruption that preceded it have clearly highlighted certain realities:
* Firstly, there is anger and disgust in all sections of urban societies over the Government's failure to act against corruption. Whether this anger has permeated to rural societies also would be seen from the results of the forthcoming elections in Tamil Nadu, the epi-centre of mega corruption, which did not see the kind of outpouring of support for the Anna Hazare movement that one saw in some other parts of India. One is likely to see an urban-rural divide in the fight against corruption. Can an urban movement alone succeed in the campaign against corruption if the rural masses do not support it? On the answer to this question would depend the future shape and direction of the movement.
* Secondly, large sections of society want not only action in individual cases of corruption, but also institutional changes to impart credibility and give teeth to the fight against corruption.Anna Hazare's movement was for institutional changes and not in connection with the recently exposed individual cases but it was fueled by the public anger relating to the individual cases. If this anger relating to individual cases was not there, it is doubtful whether his movement would have gathered such a rapid momentum on the Jan Lok Pal issue alone.
6. It is important for the Government to re-establish its credibility in the eyes of the civil society. This will be possible only if it takes simultaneous action on both fronts, namely, individual cases and the setting-up of an independent institutional mechanism. The interest taken by the Supreme Court in monitoring the investigation in the individual cases obviates the need for the civil society coalition to activate itself on this issue. The Government will be mistaken if it thinks that it can take advantage of the breather to frustrate the efforts of the civil society coalition for a strong and really independent institutional mechanism.
7. Instead of indulging in such an unwise exercise of delay and dilution, it should take the lead in facilitating the quick completion of its tasks by the joint committee and in ensuring an early implementation of the proposal. If it has the wisdom to do so, it may be able to recover some of the ground lost by it on this issue because of its hitherto lethargic approach. The Government and civil society representatives in the committee should identify areas of convergence and divergence and initially approve the points of convergence. The goodwill created by such an exercise would make the task of dealing with the points of divergence easier.
8. Even now, there are many laws and regulations having a bearing on anti-corruption. If they are effectively implemented instances of corruption in both the Government and the civil society will decline. As examples, one could mention laws and regulations relating to submission of declaration by public servants regarding acquisition of property of certain value, payment of income-tax, acquisition of disproportionate assets, prevention of money-laundering etc There has been an increase in instances of corruption in both the Government and the civil society due to a failure to enforce these laws and regulations and punish those guilty of violating them. The Government should see that violations are no longer tolerated.
9.Anna Hazare himself is a man of established integrity and unimpeacheable credentials. One cannot say the same thing about some in his entourage. Those of us who were in Government service in the 1970s would remember the students' agitation in a state over the alleged filing of a false declaration by one of those now close to Anna for getting admission to an issue in a central medical institution. The credibility of the movement would be enhanced further if such elements are identified and excluded.
10. It is important for the Government to work out a long-term strategy to reduce corruption. An exercise for this purpose can be initiated immediately by the Government on its own initiative without waiting for the joint committee to make progress in its work. Other civil society and students activists, who are not part of the Anna movement, should also be associated with it. The Government should maintain its leadership role in the fight against corruption. That is the only way of regaining its credibility. It is important for the Prime Minister to be more articulate on this subject and to interact frequently and vigorously with all sections of civil society and the media.
11.It would be difficult to quantify the extent of support received by the movement from the students. There was an orchestration of the coverage by all TV channels in order to create a dramatic impact on the minds of the viewers. They wittingly or unwittingly created an impression as if waves and waves of students were coming out to join the movement. Any careful viewer would have noticed that this was not so. It is important for the Government and the Congress (I) to interact more closely with those sections of the students who had kept away from the movement.
12. Co-operation with the civil society coalition headed by Anna Hazare in matters relating to the legislation and independent initiatives in other matters should be the over-all strategy of the Government. (10-4-11)
( The writer is Additional Secretary, (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
What one saw on the morning of April 9,2011, when social activist Anna Hazare broke his fast unto death after the Government of India accepted his demands relating to the enactment of legislation to set up an independent institutional mechanism to deal with corruption was the end of the initial tactical phase of this confrontation between the Government and a group of civil society activists and the beginning of the strategic phase.
2. The victory in the initial tactical skirmishes was with the civil society activists led by Anna Hazare. Confronted with a rapidly developing movement, which assumed the dimensions of a storm within four days of its start ---aided by widespread anger and disgust over the perceived foot-dragging by the Government on the issue of action against those allegedly involved in serious cases of corruption-- the Government of Dr.Manmohan Singh caved in and accepted all the demands in order to buy for itself time to recover from the surprise caused by the assertion of Youth Power on the issue and the emerging unity of action between social and student activists. This was a phenomenon that the Government had not anticipated.
3. The Government accepted the demands of the civil society coalition not because it was fully convinced that their demands are legitimate, but because it realised that having been taken totally by surprise, it had no other option but to concede their initial demands. It was a tactical concession to the view-point of the civil society coalition and not a strategic acceptance of it.
4. The Government's decision to concede a tactical victory to the civil society coalition was based on two apparent calculations. Firstly, the unexpected coalition between the social and students, activists may not be durable and may break asunder with the flux of time. Secondly, once the coalition demobilises its fighters after its tactical victory it may find it difficult to re-mobilise them if another confrontation develops and this could give the necessary time to the Government to prepare itself for the next round. Histories of people's movements often show that once they demobilise half-way, they find it difficult to re-mobilise. We are seeing this in Egypt now.
5. It would be unwise on the part of the Government to take advantage of the breather offered by the agreement on the setting-up of a joint committee of Government and civil society representatives in an attempt to create divisions within the civil society coalition. It could prove counter-productive and further weaken the credibility of the Government. The national movement against corruption spearheaded by Anna Hazare and the long chain of Government inactions on the issue of corruption that preceded it have clearly highlighted certain realities:
* Firstly, there is anger and disgust in all sections of urban societies over the Government's failure to act against corruption. Whether this anger has permeated to rural societies also would be seen from the results of the forthcoming elections in Tamil Nadu, the epi-centre of mega corruption, which did not see the kind of outpouring of support for the Anna Hazare movement that one saw in some other parts of India. One is likely to see an urban-rural divide in the fight against corruption. Can an urban movement alone succeed in the campaign against corruption if the rural masses do not support it? On the answer to this question would depend the future shape and direction of the movement.
* Secondly, large sections of society want not only action in individual cases of corruption, but also institutional changes to impart credibility and give teeth to the fight against corruption.Anna Hazare's movement was for institutional changes and not in connection with the recently exposed individual cases but it was fueled by the public anger relating to the individual cases. If this anger relating to individual cases was not there, it is doubtful whether his movement would have gathered such a rapid momentum on the Jan Lok Pal issue alone.
6. It is important for the Government to re-establish its credibility in the eyes of the civil society. This will be possible only if it takes simultaneous action on both fronts, namely, individual cases and the setting-up of an independent institutional mechanism. The interest taken by the Supreme Court in monitoring the investigation in the individual cases obviates the need for the civil society coalition to activate itself on this issue. The Government will be mistaken if it thinks that it can take advantage of the breather to frustrate the efforts of the civil society coalition for a strong and really independent institutional mechanism.
7. Instead of indulging in such an unwise exercise of delay and dilution, it should take the lead in facilitating the quick completion of its tasks by the joint committee and in ensuring an early implementation of the proposal. If it has the wisdom to do so, it may be able to recover some of the ground lost by it on this issue because of its hitherto lethargic approach. The Government and civil society representatives in the committee should identify areas of convergence and divergence and initially approve the points of convergence. The goodwill created by such an exercise would make the task of dealing with the points of divergence easier.
8. Even now, there are many laws and regulations having a bearing on anti-corruption. If they are effectively implemented instances of corruption in both the Government and the civil society will decline. As examples, one could mention laws and regulations relating to submission of declaration by public servants regarding acquisition of property of certain value, payment of income-tax, acquisition of disproportionate assets, prevention of money-laundering etc There has been an increase in instances of corruption in both the Government and the civil society due to a failure to enforce these laws and regulations and punish those guilty of violating them. The Government should see that violations are no longer tolerated.
9.Anna Hazare himself is a man of established integrity and unimpeacheable credentials. One cannot say the same thing about some in his entourage. Those of us who were in Government service in the 1970s would remember the students' agitation in a state over the alleged filing of a false declaration by one of those now close to Anna for getting admission to an issue in a central medical institution. The credibility of the movement would be enhanced further if such elements are identified and excluded.
10. It is important for the Government to work out a long-term strategy to reduce corruption. An exercise for this purpose can be initiated immediately by the Government on its own initiative without waiting for the joint committee to make progress in its work. Other civil society and students activists, who are not part of the Anna movement, should also be associated with it. The Government should maintain its leadership role in the fight against corruption. That is the only way of regaining its credibility. It is important for the Prime Minister to be more articulate on this subject and to interact frequently and vigorously with all sections of civil society and the media.
11.It would be difficult to quantify the extent of support received by the movement from the students. There was an orchestration of the coverage by all TV channels in order to create a dramatic impact on the minds of the viewers. They wittingly or unwittingly created an impression as if waves and waves of students were coming out to join the movement. Any careful viewer would have noticed that this was not so. It is important for the Government and the Congress (I) to interact more closely with those sections of the students who had kept away from the movement.
12. Co-operation with the civil society coalition headed by Anna Hazare in matters relating to the legislation and independent initiatives in other matters should be the over-all strategy of the Government. (10-4-11)
( The writer is Additional Secretary, (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
Friday, April 8, 2011
DR.MANMOHAN SINGH BOWS TO STREET PRESSURE
B.RAMAN
If there is one individual who has to be blamed for the success of street power over State power as a consequence of the national movement against corruption launched by social activist Anna Hazare, that individual has to be our Prime Minister, Dr.Manmohan Singh.
2.His Government had been confronted with a series of serious allegations of corruption since the middle of last year---many of them true and some still under investigation. The relentless exposure of these instances of major corruption by the electronic media called for a leadership and communication skills of very high quality to reassure the public in a convincing manner that these allegations were being treated with all the seriousness they deserved and would be investigated thoroughly and action taken against those found guilty whatever be the position in public life occupied by them and whatever be the consequences to his continuance as the Prime Minister and to the stability and durability of the coalition Government headed by him.
3. Instead of doing so, he handled these allegations in a halting manner that seemed not serious to the public of the country. There was a suspected attempt to keep the investigation pro forma instead of thorough-going and act against the wrong-doers only when forced to do so by the public campaign on this issue. Instead of accepting responsibility for what had gone wrong with an expression of his determination to root out this cancer, he constantly tried to blame the constraints of coalition politics for what had happened and gave an impression to the public of being weak and helpless.
4. The nation desperately needed a cool and courageous captain who could control the ship of State after it had hit the iceberg of corruption. Instead what it had was a low-grade sailor who didn't seem to know how to steer the ship.
5. The public was totally bewildered. It did not know what was happening as serious allegations of corruption came out one after the other from the news channels. Instead of interacting with the public directly and through his policy advisers and media managers in order to keep it informed of the real facts of the cases and to restore its shattered confidence in his administration, he withdrew into the fortress of the Prime Minister's office and avoided as far as possible interactions with the public and the media. One would have expected him to address the public through the TV and the radio in order to restore its confidence in the State. One would have thought that he would interact more frequently, more vigorously and more transparently with the media in order to regain his credibility and that of his Government.
6. Instead, he avoided interactions with the media and left this important task to his ministers of varying shades of seniority and credibility. His media managers, instead of acting as the facilitators of interactions with the media, saw themselves as controllers of his interactions with the media. Instead of encouraging him to boldly face the media and the public on this subject, they protected him from any unnecessary and unwise exposure to the media and the public.
7. Dr.Manmohan Singh was never known as a good communicator ----either as a bureaucrat or as the Finance Minister or as the Prime Minister since he took over in 2004. His poor communication skills were repeatedly seen during the various terrorist strikes, during his handling of crisis situations in our relations with Pakistan and China, and during the controversy over allegations of widespread corruption in his Government. Ever since he took over as the Prime Minister, there was a gradual drying up of the communication channels between the public and the Prime Minister. The ordinary citizens of this country hardly had an opportunity of listening to their Prime Minister either directly at public meetings or indirectly through TV channels or the radio. We had a Prime Minister who was seen, but rarely heard or felt in flesh and blood.
8. The shockingly incompetent manner in which the question of the appointment of the Central Vigilance Commissioner was handled ultimately creating considerable embarrassment for him and his Government demonstrated to the public the ineptitude of the officers preferred by him as his close advisers to man the Prime Minister's Office and the Cabinet Secretariat. Instead of being seen as policy and action galvanisers, the public saw them as a pack of bunglers who mishandled important affairs of State and were as helpless as the Prime Minister in anticipating and handling important issues that could damage the credibility of the Prime Minister and his Government.
9. The cumulative effect of the cascading instances of corruption and incompetence was the weakening of the credibility of the Prime Minister, a widening trust deficit between the Government and the public and spreading anger and disgust over the unbridled corruption and the Prime Minister's perceived inability to deal with it.
10. Into this messy situation walked a group of non-Governmental activists led by Anna Hazare, who were hailed by growing sections of the public, particularly the youth, as the liberators of the people from the clutches of corruption and incompetence. They exploited the reluctance of successive Governments for over 40 years to initiate action for setting up an independent institutional mechanism for dealing with corruption to rally the people around their flag for achieving a single demand---the setting-up of the independent institutional mechanism. The action of Anna Hazare in going on a fast unto death electrified the youth of the country who came out in their hundreds into the streets to support the demand of Anna Hazare.
11. The Prime Minister and his advisers totally misread the situation. They were surprised by the support of all sections of the people for this demand. They were taken aback by the youth coming out into the streets all over the country to support Anna Hazare. They were without answer to the triumvirate of forces that had joined hands in the name of a people’s movement----the social activists led by Anna Hazare, self-motivated and angry students coming from different classes of society and the TV news channels.
12. Faced with this formidable non-governmental force, which came into existence within four days of Anna Hazare starting his fast unto death, the Government found itself with no other alternative but to concede the demand for setting up a joint committee consisting of five representatives nominated by the Government and five by Anna Hazare to prepare a draft Bill for setting up the independent institutional mechanism, with a commitment by the Government to have it enacted by the Parliament during the monsoon session.
13. There is nothing wrong with the joint committee. The setting up of an independent institutional mechanism to deal with corruption is a long overdue measure. The association of non-governmental experts with the process for drafting the required legislation is an idea to which nobody can object.
14. What is objectionable is not what the Government has conceded, but the manner in which it has conceded it. It was evident from as early as January 30,2011, that the movement of the social activists for the setting-up of the institutional mechanism was gaining momentum and that attempts were being made to persuade Anna Hazare to take over the leadership of the movement. Dr.Manmohan Singh had nearly three months at his disposal to assume the parentage of this idea and to have it implemented as a Government initiative. He did not do it. He and his adviser kept quiet hoping it will lose steam.
15. When it did not and when confronted with four dramatic days of agitation on this issue, the PM conceded all the demands. Instead of being seen as the product of a constructive initiative of the Government determined to root out corruption, it is now seen as the trophy of the street power as a result of its victory over State power.
16. Addressing the supporters of Anna Hazare before he broke his fast on the morning of April 9, Swami Agnivesh, an activist of the movement, said :” This is not the end of the battle. This is only the beginning of the battle.”
17. Ominous words. ( 9-4-11)
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
If there is one individual who has to be blamed for the success of street power over State power as a consequence of the national movement against corruption launched by social activist Anna Hazare, that individual has to be our Prime Minister, Dr.Manmohan Singh.
2.His Government had been confronted with a series of serious allegations of corruption since the middle of last year---many of them true and some still under investigation. The relentless exposure of these instances of major corruption by the electronic media called for a leadership and communication skills of very high quality to reassure the public in a convincing manner that these allegations were being treated with all the seriousness they deserved and would be investigated thoroughly and action taken against those found guilty whatever be the position in public life occupied by them and whatever be the consequences to his continuance as the Prime Minister and to the stability and durability of the coalition Government headed by him.
3. Instead of doing so, he handled these allegations in a halting manner that seemed not serious to the public of the country. There was a suspected attempt to keep the investigation pro forma instead of thorough-going and act against the wrong-doers only when forced to do so by the public campaign on this issue. Instead of accepting responsibility for what had gone wrong with an expression of his determination to root out this cancer, he constantly tried to blame the constraints of coalition politics for what had happened and gave an impression to the public of being weak and helpless.
4. The nation desperately needed a cool and courageous captain who could control the ship of State after it had hit the iceberg of corruption. Instead what it had was a low-grade sailor who didn't seem to know how to steer the ship.
5. The public was totally bewildered. It did not know what was happening as serious allegations of corruption came out one after the other from the news channels. Instead of interacting with the public directly and through his policy advisers and media managers in order to keep it informed of the real facts of the cases and to restore its shattered confidence in his administration, he withdrew into the fortress of the Prime Minister's office and avoided as far as possible interactions with the public and the media. One would have expected him to address the public through the TV and the radio in order to restore its confidence in the State. One would have thought that he would interact more frequently, more vigorously and more transparently with the media in order to regain his credibility and that of his Government.
6. Instead, he avoided interactions with the media and left this important task to his ministers of varying shades of seniority and credibility. His media managers, instead of acting as the facilitators of interactions with the media, saw themselves as controllers of his interactions with the media. Instead of encouraging him to boldly face the media and the public on this subject, they protected him from any unnecessary and unwise exposure to the media and the public.
7. Dr.Manmohan Singh was never known as a good communicator ----either as a bureaucrat or as the Finance Minister or as the Prime Minister since he took over in 2004. His poor communication skills were repeatedly seen during the various terrorist strikes, during his handling of crisis situations in our relations with Pakistan and China, and during the controversy over allegations of widespread corruption in his Government. Ever since he took over as the Prime Minister, there was a gradual drying up of the communication channels between the public and the Prime Minister. The ordinary citizens of this country hardly had an opportunity of listening to their Prime Minister either directly at public meetings or indirectly through TV channels or the radio. We had a Prime Minister who was seen, but rarely heard or felt in flesh and blood.
8. The shockingly incompetent manner in which the question of the appointment of the Central Vigilance Commissioner was handled ultimately creating considerable embarrassment for him and his Government demonstrated to the public the ineptitude of the officers preferred by him as his close advisers to man the Prime Minister's Office and the Cabinet Secretariat. Instead of being seen as policy and action galvanisers, the public saw them as a pack of bunglers who mishandled important affairs of State and were as helpless as the Prime Minister in anticipating and handling important issues that could damage the credibility of the Prime Minister and his Government.
9. The cumulative effect of the cascading instances of corruption and incompetence was the weakening of the credibility of the Prime Minister, a widening trust deficit between the Government and the public and spreading anger and disgust over the unbridled corruption and the Prime Minister's perceived inability to deal with it.
10. Into this messy situation walked a group of non-Governmental activists led by Anna Hazare, who were hailed by growing sections of the public, particularly the youth, as the liberators of the people from the clutches of corruption and incompetence. They exploited the reluctance of successive Governments for over 40 years to initiate action for setting up an independent institutional mechanism for dealing with corruption to rally the people around their flag for achieving a single demand---the setting-up of the independent institutional mechanism. The action of Anna Hazare in going on a fast unto death electrified the youth of the country who came out in their hundreds into the streets to support the demand of Anna Hazare.
11. The Prime Minister and his advisers totally misread the situation. They were surprised by the support of all sections of the people for this demand. They were taken aback by the youth coming out into the streets all over the country to support Anna Hazare. They were without answer to the triumvirate of forces that had joined hands in the name of a people’s movement----the social activists led by Anna Hazare, self-motivated and angry students coming from different classes of society and the TV news channels.
12. Faced with this formidable non-governmental force, which came into existence within four days of Anna Hazare starting his fast unto death, the Government found itself with no other alternative but to concede the demand for setting up a joint committee consisting of five representatives nominated by the Government and five by Anna Hazare to prepare a draft Bill for setting up the independent institutional mechanism, with a commitment by the Government to have it enacted by the Parliament during the monsoon session.
13. There is nothing wrong with the joint committee. The setting up of an independent institutional mechanism to deal with corruption is a long overdue measure. The association of non-governmental experts with the process for drafting the required legislation is an idea to which nobody can object.
14. What is objectionable is not what the Government has conceded, but the manner in which it has conceded it. It was evident from as early as January 30,2011, that the movement of the social activists for the setting-up of the institutional mechanism was gaining momentum and that attempts were being made to persuade Anna Hazare to take over the leadership of the movement. Dr.Manmohan Singh had nearly three months at his disposal to assume the parentage of this idea and to have it implemented as a Government initiative. He did not do it. He and his adviser kept quiet hoping it will lose steam.
15. When it did not and when confronted with four dramatic days of agitation on this issue, the PM conceded all the demands. Instead of being seen as the product of a constructive initiative of the Government determined to root out corruption, it is now seen as the trophy of the street power as a result of its victory over State power.
16. Addressing the supporters of Anna Hazare before he broke his fast on the morning of April 9, Swami Agnivesh, an activist of the movement, said :” This is not the end of the battle. This is only the beginning of the battle.”
17. Ominous words. ( 9-4-11)
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
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