PAKISTAN'S NEW MILITARY DOCTRINE

B.RAMAN

 

Media reports emanating from Pakistan’s civilian Government as well as  from the General Headquarters (GHQ) of the Army speak of an on-going review of Pakistan’s military doctrine in order to give priority to the creation of a sub-conventional warfare capability to fight domestically against non-State actors posing a threat to Pakistan’s internal security.

2.While these non-State actors have not been specifically named, it is apparent they have in mind the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the anti-Shia Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LEJ) and the Baloch nationalist elements  which are waging a struggle for Baloch independence.

3.The Pakistan Army has not been able to prevail over any of these organisations. The TTP has maintained a capability for fighting against the Pakistani security forces in the tribal  as well as non-tribal areas and there have been indications of its extending  its activities to Karachi, thereby adding to the instability there.

4.The LEJ continues to indulge in large-scale massacre of Shias all over Pakistan---- and particularly in Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan, the Kurram Agency and Karachi. The freedom struggle of the Baloch nationalists continues to gather momentum.

5.In the past, Pakistan’s military doctrine had three components:

·      A Chinese-aided nuclear-cum-missile capability against India.

·      A US-cum-Chinese aided conventional capability against India.

·      A covert action capability for keeping India bleeding and ultimately annexing Jammu & Kashmir. This covert action capability was acquired from the CIA in the 1980s for use against the Soviet troops in Afghanistan. It is now being used against India and the Hamid Karzai Government of Afghanistan

6.The Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto Government had succeeded in crushing the Baloch nationalists and the anti-Shia elements spearheaded by the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, which later metamorphosed into the LEJ, were actually created by the Zia-ul-Haq regime to counter the Iranian influence.

7. The revival of the Baloch freedom struggle after the massacre of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti and many of his followers by the Pervez Musharraf regime and the birth of the Mehsud-dominated TTP to seek vengeance against the Pakistan Army after the bloody Army action in the Lal Masjid of Islamabad have confronted the Pakistan Army and its Inter-Services Intelligence with serious threats to its internal security to counter which it does not have the required sub-conventional warfare capability.

8.It is now proposed to pay greater attention to the creation of this capability. This should not be misread into thinking that the Pakistan Army’s traditional mindset of hostility to India is under reexamination or that it may re-examine its continued use of its covert action capability against India through organisations loyal to the ISI such as the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LET) and against the Government of Hamid  Karzai through organisations such as the AfghanTaliban or the Haqqani Network

9.The Pakistan Army is not about to give up its use of jihadi terrorism  as a strategic weapon against India and its further strengthening of its nuclear and missile capability against India with Chinese assistance. We must avoid any naïve assessment of the reports from Pakistan on this subject. ( 6-1-13)

 

( 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  .Twitter: @SORBONNE75 )

SEQUEL TO GANG-RAPE IN DELHI:: TWO POINTS NEEDING QUICK ACTION

B.RAMAN

 

Two points need quick action in the wake of the gang-rape in New Delhi on December 16,2012.

2. The first is the removal of the Commissioner of Police of Delhi and his replacement by a competent officer from outside the Delhi cadre of the Indian Police Service.

3. Shri Neeraj Kumar, the present Commissioner of Police, has shown neither leadership nor signs of concern and shame over the failure of his force to protect women from crime and respond energetically to follow-up action after the rape of Braveheart. Moreover, under his command and control, the police force failed to show sensitivity and sophistication in dealing with thousands of young people who spontaneously protested against the rape.

4.In his various interactions with the public and the media after the gang-rape, one did not notice the remotest sign of contrition in him.One has been shocked and filled with indignation over the allegations that the Delhi Police led by him has been trying to harass a TV channel for telecasting an interview with the friend of Braveheart.

5.If he continues as the Commissioner of Police, one can neither expect a thorough enquiry into the deficiencies of the police in connection with the gang-rape nor vigorous action to improve the future capability of the Police to protect women against crime. An officer, who is so smug and satisfied about his performance and that of his force,cannot be expected to act vigorously.

6.It is, therefore, important that he should be replaced immediately by a competent officer from outside the Delhi IPS cadre, who can be entrusted with the responsibility for revamping the police force and improving its interactions with the public and the media.

7. The second point requiring urgent action is the examination of existing laws relating to the involvement of juveniles in crimes against women, particularly rape. Laws relating to juveniles give them the benefit of lenient treatment under the presumption that as juveniles they might not have been able to understand the gravity and consequences of their participation in crime.

8. One can understand such leniency in the case of juveniles involved in crimes like pocket-picking, theft, robbery, letting themselves be used for murder etc,  but the benefit should not be extended to juveniles participating in the sadistic rape of a woman.

9. One of the accused in the gang-rape case is a juvenile, who allegedly raped the Braveheart twice and then caused severe injuries to her intestines through a metal rod. How can he be described as incapable of understanding the gravity and consequences of his action?

10. Rapes should be exempted from the leniency provisions for juvenile criminals. They should be treated with the same severity as adults.

11. Law does not permit retrospective enactments to enhance punishment. The juvenile  involved in the gang-rape cannot normally be covered under any new laws.

12.Public opinion will find it difficult to accept that he should be treated leniently under the existing laws despite his acts of unheard of bestiality against Braveheart. Justice to her demands that he should be treated  on par with the other accused.

13. How to do so? This question must be referred as a specific term of reference to one of the commissions set up by the Government to go into the gang-rape---- possibly to the Justice Verma Commission. ( 5-1-13)

( 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  .Twitter: @SORBONNE75 )

TIANANMEN SQUARE & VIJAY CHOWK STUDENT PROTESTS

To

The Editor,

“Global Times”

Beijing.

 

Sir,

I read with interest a commentary by Lin Xu, in your edition of December 30,2012, making some negative remarks about the state of India as a liberal democracy in the wake of the widespread public protests, particularly by the students of Delhi against the gang-rape of a 23-year-old girl in a private bus on the night of December 16,2012.

2. There has been considerable public outrage all over India, particularly in Delhi, over this incident which illustrates the increase in crime against women, the inability and incompetence of the police in dealing with it effectively and the insensitivity of the political leadership in responding to the outrage.

3.One saw a similar student upsurge in the Tiananmen Square of Beijing in June 1989 caused by allegations of widespread political corruption and lack of democratic rights. The response of the authorities of democratic India and the one-party Chinese dictatorship to the two student protests differed qualitatively.

4. The Delhi police imposed curbs on student protests in certain areas sensitive from the VIP security point of view such as the Vijay Chowk and used force mainly in the form of tear-smoke and long bamboo sticks called lathis to prevent protests in these areas. Outside these areas, the students were free to demonstrate wherever they wanted. Both Indian and foreign media freely covered the protests in the restricted as well as non-restricted areas. The Army was not used. No martial law was proclaimed. There was only one death in the confrontation between the police and the students---that of a policeman.

5. As against this, to deal with the student upsurge in Beijing, the Army was called and a Martial Law was proclaimed. The Army used tanks to disperse the students. Till today, neither the Chinese people nor foreign media have an authentic account of the number of students killed by the tanks and other units of the Chinese army.

6.The Government of China banned any reference to the Tiananmen Square upsurge by the media or social media networks. The Chinese authorities projected it as a non-event to which there should be no reference in any discussion or articles.

7.That is the difference between democratic India and authoritarian China. In India, 65 years after our independence, we still have many serious deficiencies---political, administrative, economic and social. We are concerned over them, but we do not push them under the carpet. We freely admit them, criticize our leaders and officials for them, project them in our media and protest in public over them without any fear that we may find ourselves in jail for doing so. Can anyone in authoritarian China do so? The day you allow your people the right to do so, you will have the moral right to criticize India, but not now.

8. Permit me to cite another example of the qualitative difference between  democratic India and authoritarian China. Last year, the “ Washington Post” published a highly negative article on Dr.Manmohan Singh, the Indian Prime Minister, sent by its correspondent in New Delhi. There was considerable anger in Indian official circles over the article, but the correspondent did not have to suffer any negative consequences for writing that article. The Indian media and opposition political parties, which have been unhappy over the functioning of Dr.Manmohan Singh, freely disseminated the article. The Government did not try to prevent them from doing so.

9. During the same period, the “New York Times” carried an investigative report on the wealth of some family members of Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. There has been an unadmitted ban on the dissemination of this article inside China. The Chinese Government has not extended the visa of the NY Times correspondent who sent this report, thereby forcing him to leave China.

10.There has been increasing pressure from the Internet generation in China for greater political reforms with an end of the single-party dictatorship and the introduction of a multi-party democracy. The Tahrir Square uprising in Egypt has added to Chinese fears that the younger generation in China has not forgotten and forgiven  the Tiananmen Square massacre and wants genuine democracy and political reforms, the key demands of the 1989 generation.

11.Your paper, which is the voice of the Communist Party of China, has, therefore, been trying to project the student outrage in Delhi as indicating the dangers of the imperfections of Indian-style democracy and social deficiencies. Your tactics is unlikely to succeed.

12. It is India’s free and open despite imperfect society and style of democracy that will ultimately succeed. ( 2-1-13)

 

Yours sincerely,

B.Raman

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  .Twitter: @SORBONNE75 )

 

TWEETS FOR 2013---TAKE THEM OR LEAVE THEM

B.RAMAN

1.Tweet to spread and acquire knowledge and not to impress.

2.Don’t brag. Noone looks or sounds cheaper than a braggart.

3.Keep moving forward despite the tragedy of our Braveheart daughter. Don’t wallow in guilt complex.

4.Keep thinking how we could have handled it differently and what to do to prevent other similar tragedies.

5. Avoid grandstanding.

6.Have the courage to admit your faults at least to yourself, if not to others.

7.There are three kinds of human beings--- those who have the magnanimity to admit their faults to others as well as to themselves; those who have the courage to admit their faults to themselves, but not to others; and those who are not prepared to admit them either to others or to themselves. They are at the bottom of the scale of evolution of personality.

8. You are old? So what? Your ability to contribute to an improvement of your society depends not on your age, but on your mindset.

9. The greatest tribute that one should try to earn from others is---there was never anything mean about him or her. ( 31-12-12)

CRIME AGAINST WOMEN IN DELHI: WHAT NEXT?

B.RAMAN

The next step in the case relating to the brutal gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old  girl in New Delhi, who has  passed away, is the investigation and prosecution  of the six accused in quick time to ensure that justice is done to the Braveheart, whom the shocked nation looks upon as its daughter. Justice means their conviction and sentencing to the severest sentence possible under the existing laws.

2.The Government has done well to designate a Special Prosecutor to ensure the successful prosecution of the accused. For this purpose, the proposed Special Prosecutor should be given whatever manpower, resources, and expertise that he might require for a successful  prosecution.

3.It would be unwise to be self-complacent thinking that since the accused have already confessed, getting them convicted should be no problem. There is every possibility of the accused retracting their confession as public memory and anger fades. It would be necessary to strengthen the other evidence that the police are able to collect to supplement the confessions.

4.Now that the girl is dead, the most important piece of evidence, inter alia, will be her dying declaration recorded before a magistrate  in a New Delhi hospital and the medical findings of the doctors who treated her in New Delhi and Singapore. The Special Prosecutor and his staff should see that an iron-clad case is made out of such evidence which will withstand attempts that might be made by the lawyers of the accused to question their acceptability before the court.

5.The Special Prosecutor, his staff and the Police should not let themselves be taken by surprise by any attempts by the lawyers of the accused to question the reliability of the evidence.

6. An equally urgent measure will be to strengthen physical security for women in public transport and in public places that are used by rapists  to commit their crime. The Government has already announced certain measures such as verification of the character and antecedents of the staff of public transport and removal of the coloured windows of the buses.

7.While necessary, these measures alone would not be adequate. It is equally important to order that all public transport plying anywhere in Delhi between 7 PM and 7 AM would have a Constable and making the staff of the transport and  their owners liable for criminal action if they ply a transport during these hours without a constable. All public places unfriendly and risky to women should be identified and static guards should be posted at all  such places during these hours.

8. The number of additional constables and supervisory staff that would be required for this purpose should be estimated and a special sanction issued by the MHA for the recruitment and training of the additional staff needed for preventing crime against women.

9.The police regulations, manuals, operating procedures and training syllabi having a bearing on the prevention, investigation and prosecution of crime against women should be reviewed and updated in order to make them more women-focussed. There should be a separate training capsule on crime against women with a separate  examination for joining the police at any level---from constables up to IPS officers.

10. A list of offences against women, which should be treated as heinous offences, needs to be drawn up and incorporated in the police regulations and manuals. All heinous offences against women should be liable to mandatory supervision by senior police officers of the rank of at least a Superintendent of Police.

11.It should be made obligatory for Station House Officers to record an FIR and start the investigation in respect of all crimes against women ---whether heinous or not so. There  should be a computerized data base of all crimes against women indicating the stage of investigation and prosecution in respect of each case.

12. Separate divisions on crime against women should be created in the office of the Commissioner of Police and in the office of the Secretary, Internal Security, of the MHA, and these should serve as the nodal points for monitoring all action against crime against women. Crime against women should be treated as seriously as terrorism with special squads for investigation and prosecution and special courts for trial.

13.The need for early implementation of the police reforms recommended by a committee set up by the Morarji Desai Government and subsequent bodies such as the National Security Advisory Board and the Special Task Force headed by Shri Naresh Chandra has been stressed by many. The implementation of the recommendations at the pan-Indian level has been tardy due to resistance from different State Governments and political parties. The delay in implementation at the pan-Indian level is likely to continue.

14. The Government should, therefore, separate the recommendations relating to the Delhi police from those relating to other States and set up a fast-track implementation mechanism. The Delhi Police cannot be compared to the police of other metropolitan cities. In addition to tasks relating to crime control and law and order, the Delhi Police performs important and sensitive tasks of a unique nature relating to VIP security, including security of visiting foreign VIPS, and diplomatic security.

15.While there should be no problem in transferring to the supervision of the Delhi State Government the tasks relating to crime control and law and order, the MHA has to have a say in the supervision of matters relating to VIP security and diplomatic security. If this is also transferred in toto to the State Government, problems of co-ordination and command and control  could arise if different parties come to power in the Centre and the Delhi State.

16. Delhi, therefore, needs a separate policing architecture with the State Government having primacy of supervision in respect of crime and law and order and the MHA in respect of VIP and diplomatic security. All Governments which were in power in the Centre were opposed to changing the status quo in which the MHA has total control. The possibility of an alternate architecture with dual supervision had never been examined. The time has come for examining this.

17. The recent incidents  of violence in New Delhi  in the wake of the gang-rape incident highlighted the lack of sophistication in crowd control by the Delhi Police. Public were shocked by the crude manner in which the police officers, including the women police, handled women protesters. They used the same high-handed techniques against men as well as women. There is a need for a total revision of our crowd control techniques relating to men and women, in order to make them more sophisticated.  (30-12-12)

 

( 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 . Twitter: @SORBONNE75 )

 

HILLARY CLINTON & JOHN KERRY---STYLE & SUBSTANCE

B.RAMAN

Both Mrs.Hillary Clinton, the outgoing US Secretary of State, and Mr.John Kerry, her successor-designate already officially nominated  by President Barack Obama, are public servants of style and substance who had distinguished themselves as Senators for their knowledge of the world and expertise.

2.Ms.Condoleezza Rice, who was Secretary of State  during the second term of Mr.George Bush, and Mrs. Clinton were different from the traditional cold war style of Secretaries of State that one had seen before them. They realized that they had to operate in a world that had changed and that continued to change after the end of the Cold War and that the old style of policy-making, execution and projection that served the US well during the days of the Cold War, would no longer serve it well.

3. They diluted the elitist tradition that dominated the functioning  and thinking of the US State Department before them. Public diplomacy and greater policy maker-people interaction became their defining characteristics. They discarded the traditional aloofness of US foreign policy makers and encouraged their staff in the State Department to do so too.

4.Mrs.Clinton was the most out-going and transparent Secretary of State that the US has had who never hesitated to speak her mind out whether to China or Pakistan or other countries. She could be blunt without being unpleasant in her interactions with her counterparts from other countries. One had a glimpse of her quintessential style of public diplomacy during her town hall interactions with selected members of the civil society in  Kolkata earlier this year moderated by Barkha Dutt of NDTV.

5. Mr.Kerry is as knowledgeable as Ms. Rice and Mrs. Clinton and his expertise in moulding policies is considerable. But in a commentary on Mr.Kerry after he was nominated by Mr.Obama, the BBC described  him as “deliberate and strategic” in thinking, but secretive in style. A commentary by the ”Christian Science Monitor” drew attention to Mr.Kerry’s past reputation of elitist aloofness.

6.Many commentators feel that public or people-to-people diplomacy of the kind in which Mrs.Clinton excelled as we saw in Kolkatta does not come naturally to Mr.Kerry. It is said that Mrs.Clinton was an excellent team manager in running the State Department. One has misgivings whether Mr.Kerry would be an equally good and warm team manager.

7. In fact, Mr.Kerry was not Mr.Obama’s first choice as Secretary of State to succeed Mrs.Clinton. His first choice reportedly was Ms.Susan Rice, the US Ambassador to the UN, who would have  been in the mould of Mrs.Clinton, but Ms.Rice’s controversial statements regarding the attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi in September, which came in for criticism from some Republican Senators, made it doubtful whether she would be confirmed by the Senate. Mr.Kerry should have a smooth sailing in the Senate because of his experience as a Senator and as the Chairman of the Senate Foreign relations Committee.

8.While the style of Mr.Kerry  could be different from that of Mrs.Clinton, in substance one is unlikely to see any changes in  foreign policy except in nuances in relation to China and Pakistan. The broad features of foreign policy are largely decided  by the President  on the basis of inputs and advice from the Secretary of State, the Defence Secretary, the National Security Adviser and the Director of the CIA.

9.One has to wait to see whom Mr.Obama nominates to the posts of Defence Secretary and Director, CIA, before assessing  what could be the totality of the impact of the team as a whole on the foreign policy during the second term of Mr.Obama. Three constants in respect of China have to be kept in view: Firstly, during 2012, the US replaced the European Union as the largest buyer of Chinese goods. The economic dependence between the two countries would rule out any adversarial relationship of a permanent nature. Secondly, the strong support in the Congress for Japan’s sovereignty claims in the East China Sea and for continued supply of military equipment to Taiwan would keep alive the trust deficit between the two countries despite the flourishing bilateral trade. Thirdly, the US could press ahead with its policy of strengthening its Asian presence through continued support to some ASEAN countries on the question of their rights in the South China Sea and further diversify its growing ties with Myanmar, which would be, in long term, to the detriment of China.

10. Mrs.Clinton vigorously pursued and projected the policy of enhanced presence in the Asia-Pacific region to counter Chinese activism and to reassure the ASEAN countries and Japan. The projection and execution of this policy by Mr.Kerry to protect the interests of the US and its allies would avoid the rough edges of Mrs.Clinton without changing the overall US objectives in the region.

11.The continued importance of India during Mr.Obama’s first term was partly the result of Mr.Obama’s own conviction on the role that India could and should play as an emerging Asian power on par with China and partly the outcome of the energy and enthusiasm imparted by her to the growing strategic multi-dimensional relationship between the US and India. This is a policy constant that will continue under Mr.Kerry.

12. Mr.Obama continues to attach importance to pursuing a tough counter-terrorism policy in the Af-Pak region partly to prevent any more threats to the US homeland from terrorists based in this region and partly to maintain stability in Afghanistan despite the thinning out of the US presence in Afghanistan.

13. While vis-à-vis China, Mr.Kerry will enjoy some latitude in the way the policy as laid down by Mr.Obama is projected and executed , Mr.Obama is expected to continue in the driving seat in respect of the Af_Pak region. At the same time, one has to remember that Mr.Kerry has greater sensitivity to the strategic interests and concerns of Pakistan in the Afghanistan region than Mrs.Clinton and pays heed to the perceptions of the Pakistan Army. He might try to moderate  the consequences of Mr.Obama’s present tough policy towards Pakistan in order to soften Pakistani perceptions towards the US.

14.It remains to be seen  whether Mr.Kerry would play a more active role in identifying and executing policy options in respect of Syria and Iran. There was an impression that Mrs.Clinton, who has future political ambitions of her own, avoided  too activist a role in West Asia and the Gulf lest any policy mishap come in the way of her future political interests.

15. Many believe that Mr.Obama would want Mr.Kerry to show greater activism in West Asia and the Gulf than Mrs. Clinton did---particularly in Syria. Those who had seen Mr.Kerry’s policy flip-flops in relation to the regime change policy of Mr.Bush in Iraq----he first supported it in the Senate, and then marked his distance from the policy of Mr.Bush--- wonder whether Mr.Kerry would have the stomach for a vigorous regime change policy in Syria. ( 28-12-12)

( 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  .Twitter: @SORBONNE75)

 

.

A CLUELESS GOVT

 

B.RAMAN

The Government of Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh and the Congress Party headed by Smt.Sonia Gandhi continue to be clueless on how to deal with the situation arising from the mass outrage of the youth of the country in the wake of the gang rape of a 23-year-old girl in New Delhi.

2. There are multiple causes for the mass outrage----

·      The failure of the police to prevent repeated crimes against women,

·      the shockingly inept and brutal manner in which the police dealt with crowds of youth protesting against the incident,

·      the inability of the Delhi State Government headed by Smt.Sheela Dikshit to understand the seriousness of the situation and the magnitude of the public anger and respond to it appropriately,

·      the lack of unity of action between the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of India, which controls the Delhi Police through the Lt.Governor, the Lt.Governor, who is responsible for law and order and crime control in Delhi, and Smt.Sheela Dikshit, who, as the Chief Minister, is responsible for the proper governance of Delhi,

·      the total lack of command and control over the functioning of the Police,

·      the insensitivity  of Shri Sushil Kumar Shinde, the Home Minister, who lacks the ability for sophisticated communication and portfolio management,

·      a Prime Minister, who neither rules nor governs nor controls and who is devoid of any warmth in his interactions either in Parliament or with the public,

·      a Congress President who exercises vast powers without a proper understanding and appreciation of the feelings and sentiments of the people of this country, specially the youth, and

·       the absence of competent political advisers to the Government, who could make good the deficiencies of the political leadership and provide the necessary correctives in dealing with internasl crisis situations.

 

3.Mechanisms like the Political Affairs Committee of the Cabinet, the Cabinet Committee on Security, the Secretaries’ Committee, the Joint Intelligence Committee, the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) and the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB), which were set up over a period of time to provide a continuous flow of crisis-management, strategic-thinking and policy-making inputs to the Prime Minister and his Cabinet have not been functioning as they used to do under the previous Prime Ministers.

4. The de jure power and decision-making vacuum in the Prime Minister’s office and the de facto accumulation of power in circles close to Smt.Sonia Gandhi have added to the command and control confusion. During a discussion on the current situation among retired government servants who had served under previous Prime Ministers, someone posed the questions: Who is taking the key decisions? Where are the key decisions being taken—in the Congress headquarters or in the PMO? Who is responsible for ensuring the clarity and sophistication of public communications and interactions? Who monitors the developments and suggests action and policy options to the PM? There were no answers available.

5. There is a paralysis of governance in New Delhi. Unless the existence of this paralysis is admitted and rectified, things are not likely to improve. The Government and the Congress do not seem to be unduly concerned over the public anger and the paralysis because the opposition has not been able to come out with an alternate policy frame-work. The BJP itself is in a state of semi organizational paralysis.

6. Shri Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujarat, has come out with an alternate style of governance in Gujarat, but his party and its present leadership have not been able to give this alternate style of governance a pan-Indian projection.

7. This state of affairs is unlikely to be rectified by fresh elections to the Lok Sabha, whether held now or in 2014. The country is in for a long period of misgovernance and administrative paralysis  till there is realization in the Congress and the country over the evils of dynasty rule and over the need to get out of its grip ( 25-12-12)

( 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 and Twitter : @SORBONNE75 )