Good news behind rising food prices?

Jug Suraiya
31 October 2013, 02:16 PM IST

Is there good news behind rising prices of food? Perhaps.

Who's responsible for food prices which keep going higher and higher and refuse to come down, no matter what? Hoarders and blackmarketeers are certainly responsible  for soaring vegetable prices, particularly in the case of onions which rose in price by a whopping 322% between April and September this year.

There are two main factors behind  the high prices of onions: hoarding and above-normal rainfall which affected crops in Maharashtra, which accounts for 46% of the country's onion output, and in UP, which contributes some 20% of this vegetable to the sabzi mandis.

But the prices of other vegetables, not affected by aberrant rainfall or by hoarding, have also gone up drastically, as have the prices of almost all cereals, daals, dairy products, eggs, chicken and other non-vegetarian items.

These rising food prices contrast sharply with the prices of other goods and services that have come down, some of them sharply so.

For example, cement prices have come down by 3% and iron by 8%, suggesting a slowdown in construction activity.  While this is an unwelcome symptom  of a sluggish economy, technological advances have led to huge price cuts in products and services like computers, mobile phones and telephony.

According to several economists, including Kaushik Basu, former chief economic adviser to the Indian government, persistently high food prices in the country – which has led to the coming of a new word, 'skewflation', or skewed inflation – could have a positive side.  

And the possible good news is that the rise in food prices is reflective of the rise in rural incomes, particularly thanks to programmes like the national rural employment scheme.  Rising rural incomes mean increased consumption, as poorer households switch their dietary patterns  from coarse foodgrains like bajra and millet to costlier cereals like rice and wheat, and also to dairy products and high protein foods, like eggs.  

This increase in demand, without a concomitant increase in supply, is in part the reason for high food prices.

Studies have shown that even when India enjoys a good monsoon, as it has by and large done this year, food prices do not come down, despite bumper harvests of most, though not all, crops.

Many economists believe that this is because of increased rural consumption, made possible by rising rural incomes, which in August 2013 registered a 13.1% increase.

As the overall Indian economy is crucially dependent on the rural economy, which involves more than half the country's population, the dark cloud of high food prices might have a silver lining. For it is not just the exploitative  hoarder who is responsible for food inflation, but also the agrarian worker who is earning and consuming more.  

If higher rural consumption leads to higher rural productivity in food output, tomorrow's India need never again shed tears over the prices of onions, or any other item of food.

jug.suraiya@timesgroup.com

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Letter from a Gathering of Educators

Meeta Sengupta
31 October 2013, 11:13 AM IST

An old fashioned letter to all of you educators

 

Greetings from Doha. I hope this finds you in the best of health, the highest teacher attendance levels and the best student achievement levels ever.

 

No?

 

I can't ask you not to worry. But they say there is comfort in finding others with the same problems. At Doha, surrounded by thousands of educationists, I am assured that we have a lot of company. The issues in education are similar all over the world. The good news is that the solutions too have things in common, which means we can share them.

 

The big questions across the world are the same- how do you get children to school, how do you keep them there, how do you build and sustain high achievement levels and how do you make them fit for life and employment. In some measure or another, we all struggle with these. And with measuring them.

 

We are all broadly aligned on the solutions too - put the child at the centre of learning, teachers are the key to higher achievements, school leadership is key to success, involve the parent community, use Edutech as blended learning and of course monitor and measure everything.

 

We also disagree about a number of things. Assessments, for one. Pasi Sahlberg calls it a virus. And yet all the success pathways seem to involve exams and certifications. We preach what only a few have dared to practice. Yes, global data does link poverty and education, and we see the poverty gap impacts education and growth. It is a vicious circle, so I don't question the causal links, but it does set off a flurry of other questions. We disagree about systems monitoring, we disagree on what motivates teachers though all of us seem to want teachers to be self motivated and supported. 

 

The broad themes and problems across the globe seek solutions. The good news is that many, myriad solutions are being tried. Many have been great successes. Now, the next challenge for them is to be scaleable. It is a pleasure to meet people who have trained 2 million teachers in a program. It is also remarkable to note that such a large scale of learning has been achieved in one year in other programs. Those designed for scale, with a will, with good partnerships are able to have great impact - which is heartening to note. 

 

Is there a purpose to such large jamborees for Education, one reflects, as one must. As day 3 begins, I must admit - yes. Ideas and solutions have been gathered from all over the world to bring depth to scale and influence. Those who have access to funding are listening to those who have ideas. This is how we find synergies - by creating opportunities for serendipity. 

 

I will add to this letter soon.. From the educationist's paradise, I sign off  - ready to share and learn for another day. 

 

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Rajmohan Gandhi: “Sardar Patel belongs to all of India”

Minhaz Merchant
31 October 2013, 02:50 PM IST

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel died 63 years ago. His legacy is monumental. Apart from unifying over 500 self-governing princely states into a nation, Patel was one of the two men – Jawaharlal Nehru was the other – whom Mahatma Gandhi most relied upon both before and shortly after independence.

And yet, Patel has been largely ignored by Nehru's family: Indira, Rajiv, Sonia and now Rahul.

In order to clarify important issues surrounding Sardar Patel and his legacy, which both the Congress and the BJP now claim, I spoke to Rajmohan Gandhi, the Mahatma's grandson, yesterday (Wednesday, October 30) on the eve of Sardar Patel's birth anniversary.

"There is no question," Mr. Gandhi told me, "that the Congress had for long forgotten Sardar Patel. Nehru was a great visionary, Patel an outstanding administrator. The combination of Prime Minister-Deputy Prime Minister that Gandhiji proposed for the two leaders was ideal for newly independent India."

I first met Rajmohan Gandhi, author of the definitive biography of Sardar Patel (Patel: A Life), when I was a 10-year-old schoolboy. He visited our school frequently as part of "India Arise", a nation-building initiative he had begun. Later in Panchgani, a resort near Mumbai, he set up a world-renowned centre to spread this message. With my then very young family (two toddlers in tow), I visited the centre at his invitation and was personally taken around it by him and his colleagues.

Mr. Gandhi's magazine Himmat had a young editor, David Davidar, who later joined one of my magazines as sub-editor. (He went on to become our Executive Editor before founding Penguin in India.) Over the years, I came increasingly to respect and admire Mr. Gandhi's work as an author, editor and academic. Till recently, he taught at the University of Illinois. Few know that he served as a Rajya Sabha MP in 1990-92 and even fewer that he stood against (and lost to) Rajiv Gandhi in the 1989 Lok Sabha election from Amethi.

So how does Rajmohan Gandhi today see the Patel-Nehru relationship? His biography of Sardar Patel covers every nuance of that complex relationship but during our conversation yesterday, Mr. Gandhi elaborated on three specific points.

One, contrary to popular belief, various Congress pradesh committees did not vote for Patel over Nehru for the post of Prime Minister. They voted for Patel over Nehru for the post of Congress President. Mr. Gandhi, however, concedes it was widely assumed that whoever became Congress President would very likely be voted Prime Minister at independence in 1947.

Two, Mahatma Gandhi's decision to endorse Nehru and not Patel as Prime Minister was predicated on three grounds: Patel's age (he was 71 to Nehru's 57), failing health ("Patel had nearly died in 1941," Rajmohan revealed to me) and Nehru's mass nationwide popularity. That simply could not be ignored when the Mahatma made his choice, defying the majority of Congress committees. "And Patel agreed with that choice," says Rajmohan. "He was fiercely loyal to Nehru."

Three, Sardar Patel was positively inclined towards the RSS before the Mahatma's assassination. He praised the role of the RSS in refugee camps during the traumatic period following independence.

However, after Mahatma Gandhi's assassination on January 30, 1948, Patel's attitude changed. He still made a distinction between the Hindu Mahasabha – whom he blamed for the assassination – and the RSS which he banned for a year. Patel rescinded the ban after advising the RSS leadership to work on social issues, respect the Constitution and abjure politics.

"But Sardar Patel never used the sharp language against the RSS that Nehru did," says Rajmohan. "For instance, he never called it fascist which Nehru did."

I asked Mr. Gandhi whether Sardar Patel would have endorsed the "secularism" today's Congress practises. He said he would address that question another time: secularism remains a complex subject. But he agreed with me that dynastic politics is inimical to democracy because it narrows rather than widens the public's electoral choices.

As the project to build Sardar Patel's 182-metre-high Statue of Unity gets under way, Rajmohan's final words during our half-hour conversation yesterday ring truest: "Patel belongs to all of India."

Follow @minhazmerchant on twitter 

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The bogus crowds at Modi’s rallies….

Prashant Panday
29 October 2013, 09:01 AM IST

The media is impressed with the turnout at Modi's rallies and believes that this represents actual support for him and his party. Modi's PR set-up has again managed to con the media. Because the numbers claimed are hugely exaggerated, the people present in the crowds are often non-voluntary, and the BJP's interpretation of the high numbers is mostly self-serving and untrue.

At the Patna rally for example, the BJP yet again exaggerated the numbers. It claimed that there were 11 lac attendees. Now a quick search of the internet shows that the capacity of Gandhi Maidan is no more than 2 lacs and even including "spill overs" outside the ground, the crowds cannot be more than a little over that number. So how exactly did the BJP get this number in its head? It's a bogus number as all of the party's numbers are!

Another search of the internet will show that when crowds of a million people do assemble, the gathering creates mind-numbing visuals. The crowds go on for kilometers on end and spread out radially in all possible directions (See today's ET – page 3 – "Did Nehru attend Sardar Patel's funeral" – it mentions that a million people crowded 6 miles of Bombay's roads!). It's impossible for everyone to assemble in a single "ground" – even if it as big as the massive Tiananmen square in Beijing (where a million students had assembled). Gandhi Maidan is no Tiananmem square!

I think the BJP is under some pressure with respect to Modi's rallies. Somehow, the BJP feels that Modi has to set a record. It's not enough for him to get the crowds, the crowds must be the biggest ever. Again, the truth is unimportant. The PR is. The crowds must generate a "buzz". Well, going by media's reactions, it sure looks like Modi has succeeded. But Modi's scant belief in truth being well known, one soon starts to wonder just how true these numbers really are!

Then the BJP does another thing. It actually ferries crowds from "neighboring" areas, which in many cases include those outside of the state. Since there are no elections in many of these states (for eg, in UP, adjoining Jhansi where Modi's next rally is to be held soon), I don't know how these crowds will vote!

In any case, these crowds are not voluntary crowds. They have been given a free ride into the nearest town (remember, Modi only addresses crowds in the big towns!). It's a picnic…..why should they object? Everyone has a party when on the trip, with meals and entertainment taken care of by the organizers! They can always go back and vote for their favorite local leader, or the one who pays them for the booze, anyways!

TOI reports on 10^th October (http://tinyurl.com/mwromhk) that the BJP hired 10 trains to ferry people for Modi's Patna rally. Now assuming the trains are crammed (as they always are in India!), and they have 18 bogies each as the article mentions, then each train could accommodate as many as 2000-2500 people. That's 20-25000 people coming to Patna just by trains! Add to that 5000 buses reportedly deployed (and there could be many many more), those would ferry another 25-30000 people. So as many as 45-55000 people were ferried from across Bihar (and UP and Jharkhand which don't even go for polls!) for Modi's rally at Patna – all free of cost, with no proven proclivity to vote for Modi. For the BJP, it's the numbers that matter, no matter where they come from, who they vote for and whether they are paid or voluntary!

The article also mentions that Laloo Yadav used to do similar things in the past; the article mentions that he hired as many as 35 trains in 2007 for a rally in Patna. Now I am sure he must have got the crowds, but two things stand out. First, everyone had panned Laloo's fake crowds then; suddenly they are following in his footsteps! And second, did these crowds vote for Laloo? Not in the 2010 state elections! Not even in the 2009 Parliamentary elections! So much for the crowds assembled via trains and buses!

There is also a competition in the BJP to ensure ever bigger crowds. Apparently for its forthcoming Jhansi rally, the target is go past the "lac-plus" (what is the real number?!) crowd at Kanpur! So the party unit has again ordered a train (http://tinyurl.com/l4trd6x) and several hundred buses! Hope the EC is keeping a tab on expenses!

So how should one interpret these claimed "high" numbers? Does it mean that Modi and the BJP really have a big following? Well, lets take a hypothetical example. Suppose Hitler could be resurrected and he could perform in Mumbai. How many people would turn up to listen to him?! Or if Saddam, Assad or Gaddafi were to deliver speeches in Delhi?! Everyone and his uncle and aunt would turn up because they would all want to see the tyrants who ruled the world for so long. This curiosity wouldn't be indicative of support at all, as all the above named realized pretty soon! I am not saying Modi is any such person, but his "track record" in Gujarat (I don't know if it is about development or his Hindu nationalism) does arouse curiosity which draws people to the rallies.

In contrast, Rahul Gandhi is an upright man who speaks from his heart, narrating personal stories from his life; the type that connect with the people. He's been around a long time, and they already know him well enough. He's a good orator (maybe not a superlative one like Modi), and one who speaks the truth (again, not like Modi!). Somehow he never learnt lie, though it remains to be seen if lying can win elections. His subjects are more mundane and local – a massive drug problem in Punjab, a huge disenchantment amongst the population of Muzaffarnagar – not pompous statements of future nothings. He gets smaller numbers – 50000 to 1 lac still – but these are genuine numbers, not including those goaded into free buses and trains. His speeches are to the point, laden with facts, and relevant to the people present – not meaningless rhetoric aimed at TV audiences. Besides, Rahul speaks in smaller places; places where TV crews would shudder to go, places where a Modi wouldn't even know what to speak.

The real truth is that the BJP could be in for a massive surprise if it starts to believe that these concocted crowds are for real! But the BJP is in that mood right now. It has fallen into its own PR trap! It's position is a little like Anna's was at his peak. He saw the crowds and thought nothing but the Jan Lokpal would do. Well, very soon, he lost the plot…..Is Modi going down the same path? Only time will tell!

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Radio GaGa - or, story of Onions

Veeresh Malik
29 October 2013, 01:09 AM IST

For the last few weeks we have been doing very well without onions at home. And also seeking out restaurants which serve food that does not use onions. So much so that while on a tran journey from Delhi to Bangalore and back, I asked for and got Jain food, without onions. And it was not just tasty, but much more in quantity, also better in quality. Like brinjals become aubergines and taste as well as cost more? That way.

By lunchtime, the whole compartment was asking for Jain food, and the restaurant manager came across to see what was going on. Did we want onions, he asked, they are so cheap here. On the way back, returning via Solapur - Manmad - Bhusaval, I saw heaps of onion all over. And local radio station announcements on prices and availabilities. Maybe others had stopped eating onions too?

The waiter told me - Sir, Jain food served is always better. If it is not good, then people who ask for it write strong complaints. Which is news to me, does not eating onions make you a stronger person? When we were younger, which was admittedly a long time ago, people who put in a lot of manual labour would eat roti with daal and onions free. They said it gave them strength.

When I returned home, I asked our maid, how do you like not having onions in the kitchen? She has been with us for many years now, and told me, frankly, nothing could have been better. I asked her why, is it because peeling onions was a tearful process, and she said, no, not just that, but not eating onions improves memory. I asked her where she had heard that, and she said, in her village.

Looking further, I then asked my mother, and she said, yes, there is some truth in this, onions were removed from the diet before exams. And often at other times too. My mother-in-law said the same thing, so did my wife, and that pretty much took care of all possible female opinions that mattered to me as I munched some walnuts and almonds in contemplation.

Onions, in any case, cost as much as dry fruit lately. In the cities. But you can't munch them. Not that easily, anyways. Unless the dry fruit is onion flavoured.

Still not satisfied, I then called up a friend who is a big-big doctor in Umrika, and asked him, hey, are onions bad for memory, and he said, after some time, no, over here school of thought is that onions are good for memory, but that's the Umrikan kind of onion, what kind is that, I don't know, he said, but there are over 40 kinds of onions in the shops here, shall I send you some?

Nowadays, people in Umrika who were in the old days sending us everything from jeans to felt pens to magazines to photos of themselves using cordless phones standing next to big-big cars, do not know what to send us. So the onions, though I said, no thanks, because I had forgotten why I had called him in the first case. Grab a cup-cake, he said, and I said, what, have you lost it, you old fruitcake, he said, no, cupcakes are the latest rage here, are they onion flavoured, I asked him, no, they aren't, but its cheaper than giving away bottles of wine.

This was getting us nowhere.

Truth be told, my take on the whole thing is that the mystery of onion prices for urbanites is like some sort of mass hysteria, fanned further like flames hustled red hot by people with, what else, fans. I have a strong gut feeling that if it were not for this, the whole business of building up an "onions are expensive onions are expensive" hype, prices would not have gone up.

Which is why, this is the song for this short essay, enjoy.

The lead singer, who was Indian, knew his onions for sure. In this song, secretly, he is saying that if more people gave up onions, many things would happen.

# Prices would come crashing down.

# Poor people who really need onions would get them.

# Your memory may or may not improve.

# I forgot the last one.

Who else thinks the whole onion price hype was some sort of co-ordinated hype? Especially on TV?

You should listen to the radio more. On internet maybe?

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Dawood in dressing room: Are you shocked?

Rajesh Kalra
29 October 2013, 12:19 PM IST

That big money and interest from mafia and politicians has turned cricket into anything but a sport, is well known. There is so much money riding on it that players have become mere gladiators, who must perform at the beck and call of the powerful. And although it was known to those who have followed the game closely for years, it is only now that the general public, which treats the sport as a religion in this country, is getting to know that this incestuous relationship between the players and the cabal of the powerful is not a new phenomenon.

According to reports, India's most wanted man, Dawood Ibrahim, entered the Indian dressing room on the eve of the Austral-Asia Cup final in Sharjah in 1986 and offered that each Indian player would be offered a car if they beat Pakistan in the finals.(As it turned out, India lost when Javed Miandad hit that famous six off Chetan Sharma's last delivery. Ironical that Miandad's son later married Dawood's daughter.)

And while this report says Kapil told the man he wasn't supposed to be there and asked him to leave, yet another report now quotes Ravi Shastri as saying that when Kapil realised who he was, he went and apologised to Dawood. And that is not all, the report also quotes others as saying that not only was Dawood a regular at the games, which those who followed it on TV would vouch for, he was a regular in the dressing room too.

But does all this surprise you? If it does, you are naïve. For, the trailers of what and how cricket is managed and governed by our board has been visible for years and the latest episode was the recent IPL match fixing scandal where the son-in-law of the cricket control board chief himself was listed as one of the key players in the deal along with a bunch of players and wannabe film stars. Needless to add, almost everyone realises that all those named in the investigation so far are mere pawns.

Coming back to this episode from 1986, a few points that come to mind immediately are:

1. Why was Vengsarkar quiet for so long?
2. Did he share the incident with the board when it happened?
3. Did Kapil Dev, the team captain share the incident with the board?
4. If they did, what did the board do about it?
5. Did the board ever raise it with the Sharjah cricket board?
6. Did they insist that Dawood should not be seen at the venue again?

The answer to all these questions can only be guessed, and your guess is as good as mine. For, cricket continued to be played in Sharjah years after this incident, with India being a participant several times, witnessed by glitterati from Bollywood and political arena, some  of whom were seen supping with Dawood too, on TV.

Nothing about the way this game is managed should surprise anyone. Inducements to players is a given. It happens in every sport that has a mass appeal. But it never reaches a stage that the relationship becomes so incestuous that almost no one is under anyone's control, as is happening in cricket here.

Whether it's the players or the officials, it is driven solely by commercial concerns and nothing else. All of them together milk the system and players are often reduced to the state of wilful pawns. And if you are a pawn with the potential to be marketed, you are given a long rope, which several stars have often been provided. It is a well-known fact that big sponsors, who have invested heavily on a player, ensure the star is not left out during selection if his performance dips post the endorsement deal, for they have a lot of money riding on him.

And to keep everything under wraps, everything the board does is kept under wraps. There is zero transparency. In recent times, there have been reports of how they have gagged commentators from not saying anything against the board's selection policies, performance of some of the favoured players and a lot else. Read this piece and you'd realise how some of the most respected names in cricket are men without a mind of their own while commentating, for, unless they acted as caged parrots, they would be ousted unceremoniously.

As long as the board is run by a cabal of politicians and rich and powerful industrialists, whose only interest is money, glamour and their business interests, cricket would always be a casualty. As for the gullible spectators, who hero-worship their cricket stars, the situation is not about to improve. They would continue to be fed with stories of grit and valour by their compromised gladiators.

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The realm of informal power

Santosh Desai
27 October 2013, 07:32 PM IST

Increasingly, Narendra Modi's speeches write themselves; every time Rahul Gandhi says something, Modi gets fodder for his next speech.

Rahul Gandhi's comments have a strange disconnected quality about them. It is not easy to unite Muslim clerics and Narendra Modi on many issues, or to make BJP the guardian of minority rights, but he seems to have managed it quite effortlessly. Coming on the back of his emotional plea recounting the sacrifices made by his family, again hardly the kind of pitch that is likely to resonate today, his statements have an other-worldly quality, and head scratching follows quite frequently.

In the case of his speech connecting the ISI with the Muzzafarnagar riots, there is one aspect of Modi's objection that is quite sharp and precise. By focusing on the issue of why Rahul Gandhi would be privy to intelligence information, Modi has asked the question that needed to be asked. We all know that Rahul Gandhi is the presumptive heir of the Congress party, but this informal knowledge on our part in no way entitles him to receive any official intelligence briefing about a subject such as this.

The trouble conferring legitimacy on informal power is that it knows no boundaries, for it lies outside the purview of institutional norms and safeguards. That power could be used to overrule the Cabinet with one breezy and very public wave of hand as it can be in casually acknowledging access to what is presumably sensitive information. The same power is at work when Robert Vadra, against all norms of propriety, engages in what are at the very least, ill-advised real estate deals and when the officer questioning these finds himself at the receiving end of several inquiries that have mysteriously materialised after his act of defiance. Of course nowhere is the brazenness of this power more in evidence than at an airport where the same gentleman, muscles and all, is allowed the privilege India's most coveted status symbol, that of being exempt from frisking.

Criticising the abuse of informal power is necessary, but it is also easy when it involves political dynasties. The problem however is not that easy to externalise for it runs much deeper. Informal power derives its legitimacy from those that acknowledge it. Last week, we saw another instance of the phenomenon of informal power at work, albeit in a very different arena.

Take the spectacle that surrounds Sachin Tendulkar's last Ranji trophy match? It is easy to understand the symbolic significance of the game and the massive media attention it is receiving. It is also easy to understand why the small town of Lahli would spruce itself up for this big event which has thrown this sleepy hamlet into the unexpected glare of national attention.

But why is such a fuss being made about Sachin Tendulkar's staying arrangements? Why is one member of the team (not its captain) entitled to the closest Lahli can come to 5 star accommodation, and not the rest of the players? If indeed the idea was to play as part of a team to mark a long and utterly memorable journey, wouldn't the purpose be better served by treating Sachin as just another member of the team? The argument that as a Rajya Sabha MP, he is entitled to better accommodation is silly. Sachin is not in Haryana on official political business; the idea that MPs need to be feted everywhere they go is part of the larger problem of treating some people like Gods.

Although on surface the two cases seem to be very different in terms of scale and implications, they both reveal something familiar and unsettling. In both cases, what is unmistakable is the legitimacy that informal power enjoys in India. Sachin is not just another player, and this needs to be acknowledged in everything that surrounds him. Nor is Rahul Gandhi just another Vice President of a political party and this gets acknowledged not merely in the clout he enjoys within the party but even in official actions. The line between accepting an informal truth and translating that into official action is transgressed very often.

There are several examples of the love for informal power and this transcends the political class that we love to hate. In Sachin's case, this was seen earlier in the manner in which he was allotted a prime bungalow out-of-turn when he was nominated to the Rajya Sabha. The clamour for special treatment to Sunjay Dutt is part of the same pattern of applying laws and rules selectively.

In India, people we see as special are accorded the status of being above rules. The powerful earn the right to break rules, even if, as in the politicians, their job might be to make and enforce these very rules. We cannot condemn political dynasties as being undemocratic when we go out of our way to create this inequality in the first place in other realms of life. In some ways, our excessive regard for Sachin Tendulkar is the reason why we there are no limits to the power enjoyed by the political class. It is true that all power need not manifest itself through formal channels alone, indeed it is inevitable that a degree of extra-official power will always be exercised in any structure.

But when this informal power is accorded official and institutional sanction, and this is done with a degree of unsolicited eagerness, that we have to ask as to whether we deserve the leadership we have.

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Needed: EC code on coalitions

V Raghunathan
27 October 2013, 11:49 AM IST

Few of us are likely to disagree that in recent years, the Supreme Court (SC) and the Election Commission (EC) have been among our more performing institutions. In myriad ways, the two institutions have been trying to bring some semblance of discipline in our political system.

For instance, the initial proposal for decriminalisation of politics was made by the Election Commission as early as 1998 and then reiterated over 1999, 2004 and 2006 and finally mandated by the SC in its July 2013 order disqualifying MPs and MLAs convicted by any trail court from keeping their parliamentary/ legislative seats.

Other proposals from the EC from time to time include: punishment of electoral violations like undue influence, bribery, false statement of accounts et al (1992); auditing of accounts of the political parties (1998, 2004); empowerment of the Commission to regulate registration and de-registration political parties (1998, 2004, 2006); ban on transfer of electoral officers (1998, 2004) etc.; income tax exemption for political donations only for parties that contest and win seats in parliament (2006); misuse of religion for political gain (2010); amendment in law to make paid news an electoral offence (2011);; government sponsored advertisements (2004); prohibition of campaigning, especially house visits by candidates/supporters 48 hours before polling (2010);  and punishment for false affidavits by candidates (2011);  among others of more recent origin surrounding election spend, norms on use of social media, et al.

Of course, few of these proposals have found or will find favour with political parties for the same reasons that thieves will have little motivation to make jails more secure.

Not long ago, cut to the quick with some of the judgments of the SC, the Centre tried to tick off the SC stating that the Court was exceeding its brief in barring those against whom serious charges had been framed from contesting polls, since these issues came under the domain of the legislature and not the judiciary.  The saga of Government's attempt to overturn the SC judgment on the convicted MPs/MLAs through an ill-conceived ordinance is too well known to recount. Why just the government, even a Markendey Katju, himself a former SC judge, bewails the fact that SC is getting increasingly activist, without realizing that the Supreme Court has been getting into the activist mode only as a measure of the last resort.  After all, if each pillar of our Constitution did what it was charged to do by the Constitution, the country would be in a much better shape, right? After all, extraordinary times – and these are extraordinary times, make no mistake about it – call for extraordinary interventions, and that I believe is what the SC has been trying to do.

While the efforts of the Election Commission and SC over the years have been praiseworthy, and the reforms proposed have all been obviously in the right direction, there appears to be one area that seems to have escaped their attention.

This concerns the matter of alliances and coalitions in our polity, which is growing into the mother of all that is wrong with our politics today.

Every political party has or is supposed to have its manifesto and political philosophy, whether to the left or to the right of the centre. But every party is expected to let its position be known publicly.  It is based on this public declaration of their tilts that voters are supposed to vote. But imagine a responsible democracy, where no political party had any declared principles or philosophies of its own and people were expected to vote for them!

Well, that's exactly what is has been happening. While ideologies of the Congress and the BJP may be known broadly, with most regional parties this is hardly the case.  Most of these are parties headed by local satraps who though fragmented, hold the power to make or break a government at the centre based on whom they choose to get into bed with or divorce at random.  Yes, we are referring to parties like AIDMK, DMK, BSP, BJD,   SP, and Trinamool Congress to name some. All these parties are headed by regional politicians who will shrewdly , openly and shamelessly sell out their ideologies (if any), and the trust of their voters, to the highest bidder in the horse trading that routinely ensues post elections. This state of affairs suits the big-two, the Congress and the BJP, for it enables them to rule by hook or by crook. And this is also the area that gives cause for much cash-power during the horse-trading.

Aren't the voters entitled to know exactly where the inclinations of the parties they are to vote for lie? Is it not their reasonable expectation to know which parties form a unified team before they vote? How can they vote for a party, which post elections may join either the Congress or the BJP, for instance, depending on who was willing to pay how much or offer how many ministerial berths or such other quid pro quos? 

But even more importantly, isn't it absolutely crucial for us to know what alliances the Big Two (say the ruling major party and the major opposition party) will form post any election, because, after all, is it not this which determines what policies they will formulate and govern the nation, once they form the government? By forming rag-tag coalitions just to pass the arithmetic test to form a government, aren't these governments subject to completely contrary pulls and pushes and go whichever way the small partners pull them, depending on which partner at which point on time wields the make or break power in the coalition? No wonder the government has shown little coherence of purpose in policy making—they don't seem to know where to go, or how to get there, because each of the coalition partners is pulling a different way. Is this in keeping with the normal expectations of a half-way decent polity? Aren't we flirting with the expectations of 1.3 billion voters by allowing such unprincipled coalitions of convenience?

That's why we need the SC and the EC to come together to ensure that this election will ensure a fair deal for the voter. Contingent Coalitions in case of no clear majority should be announced up front.  If no clear majority of a coalition is then able to form the government, let the elections be held again. The cost of the re-election would be much less than the cost of farcical coalitions that we are constrained to call our governments.

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An eccentric list of rare gems by Manna Dey

Avijit Ghosh
27 October 2013, 05:57 PM IST

The singing career of Manna Dey spanned over six decades. He sang dozens of chartbusters. But he also gave voice to a lot of numbers that did not get the kind of popular acclaim they perhaps deserved. Some are occasionally heard on the radio though.

Here's my list of 10 such rare gems, primarily from the 1970s:

1. Mitwa -- Film: Us Paar (1974) -- Romance for the Bugle was a long poem written by Czech writer Frantisek Hrubin. It was made into a Czech film of the same name. Basu Chatterji Indianised it with Us Paar, a Vinod Mehra-Moushumi Chatterji flop that had some fine songs composed by SD Burman. Mitwa is one of the best tracks in the film, a song that reeks of heartbreak, of love that slipped away

2. Hasne ki chah ne kitna mujhe rulaya hai -- Film: Aavishkar (1973) -- The lyricist of this song, Kapil Kumar, once told me that he had written this poem on the back of a bus ticket while travelling in a BEST bus. Manna Dey brings out every ounce of self-pity that the lyricist seeks to convey

3. Jaane wale sipahi se poochcho woh kahan jar aha hai -- Film: Usne Kaha Tha (1960) -- Most songs of war celebrate martyrdom. But this one peeps into the mind of a soldier heading for a battle. Dey brings out the pathos and the irony brilliantly

4. Abhi to haath mein jam hai – Film: Seeta Aur Geeta (1972) -- A drunken Dharmendra walking the midnight streets. Manna Dey imbues the song with the right degree of working class angst. He plays a street-performer

5. Har taraf ab yehi afsane hai -- Film: Hindustan Ki Kasam (1973) -- Dey is immaculate in this mature romantic track superbly composed by Madan Mohan. And Rajkumar looks debonair in the air force uniform

6. Mere dil pe kya kya guzri hai --- Film: Ek Mutthi Aasman (1973) -- A little-known Madan Mohan special. The song is interspersed with Punjabi words and conversation.  The title track is a mini epic and magical too. Kishore Kumar has sung that one.

7. Hasi hasi panwa: (Film: Bidesiya, Bhojpuri, 1963): One of the finest songs in Bhojpuri films composed by the multi-tasking S N Tripathi. Dey outshines Mahendra Kapoor here. Watch the video of this song online. Feel the pathos of the weary traveller with an unforgettable beard

8. Yeh awara ratein: (Non-filmi): Absolute gem composed and sung by Manna Dey. Great track to listen to with the lights switched off and a glass of whiskey in hand

9. Nathli se toota moti re (Non-filmi): Another classic number that used to be popular in the afternoon programmes of geets and ghazals on the Vividh Bharati radio station. Every amateur singer wanted to sing it too, says my colleague and music lover Shashank Shekhar

10.  Teri galiyon mein hum aaye (film: Minoo, 1977): A great Salil Chowdhury composition that beggars often sang.

If you are wondering why I am not talking about the Manna Dey superhits, the reason is that I have already written about them in my appreciation of his work last Thursday. In case you missed it and are still interested, click here. 

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NaMo and the lotus

Jug Suraiya
26 October 2013, 12:18 PM IST

Will the 2014 elections see a battle of flowers, a battle between the Nehruvian rose, as represented by Jawaharlal Nehru's great-grandson, and the BJP's lotus, as represented by Narendra Modi, whom the saffron party has nominated as its prime ministerial candidate?

That seems to be a more than possible scenario. But more than the thorns that roses have, along with their sweet fragrance, the BJP is reportedly beginning to fear that NaMo's prickly brand image is what might puncture the party's lotus symbol.

More and more voters, it seems, have their eyes set so firmly on Modi as their choice of PM that they overlook the BJP's lotus. This raises the worrisome question for the party's think tank as to whether NaMo is getting too big not just for his own boots but for the BJP's symbol. In other words, is Modi becoming bigger than the party he supposedly represents?

In his election speeches, Modi has stressed good governance and development and kept discreetly away from issues like the building of the Ram mandir, a central tenet of the BJP as it is of its ideological mentor, the RSS. Indeed, Modi's 'de-saffronised' version of Hindutva has already earned itself the name of 'Moditva'.

To bring the lotus back into focus in voters' minds – and along with it the concepts of Hindutva and 'cultural nationalism' that it symbolises – the BJP is coming up with poster slogans such as : "Narendra Modi, Kamal Nishaan, Maang Raha Hai Hindustani", (Narendra Modi, lotus symbol is what the country wants). At campaign rallies, giant lotus symbols will provide the backdrop to NaMo's speeches so that in voters' eyes Modi is seen as being synonymous with the BJP and not as an independent candidate.

A party leader, Shahnawaz Hussain recalling the days of Atal Behari Vajpayee, has stressed the importance of convincing the electorate that now "the Modi nectar is being offered in the lotus". The electoral power of symbols is crucial in a country like India with its high levels of illiteracy: voters put their stamp on recognisable symbols, not on names which they are unable to read.

The lotus was picked as the BJP symbol in 1980 when it split from the Janata Party, and the farmer and plough symbol got frozen. Asked to choose from available symbols, the newly-formed BJP selected the lotus.

According to folk lore, just before the 1857 war of independence, itinerant sadhus carried a lotus flower along with a roti as a secret symbol of an uprising against the British. Traditionally the lotus in India has been considered as an emblem of prosperity. The 1857 connection also makes it a symbol of patriotism. In yoga, the lotus-position is conducive to tranquility.

This being the case, Modi shouldn't begrudge the lotus backing him on his campaign. With one word of caution, however. According to the legend of Ulysses, lotus-eaters, people who ate the fruit of the lotus, got lost in a perpetual daydream.

If NaMo is aware of this classical association, he might be apprehensive that his election promises might be seen by some to be nothing but empty pipe dreams.

 

jug.suraiya@timesgroup.com

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Manna Dey - His Ten Best Songs

Abhijit Bhaduri
26 October 2013, 07:20 PM IST

Manna Dey began his career when he sang a duet with Suraiya in the film Tamanna in 1942. A year later he followed with his first solo "Gayi tu gayi Seeta sati" from the film Ram Rajya. He came to Bombay not to be a singer but to be a composer, inspired by his uncle Krishna Chandra Dey. Manna Dey assisted Anil Biswas and Khem Chandra Prakash before deciding to abandon his dream of composing music.

In the fifties, when classical music ruled Hindi cinema, Manna Dey's training in classical music got utilized to the hilt. During his career that spanned five decades, he sang for many composers across a variety of styles and genres. His voice remains a benchmark for classical songs.

Here is my list of top ten songs of Manna Dey (in no particular order):

Sur Na Saje Kya Gaaun Main based on Raga Pilu was composed by Shankar Jaikishan. Manna Dey attributed his biggest breaks to Shankar – especially for songs like Aaja Sanam Madhur Chandni Mein Hum or in the later years for Re Man Sur Mein Ga  based on the evening raga Yaman from Lal Patthar (1971) or Chham cham Baje Re Payaliya based on Raga Darbari. But first the classic from the film Basant Bahar : Sur Na Saje

 Kaun Aya Mere Man Ke Dwarey from the film Dekh Kabira Roya (1957). The lyrics were by Rajendra Krishan and the music director was Madan Mohan. The song based on the late evening Raga Rageshree would be my pick for a song that was one of the earliest hits of Manna Dey

Chunari Mein Daag from the film Dil Hi To Hai (1963) was set to music by Roshan. Manna Dey's training in classical music is put to test in this song. Don't miss the way the song changes pace from 4:30 and then again from the sixth minute into this song. Based on the morning raga Bhairavi

Poochho na kaise maine rain bitayi would be my pick for SD Burman's best classical composition sung by Manna Dey. The lyrics by Shailendra were set to tune by SD based on a Kazi Nazrul Islam composition Aruno Kanti Ke Go Jogi Bhikhari

Aayo Kahan Se Ghanshyam from the film Buddha Mil Gaya (1971) was based on the late evening raga Khamaj. The lyrics were by Majrooh Sultanpuri and set to music by RD Burman.

Manna Dey sang extensively for Bengali films and some of the most romantic songs of the silver screen have been sung by Manna Dey.  Ami Jamini Tumi Shashi Hey from the film Antony Firingi with Uttam Kumar playing the title role would be the first song I would play for you. Manna Dey in his usual modest fashion ascribed the success of the song to the lyricist Gouriprasanna Majumdar and the composer Anil Bagchi

Hoyto Tomar Jonno from the film Teen Bhubaner Paare is again another runaway hit from Bengali film. The music director Sudhin Dasgupta composed the music for this film that saw Soumitro Chatterjee wooing Tanuja. The song Jiboney ki Pabona was another blockbuster song from the same film. But today my choice is Hoyto Tomar Jonno

Manna Dey had the unique ability to sing songs that would enhance a comical situation. There is no better example of this than the classic from Padosan (1968) that was produced by Mehmood. The song was set to music by RD Burman. This song paired him with Kishore Kumar, another singer who could carry off tongue twisters and improvise despite his lack of training in classical music. Ek Chatur Naar brings these two voices together and they make this horribly difficult song look deceptively easy to sing.

Salil Chowdhury set to music the lyrics of Prem Dhawan in 1961 for Kabuliwala. The result was a song that brings tears to the eyes of anyone who misses the motherland. When you miss home and sing Aye Mere Pyare Watan you will know why I picked this to be among the top ten.

While it is never easy to pick ten best songs of a singer like Manna Dey who left behind a string of songs for every occasion. A career that spanned more than half a century has too many options for me to choose from. In this song penned by Gauri Prasanna Majumdar captures the emotions of anyone who misses the good times spent with friends in college. I couldn't possibly miss Coffee Houser Shei Adda Ta from the top ten of my favorite Manna Dey songs.

I have not included the songs sung by Manna Dey in Malayalam (Chemmeen) or Assamese (Kajol Lota Tomare Naam) etc. I realize ten is a very small number when it comes to counting hits of a singer.

Which is your favorite Manna Dey song that I should have counted in the top ten songs list?

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Join me on twitter @AbhijitBhaduri

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Around the world in photos: October 20 - 26

Team TOI
26 October 2013, 07:30 PM IST

Every week, we bring you a roundup of the best photos from around the world. Let us know which is your favorite in the the comments section and check again next week for new images.

Pakistani boys, who were displaced with their families from Pakistan's tribal areas due to fighting between the Taliban and the army, pose for a photograph on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed, File)

Guatemalan clown Tonito poses for a portrait on the first day of the annual International Clown Convention in Mexico City. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)

Geese of the Landi GmbH poultry farm are driven to their barn in Veckenstedt, central Germany. The company brings up around 8,000 geese per year. Roast goose is a traditional dinner in Germany at Christmas and Martinmas. (AFP PHOTO / DPA / MATTHIAS BEIN / GERMANY OUT)

Members of a South Korean Air Force honor guard throw their guns in the air during a press day of an air show as part of the Seoul International Aerospace & Defense Exhibition which will be held from Oct. 25 to Nov. 3, at Cheongju International Airport in Cheongju, south of Seoul, South Korea. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A woman feeds her baby at their home in the city of Antananarivo, Madagascar. Madagascar will hold elections on Friday that organizers hope will end political tensions that erupted in a 2009 coup and help lift the aid-dependent country out of poverty. The island nation in the Indian Ocean plunged into turmoil after Andry Rajoelina, the current president, forcibly took power from former President Marc Ravalomanana with the backing of the military. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam)

Residents run from a fire at a gasoline and oil shop in Aleppo's Bustan Al-Qasr neighbourhood. Witnesses said the fire was caused by a bullet fired by a sniper loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad at the Karaj al-Hajez crossing, a passageway separating Aleppo's Bustan al-Qasr, which is under the rebels' control and Al-Masharqa neighborhood, an area controlled by the regime. (REUTERS/Haleem Al-Halabi)

This image made available by Camera Press shows the official christening photo of Britain's Prince George photographed in the Morning Room at Clarence House in London. Kate Duchess of Cambridge holds her son Prince George seated next to Queen Elizabeth II and Prince William, back row from left, Prince Philip, Prince Charles, and the Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Harry, Pippa Middleton, James Middleton, Carole Middleton and Michael Middleton. (AP Photo/Jason Bell, Camera Press)

A squirrel monkey looks in a mirror at the London Zoo. The keepers have installed a mirror in the 'Meet the Monkeys' enclosure in preparation of a male monkey named 'Eubie' getting introduced to family. The London Zoo is home to over 20 black-capped or Bolivian squirrel monkeys. The species mainly eat insects, fruit and seeds. (AFP PHOTO / ADRIAN DENNIS)

Children sit on a dead whale shark after it was trapped in a fisherman's net, at Kenjeran beach in Surabaya, East Java province. (REUTERS/Sigit Pamungkas)

A Bahraini woman mourns during the funeral of Hussain Mahdi Habib in the village of sitra, south of Manama. Habib, 20, a political prisoner who escaped from prison on May 19, his body was found the day before after he was allegedly shot dead near Al Malkiyah coastal village. (AFP PHOTO/MOHAMMED AL-SHAIKH)

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Picasso and Warhol prints rub shoulders at Sotheby’s

Uma Nair
25 October 2013, 03:46 PM IST

When the world's finest artist Picasso explores into the art world's myriad moods he comes up with the fascinating world of Prints - and at Sotheby's is an exemplification of the artist as explorer' and is intended to celebrate the practice, concept and application of print and printmaking in its widest possible constituency - with the greatest names in art history. Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, Pablo Picasso and Roy Lichenstein - all come together to unveil a sale that revels in the journeys of the print medium.

In this historic sale of Prints, on October 31 and 1 November 2013, Sotheby's will offer a wide range of Prints for sale including works by modern and contemporary masters. The cover lot of the sale is a linoleum cut by Pablo Picasso, Femmes au Mirroir (est. $175/250,000). A selection of works by Andy Warhol is led by two complete sets of six screenprints of $ in unique color combinations from 1982, exemplifying the artist's affinity for vibrant colors (est. $220/280,000 each). Additional highlights include Target by Jasper Johns (est. $200/300,000), Gros Oiseau Corrida by Pablo Picasso (est. $100/150,000) and Bull Profile Series by Roy Lichtenstein (est. $80/120,000).

Andy Warhol, MARILYN

Andy Warhol, $

Andy Warhol, Cowboys and Indians

For Picasso, printmaking was one of many artistic media employed, and one which he used to explore themes from other areas of his work. For Warhol printmaking was an exercise in experimentation, through which he developed many imaginative new processes. Warhol's prints were his primary means of expression and central to his work. His screen-prints based on mass-produced images challenged the concept of the 'original' print. And this auction has Marilyn and Jackie Kennedy Onasis.

Pablo Picasso, Gros Oiseau Corrida

Pablo Picasso, Femmes Au Miroir


Roy Lichtenstein, Bull Profile Series

Jasper Johns, Target

Jasper Johns, The Seasons

Egon Schiele, DAS GRAPHISCHE WERK 

Mary Cassatt, THE BANJO LESSON

It also offers visitors a rare opportunity to see a collection of more than 50 artworks by these artists on display in New York and will highlight the different ways they each used the medium of print. Together, these artists spanned a 75-year period that saw the birth of the modern age and they employed a wide range of techniques; their work represents one of the most creative and diverse periods of printmaking in the history of western art.

Foregrounding the inherent experimental and interdisciplinary nature of print practices Prints will provide a critical and insightful platform for the varied interests that make print such a unique discipline.  From its hybrid roots in industry and scholarship, through traditional design applications and fine art practices to its consistent significance within emerging technologies and theoretical debate – print continues to play a crucial role in the exploration of borders and crossings – be they geographical, ideological, cultural, theoretical or practical.

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Have we flogged the C word to death?

Pritish Nandy
25 October 2013, 03:48 PM IST

Is there a politician around, any politician apart from Arvind Kejriwal, who sees corruption as an election issue? I am not counting Anna. He is a social worker and, in many ways, our conscience. But as he has himself pointed out, he is not part of the political choices on offer. He is more like a moral compass.

So even though we go on and on about corruption and we call the UPA as the most corrupt government ever, we have already conceded months ahead of the elections that corruption is not an issue worth voting on. The current rhetoric makes this obvious. Narendra Modi is not offering a corruption free Government. He is promising development. Rahul Gandhi is not offering to clean up his Aegean stables. He is promising, instead, inclusiveness, whatever that means. The BJP is promising change. The Congress promises continuity. The NDA promises you Hindu nationalism. The UPA promises you secularism. The Congress makes Hindu nationalism sound like a fascist slogan, an excuse for isolating the minorities. (And probably it is.) The BJP makes secularism sound like a dirty word, an excuse for appeasing Muslims. (And it probably is.)  But one thing is clear, amidst all this high decibel debate, no one's mentioning the C word. It has quietly disappeared from our political discourse.

Why is this? Is it because no party can afford to point a finger at the other? Airline promotions offer you great meals on board, wonderful destinations, excellent flight timings, flat beds, on-time performance. But none mention the elephant in the room. Safety. How safe is the airline you are flying? Every party at election time is ready to promise you the moon. But not a corruption-free government. That's the elephant in the room. That's what's hurting India the most. It has destroyed our credibility before the world, brought our economy to its knees, scared off foreign investors, and mocked our claims to being a world class nation.

Every time the question of corruption is raised, it's waylaid by other issues. Economic reforms. 10% growth. Infrastructure. Food for all. Jobs. Modi thinks development will win him brownie points with the youth who are constantly rah-rahing for him on social media. Rahul thinks inclusiveness will bond him with that unseen, unsung, unwashed India outside the cities who no one ever bothers about except at election time.

Yet there was a time when Governments teetered at every scam. Remember Bofors? Remember Harshad Mehta and the stock market scam? Remember Telgi? Or the more recent Maharashtra scam where all the money for rural irrigation was looted while Vidharba reeled under drought and farmers kept committing suicide.

No, corruption is not new to our politics. It's been around from Nehru's time. There was Krishna Menon's infamous jeep scandal. The TTK scandal. And Dharma Teja, who wined and dined with the Nehrus and then scooted off to some Latin American country to avoid arrest. Antulay's cement scandal not only destroyed his own political career but shook up Mrs Gandhi's too. Go to Wikipedia and see the huge list of scams that have played havoc with our politics. There are many not listed there but they have all scarred our conscience. Yet their impact seems to be diminishing as we become indifferent to corruption and politicians get more brazen.

2G is already forgotten. The Government is braving it out on Coalgate and the Augustus chopper scam. If it weren't for the Supreme Court, the lid would have been put on the Radia tapes a long time back. But new scams keep erupting every few days. For the world outside, India is a hotbed of corruption where no deal is ever struck without some politician (or his middle man) getting paid for it. Even the coffins that picked up our dead soldiers in Kargil during the NDA's time were scam tainted.

Yet we are back to our familiar choices at election time, the Congress versus the BJP or, to be more precise, the incumbent UPA versus the challenger NDA, where neither the Congress nor the BJP have a hope in hell of making it alone. Both are stubbornly silent on corruption. And we? Frankly, my dear, we don't give a damn. We outrage a bit. We joke a bit on social media and it's all over. Life's back to normal. The moment Laloo is convicted by the court and sent to jail for the fodder scam, his popularity ratings shoot up in the polls. The man who was cowering out of fear is now beating his chest as a challenger to Nitish Kumar. Such is the power of corruption in India. It makes dabangg heroes out of the biggest rascals.

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Stock market rally is because of Narendra Modi. Oh really??

Prashant Panday
25 October 2013, 03:49 PM IST

Chidambaram must be squirming. Poor man, he's been slogging it out for the last year and a half, trying to get important decisions taken. Now that the stock market has started responding, here comes Narendra Modi, the perpetual usurper of everything good, and takes the credit away. How exactly does Modi do this? I suspect through his PR overdrive and his over-eager followers (the gujarati-driven broker community).

If newspaper reports are to be believed, the markets are discounting the possibility (no, make that certainty) of Modi becoming PM in 2014. Really? How do these brilliant soothsayers know this? No opinion poll till date (with all their inbuilt faults) have said any such thing. All of them are in fact showing that the NDA is going to be woefully short of a majority. In fact they show that the NDA is going to be struggling to hit even the 200 mark. And everyone knows that very few parties want to tie up with them at this point in time. How then does this community of brokers know so much about the future, if not for the little "nudging" that APCO (Modi's PR agency) or Modi's own "chamchas" must be providing?

Modi's motivated supporters offer evidence which wouldn't pass muster with even morons. Apparently, the stock market has risen since the time Modi was anointed PM candidate. This data point might be true, but where is the correlationship between the two events? So many things have happened in the last few months. Can all of them claim they have influenced the movement of the sensex? The correlationship however exists between the work that Chidambaram and several other organs of the government have done since the same time.

Take Chidambaram himself first. He has been instrumental in setting up the CCI (Cabinet Committee of Investments) which has cleared projects worth more than Rs 3.5 lac crores. He has toured global business capitals and made pitches about the India story to global investors. He has pared government expenditure, first last year and then now, and reassured the markets that the fiscal deficit will be kept at 4.8% or lower. He has tweaked tax rates to drastically reduce gold imports, giving credence to his assertion that the CAD will be kept below $70 billion. And very importantly, he has brought in Raghuram Rajan as the RBI governor. Chidambaram is a silent worker; unlike the raucous Modi. This does not mean Narendra Modi can steal the credit away.

Now come to Raghuram Rajan. Everyone knows what the man has done since he took over in September. In fact, the maximum correlationship between the sensex and anything is with Rajan's arrival. The man controlled the precipitous fall of the rupee in no time, bringing confidence back into the external sector. He launched the forex swap scheme bringing in $10 billion already. He allowed banks to borrow abroad to double the limit they were allowed to earlier. In short, he brought sense back into the senseless fall of the rupee. In recent times, the sensex has responded most to the fate of the rupee, not the fortunes of Narendra Modi.

Then the huge impact that the postponing of the US Fed's QE program has had on the Indian markets is well established. This has been further aided by the appointment of Janet Yellen as the next Fed Governor. The day the Fed announced the postponement, the sensex soared 700+ points. It didn't soar anything when Modi was announced as the PM candidate. Also, there has to be a certain honesty in politics. How is it possible that when the rupee was falling, the BJP blamed the Congress (remember the "now Sonia's age, soon PM's age" barb?), but when it recovered smartly, it is because of Narendra Modi?

There are two things that emerge. First, the Congress has got the economy moving again. Everyone agrees that the worst is behind and the future is better. Whether the growth ends up at 5% or a shade lower or higher is a matter of detail. The other thing is something that we all know. Narendra Modi has a well earned reputation for being a #feku. That's been proven again.

The real truth is that the markets have risen because of an improving business scenario, and because the US Fed has delayed its pull back of the Quantitative Easing program. It has nothing to do with Narendra Modi. All that this shows is the desperation of the messiah to grab everything good the government does with both hands.

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The difference between the Gujarat and anti-Sikh riots….

Prashant Panday
24 October 2013, 08:14 AM IST

While watching another inane debate on a news channel last night, I was appalled by the attempt made by the anchor and the BJP spokesperson to compare the anti-Muslim Gujarat pogrom of 2002 with the anti-Sikh 1984 one. Of course, there are similarities –  one particular community was targeted; the government didn't do enough to stop the carnage; and thousands died. However, that's where the comparison ends. In the years that followed, the Congress apologized and took corrective steps; the BJP didn't.

The Congress made amends (this post points out how); as a result, the Sikhs have forgiven the Congress. But the BJP has made no amends at all. In fact, it has gone the opposite way and made Godhra and Hindutva the centerpiece of its political strategy. Modi's innings as Gujarat CM began with Godhra. There is no way he will abandon this. Or apologize for it. He thoroughly enjoys the love and affection fellow saffronites shower on him for this (remember he is called the Hindu Hriday Samrat?). But the Muslims have never forgiven the BJP. Nor have the Christians.

How did the Congress make amends? The Congress apologized to the Sikhs. Publicly. In words and in action. Sonia Gandhi made Manmohan Singh the PM even though no one would have given him that chance. The Sikhs felt assuaged. It was the Congress's way of apologizing; by handing over the most powerful position in the country to a Sikh. Not once, but twice. Of course, there were political reasons that Sonia had for doing so; but she grabbed the chance. Of course, Manmohan Singh's brilliant record as a bureaucrat; his courageous reforms under Narasimha Rao; his intellectual prowess; and his apolitical nature all made him the "natural" choice. In making Manmohan Singh the PM, Sonia hit two birds with one stone. Not only did she give the nation an able PM (forget what the saffronites think), she also offered an olive branch to the Sikh community.

Did the Sikhs forgive the Congress? Yes. Since 1984, the Sikhs in Punjab voted the Congress to power twice for a total of 10 years; the SAD – the party of the Sikhs – managed only slightly better at thrice for 12 years (before the current tenure started). The loss of the Congress in the recent polls in the state was considered an unexpected result; and was attributed to factors not related to 1984. Had the Congress won Punjab this time (as was expected), it would have been in power longer than the SAD.

The BJP, on the other hand, made no amends. It grudgingly abandoned its hardline Hindutva for a while under coalition compulsions, but now with Modi at the helm, it has very much revived a more vicious version of it. 1) Narendra Modi has never apologized to the Muslims, using guttural language instead, to obfuscate the matter, and even hurt them more (remember the puppy bit?). 2) The BJP routinely abused its police in Gujarat while probing the riots (after having severely abused it during the riots); as well as the state judiciary which had become completely saffronized. Things became so bad that investigative functions had to be handed over to an SC appointed SIT and the CBI; and court hearings had to be moved outside the state. 3) The state continued its persecution of Muslims after 2002. One after another fake encounters was carried out in the state. 4) The state government refused to pony up monies for the restoration of mosques destroyed during the riots (eventually the SC forced it to do so). 5) When the BJP's Minister of Home during the riots Haren Pandya was murdered, the state made attempts (and succeeded initially) to put the blame on innocent muslims from Hyderabad. All this indicates that the BJP is not contrite. This has helped it win power repeatedly in Gujarat and MP. But it has caused it to lose power everywhere else.

The people have repeatedly punished the BJP for Gujarat. At the Center, the BJP was booted out in 2004 immediatley after the riots (though the BJP expected to win because of its India Shining campaign, just like it thinks it will win now). In UP – where it all started with the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992 – the party has never wielded power since the Babri days. In Maharashtra, where the equally saffron Shiv Sena is its ally, the BJP has ruled only once for 4 years since 1995; and never after Godhra. In Bihar, its ally, the JD(U), broke off precisely for Modi's Gujarat record. If today the BJP is a pariah, it is thanks to its non-contrite image.

The BJP says it is has been fair to the Muslims. It says it made APJ Abdul Kalam the President. That was good; but it looks like an exception never to be repeated. Can we imagine the BJP ever making a Muslim or Christian its party President, forget its PM candidate? In fact, Modi hasn't even given seats in the state elections to Muslim candidates. He hasn't done it in the past and he is not going to do it in the future. At the national level, how many Muslim faces does one see in the BJP? Except for a few "show pieces", none. How many Christian faces are there in the party? None. The BJP is proud of its staunch Hindu character. Even here, it remains exclusivist and strongly Brahminical. The BJP's inherent nature is to polarize. It polarized the country on the Hindu-Muslim axis. It will polarize Hindus on the Brahmin-others axis in the future. Hindus worry about this. That's why the lower castes never vote for it.

One last point. BJP supporters also mention the several Hindu-Muslim riots that have taken place in the country since independence in an attempt to shame the Congress and show it is as not secular. But the problem with this is that the people have never blamed the Congress for having caused these riots. That the riots happened is indeed shameful, but they didn't happen because of the Congress. The BJP on the other hand is accused of having directly caused the Gujarat riots. And Babri. And the encounter killings. And more. All riots are unfortunate but when the CM acts, the casualties are smaller (Assam had less than 100 deaths, UP less than 50). When the CM looks the other way, the numbers are obviously higher (2000 died in Gujarat).

The real truth is that there is no comparison between 2002 and 1984. The Congress remains culturally, religiously and socially heterogeneous; the BJP a Brahminical monolith. The Congress's heterogeneity forced it to apologize to the Sikhs; the BJP's homogeneity compels it not to do so to the Muslims. The two parties are incomparable; the two incidents likewise.

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ISI-terrorist meet, a Pak propaganda exercise

SD Pradhan
24 October 2013, 12:24 AM IST

The reported meeting of the ISI Brigadier and terrorists on 20th September was an exercise planned by Pak authorities to project that political leaders and Pak Army/ISI are trying to restrain terrorists, who are acting autonomously and are not their control. The timing and the theme of the meeting clearly reveal their objectives.

First the timing of this report reflected the urgency for the Pak authorities. Pak PM Nawaz Sharif was going to meet US President and other important functionaries in US on the 29th September 2013 0n the side lines of UN meeting, first time as PM of Pakistan after 14 years of his humiliating visit soon after the Kargil Conflict to defend the acts of the Pak Army. It was also clear that the US authorities were going to press the Pak PM to stop support to the Pak based terrorists in view of the feelings of a section of congressmen who desired such an assurance before the much expected military and economic aid amounting to $1.6 billion could be released. In addition, Nawaz was going to seek US assistance for the resolution of J&K issue. Nawaz Sharif was aware that since the beginning of this year the Pak Army/ISI and terrorists had carried out a number of audacious and condemnable attacks on the border and in J&K attracting criticism not only from India but from other countries as well. Therefore, it was essential to project that the Pak Army and ISI under his government are making assiduous efforts to stop the terrorists from "repeating attacks" on the Indian security forces. Alongside there was also a need to reflect that the terrorists were acting on their own and had acquired the necessary resources for carrying out terrorist activities in J&K and other places to ward off the charge of assisting and directing terrorists. This aspect Pakistan had been trying to project for the last several years. The Pak authorities have in the past stated this lie umpteen number of times despite irrefutable evidence being provided by Kasab, Headley, Abdul Karim Tunda and others. Salman Bashir, the Pak High Commissioner to India on 26 September 2013, soon after the fidayeen attacks on the Indian security forces in Kathua and Samba had stated the Pak Army was not involved in the attacks. For Nawaz it was essential that the International Community, particularly for US accepts this argument. To make it credible what required was that Indian intelligence agencies should be circulating the minutes of a fictitious or stage managed meeting. The confidence of the Pak intelligence agencies must have been boosted by the past mistakes of some of the Indian intelligence agencies, which for their own purposes are always in a hurry to circulate even those reports that are required to be confirmed from other sources. The disinformation fed by Pak intelligence agencies regarding the two Pakistani citizens as terrorists, who were reported to have sneaked into Mumbai some time ago, is a pointer in this direction.

Second aspect is the theme of the reported meeting. The main purpose of the "meeting" was to convincingly prove that a senior officer of the ISI was trying to impress the terrorists not to carry out repeat strikes in view of the forthcoming meeting between the Indian PM and the Pak PM, while the terrorists were adamant on carrying out strikes at the earliest. Therefore it was reflected that the terrorists met again in the evening in the absence of the ISI officer and decided to carry out attacks.  The minutes were drafted accordingly as a part of intelligence operation and put on a communication system to be easily intercepted by the Indian agencies.    

However, the composition of the persons who attended the meeting and the statement of Brigadier of ISI make the report incredible. According to the report, the meeting was attended by ISI Brigadier Javed Hussain Shah with Lashkar-e Taiba (LeT) top leader Hafiz Mohammad Saeed (who heads MDI and directs LeT the military wing of the outfit) and others from Jaish-e Mohammad (Abdul Razzak), Hizb-ul Mujahideen (Badshah Khan), Jamait-ul Mujahideen (Chande Khan), Tehreeq-ul Mujahideen (Fazal Sayeed Hakani) and an Advisor (Ah Marvat Zari). It is well known that the Brigadier level officials do not attend usual meetings. Senior officials only meet the top terrorists separtely. The ISI officials who attend such meetings are known as Chota Chaudhury or Bada Chaudhury, depending upon his rank. Even if it is assumed that the meeting was attended by a Brigadier level officer as it was important and was attended by Hafiz Mohammad Saeed for LeT, then why other outfits were not represented by the chiefs of those groups. It is not understandable that an important meeting would be attended by fairly junior level functionaries, whose names have not surfaced in the past. This indicates a weakness of the ISI operation.

The other weakness of the report is the statement of the Brigadier of ISI. On the day when meeting took place i.e. 20th September, 2013, it was not decided that the two PMs would meet. Such a decision was taken only on 25th September, 2013. Brigadier could not have predicted about the meeting five days in advance. This was clearly an afterthought to achieve the objectives mentioned earlier.

The impact of this intelligence operation has had the desired impact in US and to some extent in India from the Pak point of view. In US, the White House is poised to release more than $ 1.6 billion in military and economic aid to help strengthen ties between US and Pakistan that have been soiled since operation against Osama bin Laden in 2011. The US authorities have their own interests in building closer relations with Pakistan in view of developments in Afghanistan. The US Secretary of State John Kerry has stated that 'the relationship between America and Pakistan could not be more important as the Nawaz Sharif ruled nation is struggling with economic and security issues'. Nothing more Nawaz could have asked for.

In India, while the intelligence report had the lowest grading that required to be confirmed by other authentic sources, media gave focus on the terrorists overruling the Pak Army. The enthusiastic security experts, whose knowledge of complex intelligence cycle and intelligence operations is limited, commented that this reflected 'the changing internal dynamics in Pakistan', 'terrorist groups having developed into a formidable force', 'terrorist have acquired their own autonomy' etc. Such experts have certainly bought the view which Pak Army/ISI combine wanted to project.

The facts are far from these comments. What India is witnessing is the Pak sponsored terrorism and not Pak supported terrorism. This difference is important to understand with a view to accurately assess the nature of threat being faced by India. Pakistan is using terrorism as an instrument of the State to destabilise India. The LeT, JeM, HuM, HM and Al Badr cannot exist even for a day without the resources of ISI and Pak Army. These groups have never spoken against the Pak Army and it is unthinkable that they can defy their orders. Hafiz Mohammad Saeed is rubbing shoulders with the Pak Ministers openly and is protected by the ISI. The terrorists cannot infiltrate without the support of Pak firing. That these groups have acquired autonomy is only Pak propaganda. An Army that kept in cantonment Osama bin Laden for more than six years has developed expertise in maintaining terrorists in its own territory. The terrorist training centres are either kept in cantonment or are protected by the Pak Army. They not only guide them to undertake different tasks but also provide resources and help to infiltrate into India using different routes.

The larger issue that needs to be kept in the calculus for formulating strategy to respond to the Pakistani machinations is the policy of Nawaz Sharif's Government towards India. While several times Nawaz both before the elections and after assuming power that he is prepared to go extra mile to improve relations with India, there is little he has done in this direction. The fact is that Nawaz had always been under the Pak Army rule and was overthrown by a military coup is mortally scared of military power. He knows that he can remain in power as long as the Pak Army is willing to tolerate him. Therefore it is highly unlikely that he would disobey the directions of the Pak Army. This is proved by increased number of successful infiltration/attempts for infiltration along the LoC and attacks on Indian Security forces with active involvement of Pak Army. Since the coming of power of Nawaz Sharif such acts have grown about five times, reflecting that either he is willing to follow the Pak Army line for the protection of his power or he is incapable of changing the Pak Army's policies. In both cases he has no use for India for dealing with terrorism.

India therefore has to come up with alternative solutions for dealing with the terrorism. Besides strengthening our intelligence and security apparatus, the cost of Pak sponsored terrorism has to be significantly increased for the Pak Army. The Pak Army is terribly scared of Israel for their policy of violent retaliation. This needs to be built into our counter-terrorism strategy. Nothing less than this would make the Pak Army change its nefarious activities.

The leaked report raises another interesting question. Why did the Pak Army/ISI project the name of only one top terrorist i.e. Hafiz Mohammad Saeed. They could have used names of chiefs of other terrorist outfits. This indicates the possibility of Hafiz Mohamad Saeed having turned into an expendable commodity for the Pak Army after US has offered reward for information leading to his conviction. The Pak Army and ISI do not mind elimination of those who become a liability in operations by others. However this is relevant for Hafiz Mohammad Saeed and his supporters and not for India as it is the Pak Army that determines India policy and an individual in the unofficial Pak Army i.e. LeT.             

 

 

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Is RTI really a Congress creation?

Rajesh Kalra
24 October 2013, 01:04 PM IST

As the crucial state elections and the big general elections draw closer,  the political parties are losing no opportunity to claim credit for what they have done and increasingly also for what they have not done. And, as this piece discusses, some are, bafflingly, refusing to take credit for what they have done.

Anyone who follows the ruling party's speeches and campaign, what stands out is that Right to Information (RTI), Food Security Bill and Right to Education Bill are among the three major accomplishments they are going to people with. But, as more and more people are now pointing out, all these bills are nothing but what the NDA government had already done and what the UPA has done is to merely give it a new nomenclature.

Let us look at the RTI Act, which, in more ways than one has been a game changer. The act was enacted and assented in June 2005, when UPA had been in power for a year. But what was RTI really? It was nothing but the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2002 that was enacted by the NDA government.

In fact, the aim of the act was the same as the RTI and, as this letter dated January 30, 2003, from the then secretary, Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) shows, the government had started moving towards promoting it.

Other than calling it the "beginning of a new era in approach of government functioning where openness shall now be the rule and secrecy an exception", the letter went on to ask all secretaries to "provide before hand the requisite infrastructure in the form of rules etc."

In fact, so serious was the NDA government about this act's implementation that the letter from the DoPT said: "the provisions contained therein give the Act an over-riding effect in character. In keeping with this, we would suggest that an immediate review may be undertaken for all such Acts and Instruments administered by the Ministry and amendments made thereto, wherever necessary, so that the scheme is not subverted through the operation of conflicting provisions in these Acts/Instruments."

The letter then went on to say "suitable action may be taken on priority basis so that there is no cause for delay in brining the act into force", before concluding: "As the entire infrastructure for bringing the Act into force has to be set up within the shortest possible time, I shall be grateful if the above aspects receive your personal attention."

This was January 2003. RTI came in 2005. If one were to analyse, bluntly put, it is nothing but a case of the UPA coming to power and sitting on it for a couple of years, give it a new name and then take credit for it. In fact, Aruna Roy and Arvind Kejriwal have, perhaps, worked harder to popularise and take it to the masses than any of the large political parties. 

And it is not just this. Even the Right to Education Bill, which is once again seen as a game changer, was actually conceived in 2003 as something called "Free & Compulsory Education for Children."

If you dig the net and the social media, there are plenty of other instances available where something that was thought through and started during NDA was appropriated by the UPA after a slight break by merely giving it a new name.

Of course, when in Delhi, how can one forget about what is easily the most successful large project undertaken in the country after independence, the Delhi Metro? The current CM, Sheila Dikshit has appropriated the infrastructure as her baby. But the facts tell a different story.

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation was set up jointly by the government of India and government of Delhi in May, 1995, when the Delhi CM was Madan Lal Khurana. Total ground work and planning was done in the subsequent two-three years  and construction started in 1998, just when Sheila Dikshit took over as the CM. So, if anything, the credit goes to now severely ailing Khurana and not the lady who has garnered all the accolades for the project.

But all this brings one to the point. Why has the BJP, indeed the NDA, shied away from claiming credit for things which they have done? Doesn't it seem strange that the ruling party goes to town claiming credit for every scheme considered a game changer in the country, while those who are actually responsible for it, protest meekly or give it a miss altogether.

I am unable to understand this strange reticence on part of the principal opposition party that is hoping to make a comeback. In the minds of the young voters, and their number would be more than significant in the coming elections, RTI, RTE and Delhi Metro, among others are ALL the handiwork of the Congress and the UPA. Why wouldn't the BJP tell them what the truth is? I fail to understand!

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India's Big Leap to 2018

Veeresh Malik
23 October 2013, 09:50 AM IST

 

What I really liked was the fact that this debate was moderated by ex-Civil Servant and ex-Main Stream Media journo friends of mine who (1) kept their questions and interjections brief as well as intelligently tricky and (2) didn't let the regular media guys in the audience ask their usual long winded statements disguised as questions. For that, Shivnath Thukral, and Shaliesh Pathak, many thanks, as well as the opportunity given to me to ask the last question from the distinguished panel gathered for the Eisenhower Foundation's "Big Leap India - 2018" debate at Delhi's India Habitat Centre's overflowing past capacity Stein Auditorium last night.

But hang on - what does the Eisenhower Foundation do, and why was it interesting?

To answer the second, check this song out, it means a lot to me and my memories of the US going back to my first visit there, mid '70s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOTr_4Zs_Us

Next, to answer the first, visit their website, which is here . . . http://ef-india.org/ 

Can you make the connection? No? OK, read on. This being an American sponsored event, everybody on stage was suitably lightened up, and that's what I was trying to get across.

I hope I managed.

+++

As Shailesh Pathak said, the US was and still is the one country in the world that best describes how government, private sector, people and society operate from linked silos. Unlike in India, where everybody functions from exclusive and isolated sealed units, at cross purposes mostly. 

How, then, was India going to try to resolve this in time for what they hoped would be the "Big Leap" by 2018?

Towards trying to answer that, Nandan Nilekani provided the audience with his view on how UIDAI/Aadhaar was going to help deliverables and accountabilities across a vast variety of services to people, especially those stuck at the bottom of the pyramid. Personally, I don't agree with iris and fingerprint, going forward the preference should have been for facial, in choice of biometrics. Also, while basic needs outweigh privacy issues, more security on data to safeguard against fiduciary misuse could have been built in.

But then, this event was more about the Big Leap by India, and the main point Nandan Nilekani brought out was this - there's a set of problems for which solutions are ideology agnostic. Opportunity to identify and act on them exists. Additionally, there seemed to be all round acknowledgement of Nandan's suggestion that the 'how' of governance is as important as the 'what.' We need big leaps instead of linear steps to solve the problems we face.

Which is what the rest of the panel then discussed. On stage were elected representatives from the BJP (Smriti Z Irani), TMC (Vivek Gupta). AIADMK (K Pandiarajan), Sikkim Democratic Front (PD Rai) and BJD (Jay Panda). Great fun listening to all of them, especially when they were asked about party-internal democracy.

A small essay can not do justice to the whole event, which I wish had been web-streamed live, but here goes on best effort basis.

# K. Pandiarajan spoke about undignified unorganised employment,the incorrect portrayal of States by RBI and an increased federal structure with more power to States also in areas like foreign policy.

# Jay Panda spoke about regional governance skills going up but not matched by the Centre, how India's Parliament still functioned under Rules made to enable the Viceroy to rule India in 1919 and the onset of demand for good governance especially by youth.

# Some of the other participants on the stage got into scoring petty political points with each other which are best ignored.

My own question was simple - the Big Leap into 2018 or beyond will happen, fair enough. But how will the India debating and deciding in the vernacular called English carry with them the rest of the country in their many regional languages - especially when all the participants on stage would have to go back to their constituencies and demand votes in the name of regional languages, cultures, aspirations, protections and similar?

Because, to my knowledge and experience, any evolution of society has to include people talking in a common voice for the larger good. Within the Indian context, the question is, in which language? And if that is, by logical reasoning, going to be English, then are we going to make this happen by inclusion of all Indians?

Please think about this and let me have your views? In what language is the common voice of National Interest going to defne itself.

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Krrish 3

Meeta Kabra
23 October 2013, 11:48 AM IST

It might sound like I'm joking, but I am really looking forward to see the special effects in Krrish 3. The trailer indicates that they are done pretty well. Even if they have been copied from all over the place, as long as they are done well. And of course, they are credited. Yeah, I can be demanding that way.

What I am not looking forward to though is Hrithik Roshan's hamming as the disabled old man. It is one of those things that annoy you with their 10-second appearance in the trailer itself. Other thing of course, is the story. I am really hoping that there is at least as much effort spent on the writing as has been spent on making the film look great.

On the other hand, I am looking forward to Priyanka Chopra and Kangna Ranaut. It does look like they might have a better role here than women had in the earlier films. But, that could just be wishful thinking.

Yet, there is hope in the VFX department, unless of course, they've exhibited all the goods in the promo itself. Either way, it is going to be the biggest film this year, a Happy Diwali indeed.

Music Reviews:
Apun Ka Choice - "2/5"
Bollywood Hungama - "3.5/5"
glamsham - "3/5"

IBN Live, IANS - "2/5"
koimoi - "1/5"
Milliblog - "Krrish 3 is the soundtrack equivalent of LOL!"
Music Aloud - "3/10"
indian express - "It's super zero"
rediff - "2.5/5"

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