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IN THIS ISSUE

Corporate Games

SAARC Summit 18A Challenging Game for India and the Region

Make-over for Sports with Companies’ Entry

From Nation-State to ‘Civilizational-State’

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16

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18

22

24

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11

Troubled Waters

Refugees of Jammu & Kashmir

Navy’s Resources Stretched to the Limit

Assaulted, Discriminated & HumiliatedThere are thousands of refugees living in appalling conditions in Jammu & Kashmir. They are the unfortunate ones who had to leave their home and hearth during partition, during the ethnic cleansing of Pak extremists and due to wars with Pakistan.

Need for a New Paradigm

Tackling Terrorism

Defence Modernisation

India and Russia

Sharia Banks

India can take a leaf out of Israel

Imperatives of Urgent Indigenisation

President Putin’s Visit Boosts Ties

How they Fund Terrorists

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Swami VivekanandaHis Mission and Message for Bharat

The Snow is MeltingLet’s act NOW to stop the Himalayan Disaster

‘Cut interest rates’Pressure mounts on Reserve Bank

Death of NetajiMystery continues to haunt the nation

Online OnslaughtE-tailing takes everyone by surprise

Marvellous lucidity of Puranic facts

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6 J A N U A R Y 2015

• RajuShanbhag

Not everyonemay look at business sportingly, butsportsthesedayshavebecomebigbusiness.Largecorporatehousesroutinelypumpinhugeamounts

intosports,andplayersareall laughingtheirwaytothebank.Onthesurface,itlookslikeawin-winscenarioforboththesportsandthesponsor.

Butlikeeverystoryithasanotherside.Corporate presence in Indian sports has been on the

rise for the last four to five years.While there is an un-derstandableclamourforcricketsponsorship,evenotherhitherto neglected sports like Kabaddi and football aregettingashotinthearmwithrenewedcorporateinterestsandrepackagepresentationfromthemediahouses.

Infact, India’scorporatesponsorshipofsportsisesti-

matedtomaketheAsiaPacificregionchargeasthefastestgrowingsportssponsorshipmarketintermsofspendinginthecomingyears,accordingtoglobalsponsorshipcon-sultancy IEG. Indiancompanieswereamongthethreeofthetop50sponsorsin2011.Oneofthesedealshadlittletodowithcricket.Thereareothersignstootoshowthatcricket’s stranglehold on sponsors is loosening. In foot-ball-crazyKolkata,Rs34.93crorewasrecentlysplashedonforeignstarslikeHernanCrespoandFabioCannavarofor the inaugural Premier League Soccer. Global sportscompany ING is not promoting cricket, but football andbasketballinIndia.

IndigenoussportslikeKabadditoohavemadeacome-back, thanks to persistent marketing and sponsorshipfrom some deep pocketed sponsors. Pro-Kabaddi is aneight-cityleagueplayedina“caravanformat,”travelling

Make-over for Sports with Companies’ Entry

A large number of business houses flock to IPL to sponsor the game

7J A N U A R Y 2015

together to all eight venues to play56 league matches, two semifinals,one3rdand4thpositionmatchandaGrandFinale,makinga totalof60Matches.

These are the good effects of cor-poratesponsorshipofsportsmenandsportingevents.Buttherearecount-less ill-effects too. Sponsors andother commercial interests involvedinthegamearesometimesnothappywith the progress made by sports’governors.Theysometimesusetheirfinancial clout to influence fasterchange.Corrupt sport canadverselyimpact the companies and brandstheydealwith.Therearegrowingcon-cernsthatacorruptsport’starnishedimagecouldbetransferredtoapart-

nerorsponsor—andthoseconsumersmightboycottasponsor’sproducts.

Unprecedented volume of moneyin sports brings unprecedented lev-elsofcorruption.TheIndianPremierLeague, a shorter format of cricket,was recently rocked bymatch fixingandspotfixingscandals.Theroleofmany corporate honchos, includingSrinivasan, owner of Chennai SuperKingsandManagingDirectorofIndiaCements, is still being investigatedinthesescandals.LiquorbaronVijayMallya has stakes in almost all theteamsofIPL.

While corporate sponsoring of ail-ing sports like Kabaddi and footballcan be a boon to the game, largeamount of money has the ability to

corrupt even the best of minds. SriLankanfastbowlerLasithMalingare-tiredfromplayingTestcricketforhiscountrytoplayforIPL.Forafastbowl-er, Test cricket is a laborious task.Theyhavetobowlfordaystogether,often on unresponsive modern daybattingparadises.Ontheotherhand,theyjusthavetobowl24legaldeliv-eries ina twenty-20game,and theygetmorethandoublethemoney!

Most of the corporate companieswho put money in sports are notattracted by the love for the game.Rather, theydo it topopularisetheirownproductsandservices,ridingonthepopularityofthegame.That’sthereason why you find endless spon-sors for cricket and cricketers in In-

It is both good and bad: the corporates’ entry into sports, especially cricket, has enabled the players as well as the sponsors to gross millions but the image of the noble game of cricket is tarnished by spot fixing and other misdeeds of greedy individuals. The ongoing case against India Cements owner and his son-in-law is a case in point. The hand of the underworld dons like Dawood and his associates is also talked about in spot fixing scandals. When money-making takes the front seat, the game is pushed to the background as it is happening now in Indian cricket. On the positive side, hitherto neglected games like Kabaddi and football are also getting corporate sponsorship these days.

Hitherto neglected local games like Kabaddi are getting a makeover, thanks to corporate sponsorship

8 J A N U A R Y 2015

diaandhardlyanysponsorforothersports. Until recently, this has ledtoaserious imbalance in thesportsachievements in our country. WhileIndia has won two one-day cricketWorld Cups and even a twenty-20WorldCup,ourachievementinothersportsisdismal.

Most youngsters have taken tosports because of their glitz andglamour. And glamour comes tosportsbecauseofcorporatesponsor-ships.InIndia,thereisalwaysalonglistofaspirantstojoincricketcoach-ing centres. But even our nationalsports, hockey, does not commandthesamecrazelikecricket.

Corporate money in sports is agood thing, if handled properly.Problemsarisewhenthemoneyandmanagementofsportsbecomeunac-countedfor.

Corruption seeps in sports and itallbecomesamess.Thegovernmentand the sports authorities shouldtake enough care to ensure thatthe money doesn’t corrupt the verysportstheyaresponsoring.Account-abilityisthekey.

The IPL Business ModelIPL franchise owners,which in-clude large corporate houses

andbigticketBollywoodheroes,have brought in lots of moneyandglamour to the competition.Whilea lotofmoney issplurgedonostensiblecomforts,onecan-not resist the question, how doall the franchise owners makemoney?

Since IPL is a corporate show,they have ensured that the busi-ness is nearly risk-free, irrespec-tive of the performance of theirrespectiveteams.ThatisbecauserunninganIPLteamdoesn’treallycostmuchforacorporatehouse.The cost of acquiring a franchiseis low. For example, if RelianceIndustrieswon theMumbai teambid for INR 6,714 million, it hasto pay IPL only a tenth of thatamount. InRIL’scase, that is INR6,671millionayear.Andthatisateam’sbiggestexpenditure.Play-

erwages,fixedatINR300millionthen, is now capped at INR 540million.Logisticsandadministra-tivecostsaccountforanotherINR12-18million.

Teams get nearly INR 600 mil-lion a year from IPL’s centralbroadcasting and sponsorshippool. It is their biggest sourceof revenue, contributing almost70% of income. The teams keepearnings from ticket sales, spon-sorshipdeals theystrikeon theirown,andfrommerchandisesuchas replicashirtsandsundrysou-venirs.

Together, these returns offsetthe personnel costs. Under LalitModi’s three-year reign at IPL,teamsbenefitedagreatdealashemanagedtoropeinnewsponsors.Modialsointroducedarashofadbreaks, notably the scheduled10-minute match break called“strategictime-out”.

THE coastal city of Wenzhou issometimes called China’s Jeru-

salem.Ringedbymountainsand farfrom thecapital,Beijing, ithas longbeenahaven fora religion thatChi-na’s Communist leaders view withdeep unease: Christianity. Most cit-iesofitssize,withaboutninemillionpeople,havenomorethanadozenorsovisiblyChristianbuildings.But,oflakeinWenzhou,hundredsofcrosseshavecomeupoverthechurchroofs.

Christians in China have longsuffered persecution. Under MaoZedong, freedom of belief was en-shrined in the new Communist con-stitution (largely to accommodateMuslims and Tibetan Buddhists in

thewestofthecountry).Yetperhapsasmany as half amillion Christianswere harried to death, and tens ofthousandsmoreweresent to labourcamps. Since the death of Mao in1976, the party has slowly allowedmorereligiousfreedom.

ChristianityishardtocontrolinChi-na,andit isgettinghardernow.It isspreadingrapidlyandinfiltratingtheparty’sownranks.Theupsurgeinre-ligioninChina,especiallyamongtheethnic Hanwhomake upmore than90% of the population, is a generalone.FromthebullettrainsthatsweepacrosstheChinesecountryside,pas-sengers can see new churches andtemples springing up everywhere.

Buddhism, much longer establishedin China than Christianity, is surg-ingtoo,as is folk religion.MoreandmorepeoplearemakingpilgrimagestoBuddhistshrinesinsearchofspiri-tualcomfort.AllthisisworrisometoCommunist officials, for whom reli-gionisnotonlyMarx’s“opiumofthepeople”butalsointheirviewadan-gerousperverterofloyaltyawayfromthepartyandthestate.

Rapid spread of Christianity in China forces an official rethink on religion

9J A N U A R Y 2015

Sailing is no longer smooth fortheIndianNavy.TheprideofIn-dia,theIndiannavalforce,has

been struck with mishaps, misman-agement and accidents for a whilenow.Of late, ithasmetwithnumer-ousaccidentswhichhavedenteditsmorale.

Thelatestintheseriesofaccidentswas the one at Visakhapatnam,where a sailor was killed and fourwent missing after a torpedo recov-ery vessel (TRV) sank. Before this,tragedy had struck the submarine,INS“Sindhurakshak”.OnAugust14,2013, 18 crewmembers died due toblastsinthetorpedocompartmentofthesubmarine,berthedattheMum-baiharbour.

In the last one year alone, therehavebeendozensofsuchaccidentsandmishaps.Itgivesoneshudderstothinkaboutthesecurityofthenationwhenoneofitsmajordefensewingsisinsuchaprecariouscondition.

Why have such a large fleet ofsubmarinesandothercriticalequip-ment of the Navy suddenly stoppedfunctioning? Thequestionhasmanyanswers with various dimensions.

If the Government does not act fastandtakesomedrasticmeasures,theNavymayfacemoremishapsanditsreputation may sink faster than its

own vessels; and that’s quiteworri-some.

One of the major problems of theNavy is its ageing fleet.Most of thesubmarines were bought in the late80’sandareonthevergeofbeingde-commissioned.Asusual,thegovern-ment is sailing paper boats when itcomestoprocuringnewvesselsandequipment for the Navy. A cabinetcommittee was formed in 1999 andit promptlyproposeda 30-yearplantobuildsubmarines.Accordingtotheproposed plan, 12 new submarineswere to be inducted by 2012. Lastheard,notasinglesubmarinewasin-ductedandtheproposaliscaughtinthenever-endingseaofred-tapism.

The Navy will soon have to retireten Kilo-class Russian and four Ger-man HDW submarines, and with nobudgetfornewvesselsandnoindig-enousproductionofvesselsinsight,it might find itself short of ships intheverynearfuture.Ontheoneside,theNavyisstrugglingwithitsageingfleetand,on theother, it is inacuteshortageofmodernwarfareaccesso-rieslikemarinehelicopters.

Theendlessstretchingoflimitedre-

Troubled WatersNavy’s Resources Stretched to the Limit

Accidents and mishaps have dogged the Indian Navy for the last two years or so, as a result of which it is finding itself in deep waters. It has an ageing fleet and equipment that are not well-maintained and is starved of funds. Some naval personnel have been found guilty of negligence in the INS “Sindhurakshak” blasts on August 14, 2013, that resulted in the death of 18 naval personnel. Unless the new government takes urgent steps to modernise the Navy, the country will be vulnerable to attacks again from terrorists or from some other belligerent nations.

Indian Navy has many aged vessels in its fleet

10 J A N U A R Y 2015

sourcesisbeingcitedasoneofthereasonsfortherecent mishaps. The government’s lackadaisicalattitudedoesn’thelpmuch.While theNavy ruesthe lack of modern equipment, the governmentoftencensuresitforlackofdisciplineandpropermaintenance of equipment! In fact, the Chief ofNavalStaff (CNS),AdmiralDKJoshi, resignedbe-causeoftheconstanttusslewiththegovernmentandtakingmoralresponsibilityfortheINS“Sind-hurakshak”mishap.

The Navy, has to often juggle with multipletasks.Italwayshastobereadyforwar,maintainnavaldiplomacyandcarryoutconstabularyorpo-licing throughout thewatersof thenation. Ithasinall120ships,eightdestroyers,15frigates,eightguided-missilecorvettes,13submarinesandeightmajoramphibiousships.

ItisquiteclearthattherequirementsoftheNavywere neglected in the past decade or so by thethenCongressgovernment.But theNavy cannotsimplypassthebuckandblamethebureaucratsforeverythingthatgoeswrong.Notallthesemis-hapswereduetoageingvessels.Some,accordingto reports,weredue to lackofmaintenanceandcare. Sri Manohar Parrikar as Defence MinisterhasraisedthehopesoftheNavy.ParrikarisanIITgraduate,and thesenior leaders in theNavyarehoping that hewill understand the technical dif-ficultiesitfaces.

The Terror ScareTerrorist attacks change the way the defense system

operates in a country. In the case of the IndianNavy, the 26/11 terror attacks dealt a fatal blow to itsreputation. The terrorists sailed through the sea toreachMumbai,unharmed,unstopped,tocommitheinouscrimes.

Questions were raised about the ability and agil-ityoftheNavyindefendingournavalborders.Beforethe26/11 attacks, the Destroyers and Frigates used tobe on a fortnight’s exercise once a year with enoughtime for recoup, maintenance and review of convention-al war-fighting doctrines. This left the Navy with ampletime, energy and assets to pursue its secondary role:Navydiplomacy.

After the26/11attacks, theNavywasgiven theoverallresponsibility of maritime security with the Coast Guardandthestatemarinepoliceassistingit.Thejobdemandedaccountabilitywithlittleauthorityand,worse,itremainedopen-ended.

Next,theNavy,starting2009,gotinvolvedinanti-piracyoperations in a big way. For months, cutting-edge shipshavebeenonthesedutieswiththeirmainradarsswitchedoff,sailingaroundincircles.

The mishap at INS Sindhurak-shak dented the reputation of the Indian Navy

11J A N U A R Y 2015

• PrashanthVaidyaraj

YuvRajGupta left his home inMirpur in 1947 after the Kai-bali raids. He and his family

membersescaped from the raidersandthePakarmyandtravelledthedistance on foot and settled nearJammu. But even after 65 years,theycontinuetoliveinadeplorablerefugee camp on the outskirts ofJammu.

Bharat Bhushan and his familyweredrivenoutofSialkot,Pakistan,in1947duringpartition.TheysettledinarefugeecampnearJammu.BharatBhushandoesnothavetherightsofacommoncitizenofJammu&Kashmir.TothisdayhecannotvoteintheAs-semblyelectionsorfindproperhigh-ereducationorjobsforhisgrandchil-dren.

There are lakhs of such heart-wrenching stories of human rightsviolations that are a reality in Jam-mu & Kashmir but never deliber-atedinthemediaorinthepoliticalsphere.EveryyearDecember10thisobservedasthe‘HumanRightsDay’bytheUN.

The United Nations defines Hu-manRightsas the“Rights inherentto all human beings, whatever ournationality,placeofresidence,sex,national or ethnic origin, colour,religion, language, or any otherstatus. We are all equally entitledto our human rights withoutdiscrimination.”

Aglanceatthecasescitedaboveclearlythatrightsofthesesufferershavebeengrosslyviolated.Thene-glectof the refugees in J&K isalsoin violationof several fundamentalrights bestowed upon them by theIndianConstitution.

No one chooses to be a refugee! Theoriginof the refugeeproblem inJ&Kisaheartwrenchingstory.ManyHindus and Sikh families, mostlyfrom Sialkot district of Pakistan,were forced to leave under threatsfrom Islamic fundamentalists aftertheIslamicRepublicofPakistanwascarvedoutofIndia.Thoughtheywere

regardedascitizensof India in1947after theyentered Jammu, theywerenot deemed to be subjects of theStateofJammu&Kashmir.

Section (6)of the J&Kconstitutioncategorically states that only thosecitizens of India will be deemed aspermanent residents of J&K only iftheywereeitherStatesubjectsoftheprincely state of J&K or had lawfullyacquired immovable property in the

Refugees of Jammu & KashmirAssaulted, Discriminated & Humiliated

There are thousands of refugees living in appalling conditions in Jammu & Kashmir. They are the unfortunate ones who had to leave their home and hearth during partition, during the ethnic cleansing of Pak extremists and due to wars with Pakistan. They are not State subjects; they are denied citizenship and they are discriminated against in every sphere of life in J&K. The miserable living conditions of Kahsmiri Pundits are well-documented and yet no organisation, no government, has taken serious note of their plight so far. The questions is, how long can this continue?

POJK refugees staging protest demanding one-time comprehensive permanent settlement. Courtesy: dehatsandesh.com

12 J A N U A R Y 2015

stateuntil1944.Refugeeswhocamefrom West Pakistan did not fall inthiscategoryandhenceeventothisdayarenotconsideredaspermanentresidentsofthestate.Consequently,they cannot own property in J&K orget jobs in the state government orgetadmittedtostategovernment-runprofessional colleges nor can theyvote in the J&K Assembly elections.In other words, they have no basicrightsofacitizenthatthestatesub-jectsenjoy.Estimatessay that thereareover1.5lakhWestPakistanrefu-gees living in the border districts ofJammu,SambaandKathuainsqualidcampsevenafter65years.

International human rights lawsunequivocally prohibits citizenshipbasedon“jussanguine”,i.e.,basedon the nationality of their parents,insteadofwheretheyareborn.Ironi-callyIndiaisasignatorytosuchlaws,yet everyone in thegovernmentandpoliticians consider it “politically in-correct” to raise the State subjectsissueoftheseminoritySikhsandHin-dus.

One family torn apart by war is too many – UN

Thetaleofanothercategoryofrefu-gees,thosefromPOJK(PakistanOc-cupiedJ&K)isaspainfulandtragic.

There are 1.2 million “woundedsouls”fromPOJK,whoweresubject-ed togenocideduring theso-called“Tribal Attack” thatwas fully spon-sored, aided and abetted by Paki-stanArmyduringOctober-November1947. These raids destroyed notonlythelifeandpropertyoflakhsofHindus and Sikhs but alsothe very fabric of human societyandrelationships.TheybelongedtothoseareasofJ&KStatewhichwerepart of the princely state but arenowunder the illegal occupationofPakistan.Thosewhoweredisplacedwere not allowed to settle in theKashmir Valley as the leaders ofthe valley wanted to preserve its‘Kashmiriyat’!

Theywerecategorizedas‘DisplacedPersons’bythegovernmentofJ&Kandnot as refugees. The government’sposition has been that, sincethey have migrated from POJK,which is legally part of India, theyare technically not qualified to becategorised as ‘refugees’. Hence,they cannot claim the benefits ofrefugees. The Government of Indiadid not even compensate them forthe properties they left behind. Thedisplaced persons from POJK havenoreservationsineducationorintheservices.

Where do I live? Theplightof2.5 lakh ‘Chhamb refu-gees’ and other displaced personsduring wars with Pakistan is largelyself-inflicted. Nearly 5,000 familiesweredisplacedin1971fromChhambunder the Shimla Agreement, whichceded additional area of Chhamb toPakistan. A large number of peoplemigrated from villages on the bor-der and Line of Control during hewarsin1965and1971.Manyofthemwere advised to vacate their lands,about 16,000 acres, by the Indianarmytoenableittolayminesontheborder.

Mostof theserefugeeswerefarm-ers and they were settled along theborderfromAkhnoortoKathua.Theywerenotprovided fullquotaof landas prescribed by the State RevenueAuthority and in proportion to theland they had lost in Chhamb. Themonetarycompensationpaidtothemwas so meagre that they could notevenbuildadecentshelterthatcouldprovideanhonourablelivingforthemandtheirfamilies.

And the world remained silent!

Sincelate1989,J&Khasbeeninthegrip of a viciousmovement of Paki-stan-sponsored extremist terrorism.This conflict of a sub-conventionalwarhasinflictedenormoussufferingon the people of the state over thelast twodecades. Among theworstvictimsof this conflict are theKash-miriPundits(KPs),whohavebeenthevictimsofoneofthemostsuccessfulcampaignsofethniccleansingintheworld. Pogroms of far lesser magni-tudeinotherpartsoftheworldhaveattracted international attention,censureandactioninsupportofthevictims,butthisinsidiouscampaign,on which the world remains silent,haspassedunnoticed!

A CRY report on the conditions inthe refugee camps of the migrantKashmiriPunditsstatesthat‘49.13%of children suffer fromdiabetes and48.15% from anaemia. 45% of chil-

West-Pak refugees protest their continued neglect even after 60 years.

13J A N U A R Y 2015

dren suffer from malnutrition and57%fromnutritionrelateddiseases”.

MorethantwolakhKPsstillliveinabysmal conditions in Jammu withfamilies of five to six people oftenhuddled into a small room. Suchconditions have taken a severe tollon theirphysicalandmentalhealth.Thenationalandinternationalhumanrightsorganisations,whooftenraisethehumanrights issues in favourofthe separatists, have not taken anynotice of the tragedy these peoplehavesuffered.

But Who Cares?Theconditionof these refugeesandthecontinuedneglectof thegovern-mentsisaclearviolationofArticle15of the Constitution which prohibitsanykindofdiscriminationongroundsofreligion,race,caste,sexorplaceofbirth.TheProtectionofHumanRightsAct,1993,hasbeenrendereduselessinthecaseoftherefugeesofJ&K.TheNational Human Rights Commissionhasbeenapapertigerwhenitcomestohandlinggenuinecasesofhumanrightsabusesoftheserefugees.

AteamofInterlocutorswasconsti-tuted by theGovernment of India inOctober 2010. The teamhad recom-

mended adequate compensation,rehabilitation of Sikh and Panditfamilies and the grant of StateSubject status to refugees fromWest Pakistan as part of CBMs un-der ‘Human rights and the rule oflaw’.Noneof thesehasbeen imple-mentedyet.

Any solution to ameliorate the

plightoftherefugeesmustbelastingandacceptabletotherefugeesthem-selves. It is only then that we canclaimthatthehumanrightsoftheserefugeeshavebeenduly restored tothem, else ritualistic observance of‘Human Rights Day’ on December10thofeveryyearmeansnothing.

Kashmiri Pandit refugees demand a separate homeland. courtesy thekashmir.wordpress.com

Fatema Akhtar, wife of BurdwanblastcaseprimeaccusedSajeed,

headsthewomen’swing,theJamaat-ul-Mujahideen, Bangladesh. Shehas reportedly confessed to havingtrainedat least 30women terroristsinIndia.Fatema,whowasarrestedbytheBangladeshpolice,revealedhowthe Jamaatsetup“couplemodules”invariouspartsofWestBengal.

Following her arrest, Dhaka po-lice told themedia that Fatema hadtrainedwomenrecruitsatBurdwan’sSimulia Madrasa, which allegedlyhad links with Gulshana Bibi andAminaBibi,thetwoarrestedfortheiralleged involvement in the Burdwan

blast.Reports say that Fatema recruited

young women from poor families,indoctrinated themand later trainedthem in jihad. The Simulia Madrasahad an unwritten convention: Thewomen trained there would bemar-riedonlytomenwhoareonthesame

‘mission’.The Jamaatsetup“couplemodules”whichworkedverywellasitwaseasy togethouseson rent inBengal if itwasa ‘family.’Aftermar-riage, the coupleswere sent to vari-ouspartsofBengal to carryout theJamaat’sterrorplans.Theotherwom-enarrestedhaveinfants.Fatemahasa20-month-oldbaby.

A four-member NIA team visitedDhaka recently where Indian agentsshared information, includingphonenumbers,with theDhakaMetropoli-tanPolice,which led to Fatema’sar-restalongwith threeothers -Abdul-lah Kazi, Isharat Ali Sheikh andShaukatSardar.

Jamaat set up ‘couple modules’, says Burdwan Blast probe

14 J A N U A R Y 2015

• AbhinavPrakash

The concept of nation-state is amodernconstructwhichevolvedaround the 16th century in the

Age of Enlightenment and Renais-sance. As the political order of theMedievalAgecameintoquestionandtheimportanceofrulebyconsentwascelebrated,therewasadeclineinthepower and ability of church-monarchnexus to rule in thenameofdivinity.Nation-state is a modern constructcomprisingasinglenationasitspre-dominated constituency. Nations arebasically based on a common lan-guage,religion,ethnicityandcommonhistory and myths. And nation-stateisthemodernsystemofstateswhichevolvedinWestphalianOrderaftertheTreatyofWestphalia,1648.Amodernnation-stateisboundbydefinedgeo-graphical area under political legiti-macy enjoying sovereign power. Theconcept occupies a central place inWesternliberalpoliticalorder.

The colonial rule in India deniedtheclaimofIndiabeinganation-stateandpresenteditasconsistingofmul-tiple,differentandcompetitivefeudalstates.Colonialrulealsoarrestedthegrowth of modern institutions in In-dia. The claimof self- governance forIndiawasrejectedwithasimplecolo-niallogicthatIndiaisnotanationbuta collection of different communitiesandgroupsunifiedunderBritishimpe-rialauthority.ToquoteJohnStrachey,a British colonial administrator, “Thefirst and the most essential thing to

learnabout India is that there is not,and never was an India, or even anycountry of India, possessing, accord-ing to European ideas, any sort ofunity,physical,political,socialorreli-gious,no Indiannation,nopeopleofIndia, of which we hear so much.” IthadimplicationsforthepoliticalunityofthecountryaswaswellexemplifiedbyJinnahwhosaid,“Indiaisnotana-tionnoracountry.Itisasub-continentof nationalities.” Therefore, it is notsurprising that Indian politicians andintellectuals of the nationalist move-mentdevoteda lotof effort in “prov-ing”thatIndiaisaunifiednationinthefashion of the European nations. Theline of argument has changed a littleovertimewiththeargumentnowbeingthat although dissimilar to Europeanmodel,Indiaisanation-statetoo.

But with a few exceptions, no onequestioned theverypremiseof theseconcepts and why India should be anation-state. We just accepted andcontinuetoacceptthisconstructassa-credandasanidealtowhichwemuststrive to. So much so that we evenfailedtoscrutinisetherecordofEuro-peannation-statesandhowtheycameintoexistence,theviolenceanddevas-tationwhichwerepartoftheprocess.WhenEuropeanscholarsdenythe“na-tionhood” of Indians, and hence thebasisofpoliticalunityofIndia,duetolack of “right ingredients”, we fail toaskwhether they themselves fulfilledthese criteria when their states werecreated. After all, evenat the timeofthe French Revolution in 1789, only

abouthalfofitspeoplespokeFrench!The number of Italian speakers waseven lower during the Italian unifica-tion! It was the hegemonic policiesemployed by these respective stateswhich ensured that various dialectsandlanguageswereeitherassimilatedinto the official language or phasedout.

It iscommonforIndianstofacethesarcasticquestion,“Which Indianareyou?Aryan,DravidianorAustro-Asiat-ic,Tamil,AssameseorPunjabi?”AnditisevenmorecommonforIndianstore-sorttoashallowincoherentdefenceof“unityandsameness”ofIndianpeopleinthefaceofsuchquestions.Itisbe-causewenotonlylackanunderstand-ingofourownhistoryandcivilizationbutalsothatoftheothers.So,whenaBritishcallshimselfaBritish,weneverquestion which British? Scot, Irish,Wales? Or Pre-Celts, Celts, Romans,Anglo-Saxons, Jutes, Norse, NormanswhoinvadedBritainatvariouspointsinhistory?Indiansarefacedwithsuchdifficulties because they acceptedthe European concepts arising out oftheiruniquehistoricalexperiencesas“universaltruths”andeventhattooina shallowmanner. Most of the sepa-ratist movements in India base theirarguments for self- determination onthe basis of India not being a singlenation.Andtheyhavemorecoherent,clearlineofargumentandthusfindacaptiveaudiencethanthosewhoclaimthatIndiaisasinglenation.

But why should India be a nation-state?And if it is not a nation- state,

Need for a New Paradigm From Nation-State to ‘Civilizational-State’

Our fixation with the Western concept of nation-state has stunted the growth of indigenous political systems. India is an uncomfortable fit in the definition of nation-state. A proper theoretical framework of “civilizational state” will help us understand the emerging issues and evolve an appropriate response to them.

15J A N U A R Y 2015

then why should it cease to exist? Itisclearthatourfixationwiththisideahas stifled our political thought andgrowthofindigenouspoliticalsystem.WehavefailedtoseetheobviousthatIndia is a civilization and what ex-istsasthe“UnionofIndia”todayisauniquecivilizationalstate.The Indiansense of identity emanates not fromthe last centurywhen India began toimagine itself as a nation-state butfromthecivilizationalcontinuityofthepastseveralmillennia.Atpresent,mostofthegeographicallycontiguous constituentparts of its civilizationareunitedunderasinglepolitical authority andthis political unificationderives its justificationfrom the shared civi-lizational heritage ofits constituent parts.Its extent and authorityhinges upon the geographical ex-tent of Indian civilization as can beattestedbythepartitionofIndiawhenalargesectionofitsconstituentpartsshifted their allegiance to anothercivilizational narrative and ceased tosee themselves as part of the Indiancivilization. But popular discoursecontinuestoprojectthatpartitionwasa result of modern construct of na-tionalityanddemocraticpolityandanoutcome of colonial policies. In fact,itwasamuchdeepershift.Itwastheresultofacivilizationalshift,contrac-tiontobemoreaccurate,intheIndiansub-continent.

The Indian state cannot be simplycompared to Britain, France, Italy oranystate intheWest. It is imperativethatIndianscholarsputintheireffortto analyse this unique political con-struct without being hooked to theWesternconceptsandcategories.Theymustevolvethetheoryofcivilizationalstateanditsfunctioning.Becauseitisclearthatworldismovingbeyondna-tionandnation-statestowardsaworldorder built on civilizational units. Eu-ropean countries have already takensignificant strides towards a unitedEuropeanUnionwith single currency,marketandopenborders,andefforts

areonforasinglecentralbank,parlia-mentandsecurityapparatus.Ithastobenoticed that EUcontinues todenyfull membership to Turkey, as Turkeyliesoutsidethecivilizationalboundar-iesofEurope.

Pan-Islamicmovementswithexpres-sive intent of re-creating a CaliphatearebecomingstrongeramongMuslimpopulationsaroundtheworld.Chinaisslowlybutclearlysheddingitscommu-nistpast.Italreadyprojectsitselfasa

civilizational entity. TheChinese Govern-

ment has itgoalsspeltoutas civiliza-

tional and

c u l -t u r a l

“rejuvena-tion and re-na issance”.Pos t-Sov ie tRussia hasreverted toa s s e r t i n gits leader-

shipofOrthodoxChristianworld.TheOrthodox Church is playing an ever-increasingroleinthelivesofRussiansin recent times and Russia has nothesitated to go to war to defend itsnationalsphereofinfluencewhichareactually its civilizational boundaries.Wemayseemoreandmoresuchenti-tiesarisingandmorecountriesaroundtheworld shifting towards emphasis-ingtheircultural,religiousandciviliza-tional identities.Civilizationalbound-aries are expected to become moreimportant than national boundariesand it seems that they have alreadybeguntocommandmoreloyaltyfrompeoplethanthenationalisticboundar-ies. The recent case of thousands ofMuslim youth travelling from Europe,

India and other parts of theworld tothenewlyestablishedIslamicStateisindicativeofthisnewtrend.

But the cause of promoting Indiancivilizationalstatehasnotfoundpro-found place in our policies and deci-sions. India enjoys the world’s mostrich, liberal, diverse, multi-linguistic,multi-religious civilization based onDharmaandhasbeensoinitshistori-caltrajectory.Ithasbeensolvingmostoftheproblemswhichothersfoundin-tractable. like thosearising fromplu-ralism,diversityoflanguages,spiritualexpressions, etc. formillennia withinitsownindigenousframework,whichneedstobestudied.Preservationand

strengthening of Indiancivilization should bethe prime objectiveof India’s all poli-cies. The centralfocusmustbethesocio-economicuplift of masseswhichare coming

out of the centuriesof colonial rule andoppression.

A proper theo-retical frameworkwill helpusunder-standtheemergingissuesandevolvean

appropriate response tothem.Itwillalsobehelp-

ful to transcend the “breaking India”forces by changing the rules of thediscourse instead of engaging in theendlessdebatewhetherIndiaisana-tionornot--adebatewheredetractorsofIndiahaveaclearadvantage.Itwillalsoenable India toovercome itsoldconfusion about its identity and pur-poseintheworldandevolveagrandnarrativeandagrandstrategy.

In this context, the firstmajor taskahead is to put forward the conceptofIndiancivilizationalstateasatheo-reticalandpoliticalconstructinordertofindanswerstopertinentquestionswhichhaveeludedussofar.

*The Author is Research Scholar, School of Social Sciences at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

(First Published on IndusResearch.org)

16 J A N U A R Y 2015

• DheerajP.C.

OnNovember27,2014,the18thsummitoftheSouthAsianAs-sociation for Regional Coop-

eration (SAARC) concluded with the‘Kathmandu Declaration’. While theparticipants were the regional play-ers, the observer group consistedof Australia, China, the US, EU,Iran, Japan, Korea, Mauritiusand Myanmar. The positivesof the summit were in tan-demwithmuch of the laidout objectives devised atthe inception of the sum-mit. The themewas a callfor ‘deeper integration forpeace and prosperity’ inthe region. The highlightof the summit was that theeight nations promised tosign two important agree-ments,namely,theSAARCmotorvehicles agreement for the regula-tionofpassengerandcargovehiculartraffic,andtheSAARCregionalargu-menton railways.Apart from these,therewerediscussionsandassuranc-esofco-operationwitheachotheron

developmentoftheexistingtrade,in-vestment,infrastructure,finance,en-ergyandconnectivitymechanisms.

Beneath all these conspicuousachievementsandthebonhomiecre-a t e d among

t h e playersoftheregionliesomeoftheobscurefactors that need to be analysed

from an Indian strategic perspec-tive.Sincethecommencementofthesummit, the focus was primarily onthe newly- elected PrimeMinster ofIndiaNarendraModi.Modi’saddressto the summit primarily highlightedtheneedforabetterdevelopmentofasocio-cultural-economiclinkwithinthe region. Much of his delibera-

tionswhichincludedthecreationof business friendly environ-ment and development ofpeople-to-people relation-ship would directly benefitmanyofhisdreamprojectsinitiated at home. Addingto thisMr.Modi called forajointefforttocombatter-rorism which was viewedasacommonenemy.Although the summit had

got the nations on a singleplatform,itfailedtobringabout

aconsensusonissues.Pakistan,whose presence has been seen

as the strongest impediment to thegrowth of the association, was justasusual.Thetwoagreements,whichweretobesignedbeforeconcludingthesummit,werenotsignedbecause

SAARC Summit 18A Challenging Game for India and the Region

The 18th SAARC

summit has ended, but Pakistan tried its best to derail the

talks and also delay signing some of the crucial agreements on flimsy grounds. Its sole aim – to destabilise India – found

expression at the summit when it stalled the signing of two agreements, stating that it had

not been given sufficient time to study the agreements. With China’s tacit support, Pakistan is trying to outwit India. Deft

policy is needed to blunt the edge of Islamabad’s moves to foment

chaos and confusion in this country.

17J A N U A R Y 2015

of Pakistan’s disapproval citing lackof time to take a decision. It statedthat the issues were still under dis-cussion back home due to shortageoftimeprovidedbytheSAARCsecre-tariat.

Apart from hindering the process,there has also been another seri-ousareaofconcernthatneedstobelookedintowithrespecttoPakistan.PakistanandChinahavebeen inan‘all-weather friendly relationship’which, quite obviously, has been aderivative of mutual hatred towardsIndia. This friendship has broughtrich dividends to the Chinese inter-ests in the region. Pakistan acts asthe conduit to the Chinese interestswithintheregion.TheuncooperativeattitudeofPakistaninthesesummitsdoesnotprovideanydirectbenefittoitsinceitwouldalsobeabeneficiaryifitco-operatedwiththeothercoun-tries.However,destabilisationof In-diaseemstobePakistan’ssolemottoandbydoing so it hasbeenable toobtainremarkablebenefitsfromChi-nainvarioussectors.

India’s position in the region isseen as that of a big brother owingtoitsmultidimensionalsuperiorityincomparisonwiththeotherSAARCna-tions.Capitalisingonthisfactorcouldprovide India as well as the regionwith quality results. Yet, anti-Indiaforces have gained significant mo-mentumwithintheregion.Evenwithrespect to counterterrorism, whichwasoneofthepointshighlightedbyMr.Modi,notmuchcanbeexpected.Terrorismhasbeenacommonenemyof the region and has been haunt-ingevencountries likePakistanandAfghanistan which have nurturedterrorist organisations. Sri LankanPresident Mahinda Rajapaksa, too,called for a common voice for com-bating terrorism. Ironically, PakistanPrimeMinisterNawazSharifcalledadispute-free South Asia despite be-ing adamant on his non-cooperativebehavior.Iftheregionhastowitnessa terror-free environment, a healthycooperation from Pakistan is inevi-table. However, the recent attacksin Jammu and Kashmir amidst the

electoral process speak otherwise.TheIndianArmyassertsthattheter-rorists came from Pakistan, basedon the evidences recovered. Also,recently Jammatud-Dawa,anorgan-isationcondemnedbytheUSaswellastheUN,wasallowedtoholdarallyinPakistan.AslongassuchelementsfindsafehaveninPakistan,anycoun-terterror initiative undertakenwouldbeafarce.

China has been growing at a fastpaceintheregionandhasembracednotonlyPakistanbutalsoNepal,SriLanka and Bangladesh. Unlike Paki-stan, theothernationsdonotsharean ‘all weather animosity’ towardsIndia, nor do they have an ideologi-cal connectionwith China. It is onlythe recent experiences in the bilat-eralandmultilateralforumsthathavehampered the Indian influence overthesecountries.ItcouldbetheIndianvoteagainstSriLankaintheUNortheincapabilityofIndiansideineconomi-callydevelopingNepal.Yet,thissum-mitcannotbethesolejudgeofIndia’s

positionintheregion.Therecentvis-itsofModitoNepalandotherSouthAsiannationshavebroughtaboutanarrayofhopeintransformingthena-ture of the relationships. The Indianleadership and the MEA must worktowardsdevelopingpoliciesandun-dertakeinitiativesthatwouldleavealarger footprint in the regionandal-lowNepal,Afghanistan,Bhutan,Ban-gladesh, Maldives and Sri Lanka tosidewithit.Alliancecouldbeformedthrough undertaking joint develop-ment programmes in other strategicsectors and also through provisionof financial and infrastructural as-sistance in sectors like power, ener-gy, transport, etc.whichwouldhelpIndiakeepChinaatbay.ThiscanbetheonlykeytoIndia’simpasseattheSAARCsinceamajority vote iswhatcountsinademocraticframework.Ifdoneso,the19thsummittobeheldin Islamabad in 2016 will be a pol-ishedplatformforIndiatorealiseitsdreamsintheregion.

18 J A N U A R Y 2015

• ViceAdm.(Retd.)RamanPuri

Self-reliance in defence produc-tion has been one of India’snational goals set since the

1950’s. Post 1971, it was quantifiedas reversing the ratio of indigenousproduction to imports,whichwas intheratioof30:70to70:30.However,ontheground, thesituationhasnotchanged.Onthecontrary,aftermorethan 40 years, the level of importshas only increased. There are manycauses for thepresentsituationandin the order of their significance,theseare:

AveryincorrectapproachtoAcqui-sition Planning which is not tunedto meeting future challenges. Mod-ernisation by definition should be aprocess of creating military where-withal toprevail at the locust of en-gagements (whichmay be virtual infuture) foreseen on a rolling basisover the next decade (at the least)and possibly two decades in manycases in a country like India with acomplex geopolitical situation athandandwithverylimitedaccesstoadvanced technologies. To achievethis, we need a Force DevelopmentStrategybasedondefenceplanningguidelines. Such guidelines shouldbe based on the national securitystrategywhichdefinestherolesandmissionsofthearmedforcesinafu-ture timeframe. The current system,ascodifiedinthelong-termperspec-tive plan bases the modernisationneedsontheRakshaMantri’sopsdi-rectivewhichonly visualises currentcontingencies.

The above leads to a very faultyacquisition system tuned largely tocovering the current voids, and nec-essarily results inprocurements,es-peciallyinthecaseofthearmy,which

aretermedasurgentoperationalandinescapablerequirementsorrequire-ments that are needed to make upforce levels approved decades ago.TheGovernmentisthencoercedintoabuy/buyandmakeroutewhichcan-notleadtomeaningfulindigenisationand self-reliance and even cover-ing thecurrentvoids for reasonsex-plainedbelow.Exceptforonetoonereplacementof importedsparesandaggregates, whose manufacturingtechnology is transferred, no otherindigenisation by and large takesplace.Indigenisation,whichgivesusa design to build capability, is pos-sible only in systemsdevelopeddo-mestically.TheNavy,withitsintegraldesign capability, has done betterthough in the crucial requirementofcombat and main propulsion sys-tems,itsindigenousquotientisaver-agetopoor.

Substantial procurement leadtimes exist for foreign productionBuy/Buy and Make/Make even withJV programmes. Our experience is

Defence ModernisationImperatives of Urgent Indigenisation

‘Except for one to one replacement of imported spares and aggregates, whose manufacturing technology is transferred, no other indigenisation by and large is taking place. Indigenisation, which gives us a design to build capability, is possible only in systems developed domestically. The Navy, with its integral design capability, has done better though in the crucial requirement of combat and main propulsion systems, its indigenous quotient is average to poor.’

D E C E M B E R 2014

thatthestartofdeliverycantakesixtoeightyearsandmore.Alsowhilethissystemdesignedtofilltheexist-ingvoidscarrieson,newvoidsendtoemerge.

Asregardsindigenisation,itmaybementionedthatbydefinitionitisaprocessofconvertingrawmaterialsinto equipment and systemsacceptable to theuser.Joint venture agreements with a production agencyessentially result in licensed production and cannotmeetthegoalsofindigenisation.Thatisbecausethedesigntechnologyisnottransferredanditisverydif-

ficult to transfer itanyway, because theprocessoftechnologydevelopmentremainsopaque.

The systems andproduction technolo-gieswillbegovernedfurther by the Was-senaar Arrangement(WA)andexportcon-trol regimes, so thatcritical sub-systemsand aggregates con-tinuetobeOEMsup-ply. This is so for ex-ample in the case of

SU30,4phaseTOT.EnhancedFDIorotherwisewillnotsubstantiallyalterthissituation.

Finally, transfer of technology based on licensedproductionevenwithjointventuresresultsina“builtto prints” capability which implies that a system inproduction elsewhere is produced in India throughtransfer of production drawings and software pro-grammes. The design and development aspects re-mainopaque.Thisisverydifferentfortheprototype-to-productioncapabilityrequiredoftheindustrywhenproducingindigenouslydevelopedsystems.Therearesome exceptions like Bharat Electronics, but largelyindustry in India is tuned to licensed production. Itcan be said that excessive dependence on licensedproductionhasdegradedtheindustry’scapabilitytoproduceindigenouslydevelopedsystems.

Nodoubt,considerable technologybasehasbeenestablishedinthecountry, includingtheprivatesec-tor. IGMDP (Missiles Systems), LCA, MBT, ATV Lak-shya, naval projects and others have matured. It isthisbasethatcannowdeliverresultsinmanyareasinfivetotenyears.Inthemeantime,manystructuralandprocesschangeswillberequiredandprojectsrelatedtomissionneedswillhavetobeapprovedwithinthistimeframe,dependingonthetechnologyreadinessinthecountry.Theseare,however,worthtryingifwearetohaveaself-reliantandaffordablearmedforcethatunderpins our foreign and internal policy objectiveswithconfidence.The author is Distinguished Fellow, VIF

20 J A N U A R Y 2015

What is similar between India and Israel? Culture? No, it’s terrorism, which has been wreaking havoc in both countries. But there is a difference. In Israel it is rooted essentially on religion -- Jews vs Muslim -- but here in India, it has a number of social issues, besides of course religion as its underlying causes. Naxalites and Maoists, for example, are promoting their political causes and north-east rebels are promoting their narrow self-interest. But while Israel staunchly believes in “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” policy, India’s counterterrorism policy is riddled with loopholes that leave room for the perpetrators of crime to escape from the clutches of law or to circumvent it. But India can definitely learn a few lessons from that terror-ravaged country.

India can take a leaf out of

Israel

Whatwould youdo if aperson–a terrorist -- at-tacksyourcountryandkillshundredsofinnocentpeople?Whatwouldbeyourstrategyagainsthim

who kills everyone in his path and leaves thousandsofpeoplehomeless? Inaworldwhereaneye foraneye islongacceptedasajustifiablemove,theanswerisobviousanditwon’tbesurprising.Butwhatiscausingconcernisthatnowgovernmentsofvariousnationsareadoptingthismuch-malignedpolicy.

Israelisamongthosenationsravagedbyterrorismandthe so-called holy war byMuslim fundamentalists. Eversince its formation, Israel has been engaged in fightingwith itsMuslimneighbourswhoarehell-bentonwipingoutthatcountryfromthefaceoftheearth.Israelbeingin

suchanunenviableposition, itspolicyagainst terrorismhasalwaysbeenasubjectofinterestforinternationalse-curityexperts.Thecountryclaimsthatithasazerotoler-ancepolicyagainstterrorism;andmoreoftenthannot,itmeansbusiness.

InNovember2014,terroristsattackedaJerusalemsyna-gogueandkilledfourJewishworshippersandapoliceof-ficer.Inretaliation,theIsraeliforcesrazedthehomeofamanwhohadcarriedoutadeadlycarattack in Israel inOctober2014.

Bydoingso, Israelwascontinuing its longtraditionofrazing the homes of both suspected and confirmed ter-rorists. The lawmakers in Israel believe that this policyenforcedby thegovernmentwouldactasadeterrent to

Israel has been destroying homes of suspected terrorists despite opposition by international community

21J A N U A R Y 2015

terroristsandmakethemthinktwicebefore carrying out their acts of de-struction. In fact, Israel’scounterter-rorismpolicyofrazingthehousesofsuspected terrorists dates back to1945, when the British governmentpassed an emergency regulation inpre-statePalestine.Accordingtothatpolicy,theBritishmilitarycouldcon-fiscate and destroy any house usedtostoreaweapon,oranyhomeusedbyapersonwhoviolatedthemilitarylaw.

While at the outset, this policylooks vindictive, it has many loop-holes.First,itwouldbewrongtoas-sume thatall the familymembersofterrorists are involved in terrorism.If a government starts punishing in-nocent people for crimes committedbyothers,whatdifferenceistheirbe-tween the terroristsand thegovern-ment? Also, terrorists are hardcoremilitantsandtheyusuallydonotwor-ryaboutthewellbeingoftheirfamilymembers.Sorazingtheirhomesandmakingthemhomelessmaynotbeagoodideaafterall.

More often than not, terrorismstartswhensomeone,usuallyacom-munity,hasagrudgeagainstanothercommunity or a nation or a govern-ment. Such acts by the governmenttoforcethepeopleoutoftheirhomesjust because they are related to asuspectedterroristonlydeepensthehatredofthatcommunityagainstthegovernment. This may in turn makemore people from that communitytakeuptoterrorism.

Between 2001 and 2005, Israelhas demolishedmore than 650 Pal-estinian homes. The policy was dis-continued after an army committeedetermined that razing homes notonlyfailedtodeterattacks,butalsostoked Palestinian hatred of Israel.Although Israeli law grants permis-sionforhousedemolition,Israelhashadtofacewidespreadinternationalcondemnation for such acts againstterror. But Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu has no planstodiscontinuehisdrive.HesaidinastatementgiventoTheAtlantic,“Wehavenothingagainsttheresidentsof

easternJerusalembutwewillnottol-erateattacksonourcitizensandwewill act against thosewho do thesethingsandagainstthoseengagedinincitement.”

LikeIsrael,Indiaisamongthehigh-lyaffected,“terrortorn,”countriesintheworld.Butthecountry’sresponseto the terror attacks on its soil andits people has been knee-jerk reac-tions. Unlike the US or Israel, Indiahas no elaborate counterterrorismpolicy in place. While counterterror-ism forces do investigate terror at-tacks, the laws that are introducedtocurbterrorismareusuallymiredincontroversies. For example, in 2002India passed the Prevention of Ter-rorism Act (POTA), expanding thegovernment’s powers to combat ter-rorism.Somemeasures,suchastheabilitytokeepterrorsuspectsincus-tody without bringing them to trial,met with objections, and the lawwas repealed in 2004 after allega-tions that officials were abusingtheirpowers.

ThegovernmentsetuptheNationalCounter-TerrorismCentre(NCTC)afterthe Mumbai terror attacks and theCabinetCommitteeonSecurity(CCS)hadalsogivenitsapprovalforitses-tablishment. But the chief ministersof various states have stopped thisorganisationfromfunctioning,claim-

ingthatitwillunderminethefederalstructure of India’s Constitution andthat itmustnotbeplacedundertheIntelligenceBureau(IB).

The NCTC is envisaged as an um-brella organisation that would exer-cisecontroloveragenciesliketheNa-tionalInvestigationAgency(NIA),theNational Technical Research Organ-isation (NTRO), the Joint IntelligenceCommittee (JIC), the National CrimeRecords Bureau (NCRB) and the Na-tionalSecurityGuard (NSG).Accord-ing to the latest proposal, theNCTCwill be placed under the IB and theexisting Multi-Agency centre (MAC)will be subsumed in it. India’s re-sponsetotheNovember2008Mum-baiterrorattackswasslow,laboriousand poorly coordinated among theCentral and the State governmentsand their various agencies. Coastalsecuritywasvirtuallynon-existent.

Israel’smodelofrazinghomesmaynot be a good idea in a democraticsetuplikeIndia.ButIndiacantakealeaf out of Israel’s counterterrorismbook.Our response to terrorismhasbeenmeekandthisonlyencouragesmore terrorist acts. It’s time theNa-rendra Modi government formulatesacomprehensivestrategytofightter-rorism,which isbothconsistentandtoughonterrorists.

Terrorism in IndiaLikeIsrael,Indiahasseenterrorismfromclosequarters,andhassuf-

feredalot.Infact,IndiahasbeenavictimofterrorismsinceitsbirthasitsneighbourPakistankeptonharboringandencouragingterroristsall the time.Terrorism found in India includesethno-nationalist terror-ism,religiousterrorism,leftwingterrorismandnarcoterrorism.

India is often plagued by terrorist activities in various parts of thecountry,suchasJammuandKashmir,east-centralandsouth-centralIn-dia(Naxalism)andtheSevenSisterStates.Morethan1000peoplehavelosttheirlives,andpropertiesworththousandsofcroreshavebeende-stroyedinvariousterrorattacksuntilnow.

The latest confirmed terror attacks in India came inMay 2014 withthe explosion of two low-intensity bombs in the early hours of May1, 2014 in a Guwahati-bound train from Bangalore arriving at theChennai Central railway station, killing one woman passenger andinjuringatleast14others.

22 J A N U A R Y 2015

• DrNiveditaDasKundu

The India-Russia strategic part-nershipwas formed in the year2000.Russiawasthefirstcoun-

trywithwhomIndiaestablishedstra-tegicpartnershipandintheyear2010during the 11th Summit, India andRussia elevated their relationshipto a “Special and Privileged Strate-gic Partnership” status, indicatinga mutual desire to emphasise theexceptional closeness of ties. In to-day’scomplicatedandfastchanginggeopoliticalsituation,bothcountrieshave wisely diversified their foreignpolicyoptions,yethavebeencarefulnottoabandonamutuallybeneficialpartnershipoftrustbuiltupoverde-cadesbetweenthem.

Russian President Vladimir Pu-tin’svisit to Indiaon11thDecember,2014, was an extremely signifi-cant event as far as India-Russiarelationship is concerned. This wasthe first visit of President Putin toNew Delhi after formation of thenew government in India underthe leadership of Prime MinisterNarendraModi.

ThebilateralsummitbetweenIndiaandRussiatakesplaceeveryyearal-ternativelyinMoscowandNewDelhi.This summit was the 15th annualbilateral summit between the two

countries. During the summit, therewerefull-fledgeddiscussionsonvari-ous issues and concerns related toIndia-Russia bilateral relationship.The leaders of the two countriesdiscussed and signed a number ofimportant bilateral agreements, re-viewedtheentirerangeofIndia-Rus-siabilateraltiesandalsolaiddownabroadagenda tobe followed for the

coming year for strengthening thestrategicpartnership.

Historical ConnectionsThe deep roots of India-Russia re-lationship go back to the early 20thcenturywhenIndiawasunderBritishruleandtheCzars ruledRussia.TheRussian Revolution of 1905 inspired

India and RussiaPresident Putin’s Visit Boosts Ties

‘Russian President Putin was the one who formulated the strategic partnership with India in the year 2000. He has contributed greatly in maintaining this partnership. Putin has always appreciated the long-standing friendship between the two countries and also appreciated the fact that, unlike the West, India never thought of letting down Russia when it is in a difficult situation.’

23J A N U A R Y 2015

several Indian freedom fighters andmanyhadestablishedpersonalcon-tactswiththeSovietleaders.Follow-ing the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution,the Soviet leaders understood thattheir revolution stood better chanceof success and encouraged India tobecomefreeandindependent.ItwasIndia’sfirstPrimeMinisterJawaharlalNehruwholaidthefoundationofthepolicy of closeness towards the So-vietUnion.

Nehru’s faith in the Soviet Unionwasimmense.TheSovietUnioncon-sistently gave India valuable politi-cal,diplomaticandstrategicsupportbilaterallyaswellasat internationalfora.IndiareceivedSovietdiplomaticbacking and material support andtheconfidenceprovidedbytheIndo-Soviet Treaty of Peace, Friendshipand Cooperation. Beginning 1950s,IndiareceivedfromtheSovietUniongenerous assistance for its indus-trialisation process as well as sup-port in the areas of defence, spaceand atomic energy. Some of today’sglobally competitive public sectorcompanies in India such as BharatHeavy Electrical limited (BHEL), OilandNaturalGasCorporation(ONGC)and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited(HAL),aswellasthesteelindustryinIndia,weresetupwithSovietsupportandco-operation.ThefirstIndianIn-stitute of Technology was set up inMumbaiwithSovietsupport.

Contemporary RelationshipToday, India-Russia relationship hasmany positive dimensions to lendfresh impetus to their cooperationandfriendshipinvarioussectors.Co-operationinthedefencesectorisstillthestrongestlink.Eventoday,around50%of thedefenceequipmentusedbytheIndiandefenceforcesisofRus-sian origin. India and Russia havesimilar views on many internationaldevelopments.

However, theweakest link in Indo-Russian cooperation remains tradeandeconomicties.Thetradebetweenthe two countries is extremely lowataroundUS$10billion.Bothsides

have expressed their desire to raiseit up to US $20 billion. It is expect-ed that as soonas the InternationalNorth South Corridor (INSTC) startsoperating,thetimelimitandcostsoftheconsignmentspassingandreach-ing the destinationwould be drasti-callyreduced.IndiaandRussiahavealsobeentryingtoengagewitheachother through the ComprehensiveEconomic Partnership Agreement(CEPA).Indiaisalsokeentogetcon-nected with the Eurasian CustomsUnionofRussia,BelarusandKazakh-stan. Indo-Russian co-operation canbeboostedevenfurtherifpeople-to-peoplecontactcanbeincreasedandcultural as well as educational link-agesareenhanced.

DiscourseAsfarasthediscourseinIndiainthisregard is concerned, there are two

schoolsofthought;onefeelsthattherelationshipwithRussiaissignificantfor India, while the other feels thatwhen Russia is expanding its rela-tionshipwithcountrieslikeChinaandPakistan, India shouldnot shyawayfrom developing its ties with theUnitedStates.However, theconsen-susononeaspectamongthesetwogroupsisthatRussiaisindeedagreatpartnerofIndiaandthatneedstobemaintained.

For India, Putin was the one whoformulated the strategicpartnershipwith India in the year 2000. He hascontributed greatly in maintainingthis partnership. Putin has alwaysappreciatedthelong-standingfriend-

shipbetween the twocountriesandalsoappreciatedthefactthat,unliketheWest, Indianever thoughtof let-tingdownRussiawhen it is inadif-ficultsituation.

The Way AheadThe twosides cameupwith revisedtargets for boosting the relationshipfurther during the summit, whichbrought new ideas that were in linewith Prime Minister Modi’s foreignpolicyprioritiesofbringingeconomicbenefit to the country by involvingRussiaalsoinhis‘MakeinIndia’cam-paign. The Russian side has agreedtomake“civilandlightaircraftinIn-dia”. ‘Sistema’, a Russian company,hasexpressedaninterestinpartner-ing forbuildingsmartcities in India.Fields such as high-end computing,launching of telecommunication sat-ellites on low cost platforms are ar-

easwherethetwocountriesarenowthinking of working together. BothIndia and Russia are now trying tobuild direct contactswith the entirespectrum of stakeholders and inter-estgroupsinthepolitical,economic,militaryandotherspheres.

Thesummitwasa reflectionofhowIndiaandRussiacontinuetovalueeachother’s steadfast friendship. It hasbeen observed that India-Russia co-operation and friendship remains un-affectedby any global developments.This 15th Annual Summit has furtherstrengthenedtheframeworkforcoop-erationbetweenRussiaandIndia.(The author is a Foreign Policy Analyst)

24 J A N U A R Y 2015

• NarayanAmmachchi

State Bank of India is about tolaunch an equity fund basedon Islamic banking system,

or Sharia banking. The equity fundcomesontheheelsofaShariafinan-cialfirmfoundedinKeralarecently.

What makes the Sharia bank astandoutisthatitprohibitscharginginterestonboth loansanddeposits,and encourages depositors and fi-nancial institutionstodonatemoneyto theneedy.Except for therediffer-ences, Islamic banks look similar toconventionalbanks.Sometimes,theyalsolooklikeaventurecapitalfund.

Charity, which the Islamic banksare obliged to make to comply withthe Sharia, is the biggest drawbackof the system, particularly at a timewhentheworldisgrapplingwiththeriseofIslamicterrorism.

Sharia banks donating money tomadarsas or people acting as con-duits to terrorist organisations iscommonintheArabworld.

Many Islamic banks are under fire

todaynotbecausetheydonatemon-eytojihadisympathisers.OsamaBinLadendonatedmillionsofdollars tohisassociatesthroughaShariabankin Sudan, an impoverished Africancountry.

BanksinPakistanandBangladeshtoo have been accused of donatingcrores of rupees to jihadi. Donationisthemostimportantunderlyingas-pect of Sharia banks based on theShariaIslamiclaw.

Another aspect is that it is basedon cultural belief rather than practi-calproblem-solvingmotives.AShar-ia bank does not invest in anythingthatisunlawfulundertheSharialaw.Forexample,itwon’tlendtofirmsin-volvedinmanufacturingormarketingliquororpork.

Sharia Banks in IndiaThesedaystherehasbeenagrowingdemand for amending the country’sbankinglawstomakewayforShariabanks.Today,noShariabankcanin-volve in consumer banking in India,becausetheexistingbankinglawsre-

quirebankstolevyinterestonloanstheylendordepositstheyaccept.

Some analysts say the conven-tional banking system has keptmil-lions of Muslims away from banks.Citinganunnamedstudy,GulfNewsreports there are unclaimed interestworth500crorerupeeslyinginKera-labanksalone.AccordingtoTheEco-nomicTimes,India’sstockexchangeshave600to700companiescomply-ingwiththeSharialaw.

A fewmonths ago, Kerala govern-ment-owned KSIDC started Al-Bara-kahFinancialServicesLtd., inwhichmany NRI Muslims have investedcrores of rupees. The bank runs anIslamicreassuranceschemeandsev-eral mutual fund schemes. In addi-tion,thereisanindexontheBombayStock Exchange representing onlySharia-compliantstocks.

In2008,thePlanningCommission,thenheadedbyRaghuramRajan,rec-ommended the introductionof inter-est-freebanking.

Aligarh Muslim University hasstarted a postgraduate programmeinIslamicbankingunderthesteward-

India is making way for Islamic Sharia banks despite the fact that they failed in their own Arab countries where the system took birth 40 years ago. Around the world, Sharia banks have been accused of donating money to terrorists. The madarsas, the Islamic religious schools, are heavily dependent on donations made by these banks. Donation is the key component of Sharia banks. But we do really need them?

Sharia BanksHow they Fund Terrorists

25J A N U A R Y 2015

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Sharia Banking & Terrorism TheShariabankofBangladeshhasbeenaccusedofpayinglegalde-

fensefeesforaccusedterrorists.AccordingtoKhabarSouthAsia,anewsservicemanagedby theUSPacificCommand,“corporatesocialresponsibility”fundsfromIslamicBankBangladeshLtd.(IBBL)arere-portedlybeingusedtopaythebillstosuspects’lawyers.

Also, trials inBangladeshhavebeenunderway for several years toseek justice for war crimes committed by Pakistan-backed IslamistsagainstBangladeshisinthe1970s.TheBangladeshHomeMinistryhaspreviouslyrevealedthat8percentofthebank’sprofitsaredivertedto-wardmilitantIslamistsasaformofcorporatedonation.

Worse still, this Bangladesh bank was recently caught supplyingcounterfeitcurrencytoitsownaccountholders.

shipofProfessorNejatUllahSiddiqui,oneof thepioneersof the Islamicbanking inthecountry.

AtaneventinMalaysia,formerchiefofMinority Commission Rahman Khan saidIndiawas interested in introducing fundsthatdonatemoneyforIslamicpilgrimage.

A spade is a spade WhatneedstobenotedisthatnoIslamicbank that adheres to the injunctions ofShariacanbesuccessful. Thosewhobe-camesuccessfularethosewholeviedin-terestonloanbehindthescenes.

IncountrieslikeMalaysia,Islamicbank-ershavehijackedthesystemtotheirben-efit. Using the deposits, for which theyhave no need to pay interest, they enterintoleaseagreementsforacarorahousewithanindividual.Thebankwouldbuyavehicleoutrightandthenleaseitbacktothepersonwhowantedit.

Sometime,theyenterintoapartnershipwithapersonwantingtobuyahouse.Thebank would buy 70% of the house, theindividual 30%. The bank then rents itsshareofthehousebacktotheindividualuntilthehouseisfullypaidfor.

The bank makes a profit on the rent,which would be higher than equivalentrents in thearea.Analystssay this looksvery much like a conventional mortgageinterestrate.

Sharia banks are only 40-years old,but the conventional banks are mucholder.

Hawala a byproduct of Sharia banking

Hawalamoneytransfer is infactthebyproductofIslam-

ic systembasedon trust. Runthrough a network of moneylaunderers, hawala is a wayof transferring money withoutactuallymovingmoney acrossborders.

SayFarooqwantsRs.1,000topaytohisfriendAliinPakistan.Farouq gives the money to ahawaladealerinNewYork.TheNYdealerknowsanotherdeal-erinPakistan.Boththedealersarepartofasinglenetwork,sotheirtransfersremainbalancedbetween the twoof themoveratime.

ThedealerinPakistansimplypays Rs 1,000 to Ali. FarouqhasRs1,000lessthanhestart-edwith,AlihasRs1,000more,and the money never wentthroughanyvisible remittancesystem that can be tracked.Hawala originates from Islam-ic law, which describes howdebts can be transferred tothirdparties.

• NarayanAmmachchi

The Special Investigative Team (SIT) set up by theSupreme Court says it found 339 Indians havingstashed away Rs.4,479 crore in Swiss banks and

owningpropertyworthRs.14,958crorewithinthecoun-try.

Confiscatingtheirpropertiesinthecountry,SITsays,istheonlyoptiontoforcethemcoughupwhattheyowetothetaxdepartment.IthasalsorecommendedimposingRs10-15lakhlimitonholdingandtransportationofcash.

This is not something SIT discovered on its own.This is what it is saying after analysing the list of 628IndianssuspectedofowningaccountswithHSBCBankinGeneva.

HowthislistcametoIndiaisaninterestingstory.Fiveyearsago,a technologyexpert inHSBCstoledatawithaccount details of over amillion customers.He flew toFrancebeforethebankcoulddiscoverhisact.

Beforegoingintohishideout,hegaveawayallhisdatatotheFrenchgovernment,whichlatermadealistof In-dianaccountholdersandpasseditontoIndia.

InaninterviewwithNDTVsomeyearsago,hesaidIndiawasgivenonly2MBof the200GBofdatahehadcol-lected.

SIThassaidthatprosecutionhasbegunagainst79en-tities.Of the628accountholders, 201 areuntraceableand289accountsareempty.

BanningcashpaymentformakingpaymentsofoverRs1lakhisamongsomeofitsrecommendations.Accordingitsreport,Ponzischemes,ironoreexportsandloopholesinexport-importrulesaredrivingaccumulationofblackmoney.

An Easy Cure for Black Money and Corruption

26 J A N U A R Y 2015

If Prime Minister Modi is serious about ending corruption and black money, plastic money can come to his aid. Plastic money is nothing but the debit card you are already using. Not just corruption and black money, plastic money can also root out fake bank notes and make the governance transparent like never before.

27J A N U A R Y 2015

28 J A N U A R Y 2015

Double TaxationGroping in the DarkIdentifyingblackmoneyhoardersby

signingdoubletaxationagreementswithsuspectedtaxhavenssuchas

Switzerland issomething likegropingin the dark, say analysts. In August2010, then Congress government re-vised the Double Taxation AvoidanceAgreementwithSwitzerland.

This agreement helps only if Indiahasspecificinformationabouttheac-countholder. Wehavesimilaragree-ments with suspected tax havensaroundtheworld,includingGibraltar,Bahamas,Bermuda,theBritishVirginIslands, the Isle ofMan, theCaymanIslands, Jersey, Liberia,Monaco,Ma-cau,Argentina,GuernseyandBahrain.

Such agreements are a waste oftime because black income is unac-countedmoneysoyouhavenoclearinformation about thehoarder. It isnowonder that none of these coun-tries supplied India with any datawhatsoever.

Worsestill,suchagreementsmakeitclearthatIndiashouldseekanyin-formationaboutaccountholdersifitsintentionistogiveittocourt.Whatisthepointinsigningsuchagreements

withtaxhavens?Are Indians withdrawing money

fromSwissbanks?In 2006, Indian money in Swiss

banksaccountsstoodatRs4,14,000crore,butitdecreasedtoRs.1,40,000crore in 2013. Meanwhile, a hugeamount of gold is being importedfrom Switzerland. That means In-

dians could be withdrawing moneyfromtheirSwissaccountsandbring-ingitingold.

Mauritius and Singapore are theother tax havens. You know that 50percentof foreigninvestmentcomesthrough Mauritius. Most of theforeign money invested in stockmarketscomesthroughSingapore.

When Gangs Melted Coins into Blades…AFew years ago, criminal gangs in eastern states,

particularlyWestBengal,hoardedallthe5rupeecoinsincirculationandtookthemtoneighbouringBan-gladesh. There they melted the coins before turningthem intodifferent objects suchasbladesandorna-ments.

Theirtradeprovedthateachfiverupeecoinisworthabout35rupees!WhentheWestBengalreportedacuteshortageincoins,thecentralgovernmentlookedawe-struck.Cluelessas tohowtodealwith thecrisis, thegovernmentsoonaskedfederalagenciestofigureoutthecause.A fortnight later, intelligencesleuthscame

upwithananswerandtheysentadetailedreporttotheRBI.Theirconfidentialreport,latermadepublicbytheRevenueIntelligence,tellshowsomeorganisedgangsamassedthecoinsbypayingapremiumof10to15per-centtotheground-levelcollectors.

RazorandjewelleryfactoriesinBangladesh,accord-ingtothereport,werethemainbuyersofthemetal.Thereportwentontosaythatthemetalusedinaone-ru-peecoinwasenoughtomakefourorfiverazorblades.RBIhassincestartedusingplainandcheapmetalsincoins.Cheapmetalmeantthatcriminalscannotstorethemforre-designing.

29J A N U A R Y 2015

The debit and the credit cards that weincreasingly use to purchase goods are

called plasticmoney because they substi-tutepapernotesorbanknotes.WhatiftheRBI withdrew all the currency notes fromcirculation and hand in plastic card to ev-eryone?

This exercise may take a year or two toimplement, but it is certain to put an endtoblackmoneybothinsideandoutsidethecountry.

To begin with, the government can askbanks to issueprepaid cards just thewaytelecom firms sell currency for mobilephones.TheITfirmscancreatesoftwaretomakesurethatcardtransactionsaresafexandsecure.

In advanced countries, amessage popsuponthemobilephoneoftheconsumerev-

erytimeheswipeshiscreditordebitcards.Themoneymoves out of his account onlyafter he approves the transaction. In theabsenceofmobilephones,peoplecanusetheirfingerprinttoapprovethetransaction.

Since every money transaction is re-corded, therewillbenochance forstoringmoney.Andeventheblackmoneyholderswillhavetobringthatmoneybacktobanks.

Notonlyblackmoney,plasticmoneycanbringtoanendcorruptionandburglary,taxevasionandalsothemenaceoffakenotes.

Moreimportantstill,thegovernmentwillbeabletofindoutillegalimmigrantsinthecountry. Remember, much of the currencynotesandcoinsthatweusetodayareman-ufactured overseas, especialy in Pakistan.Printing money in a foreign country riskslosingcontrolonyourownfinancialsystem.

A surefire cure

Global Financial Registry

Dr Gabriel Zucman, a young Frencheconomist,hasoftenstatedthatset-

ting up a financialregistry to recordwho owns whataroundtheworld isthe only viable op-tion to destroy off-shore tax havens.Butsettingupsucha registry is a farwayoff.Itlookslikea dream that cannever be realized,

as it requiresevery country to takepartvoluntarily.

HesayssigningdoubletaxationtreatywithcountrieslikeSwitzerlandisawasteoftime.Currently,taxhavensonlyshareinformationiftherearewelldocumentedsuspicionsthatan individual is tryingtoevadetaxes.Butthiskindofinformationisalmostimpossibletoobtaininthefirstplace.

This is precisely why India has neverbeenabletomakeSwitzerlandshareanyinformationaboutitsaccountholders.

Our Cash is printed abroadUntil2000,mostofthecoinsweusedweremintedinmintsabroad.

U.S.andBritishmoneyprinters,suchastheUK’sThomasDeLaRue,madeakillingbyprintingloadsofcoinsforus.

Notonlycoins,RBIalsooutsourcedprintingof500and100rupeenotesuntilrecently. In2010,areportfromaparliamentarycommit-teeshockedeveryone:Contractsworththousandsofcroresofrupeeswerehandedout to foreigncompanies toprintmillionsofcurrencynotes.Thisincidentledthegovernmenttoacquiresomesophisticat-edpressesandpapermillsspecificallytoprintbanknotes,becausethecommitteestatedthatprintingbanknotesabroadrisksreceivingunaccountedmoneyanddestabilisingeconomy.

“TheverythoughtofIndia’scurrencybeingprintedinthreediffer-entcountriesisalarming,becauseitputsourentireeconomicsover-eigntyatstake,”thereportadded.

Worststill,terroristscaneasilyhijackoureconomyiftheygetac-cess to theprintingplatesat thepresswhere thecurrencywasbe-ingprinted.Inotherwords,theycanprintthecurrencyandcirculatearoundthecountryjustthewayAbdulKarimTelgisoldstamppapers.

In2005,10Rupeescoinsweremintedforthefirsttime.IncreasingdemandforchangeandincreasingcostofprintingbanknoteswasthereasonswhyRBIstartedissuingthecoin.Remember,plasticmoneycanbringanendtoproblemsofthiskindaswell.

30 J A N U A R Y 2015

• Dr.RagothamSundararajan

“Arise,AwakeandStopnotTilltheGoalisReached.”Withtheseinspiringwords,morethanacenturyago,Swami Vivekananda exhorted the sons anddaugh-

tersofBharattoworkwithpassionfortheresurgenceofthecountryandrestorehertotheancientheightsofglory.Swamijiwasaspiritualgiantandasocialscientistcom-bined,atrueyogifollowingthebesttraditionsofBharat’sspiritualmasters. His heartmelted seeing thewretchedconditions of his people and he worked ceaselessly fortheiruplift.

BornasNarendraNathDuttaonJanuary12,1863inKol-katta, Swamiji had a remarkable upbringingwherein hecombined hismeditativemind and a natural inclinationfor spiritualitywith the rigor of rational enquiry to thinkdeeply and originally about matters such as the exis-tenceofGodandthenatureoftheHindumindaswelltheproblems facing thepeopleofBharatand theworld.Hebecamewell-versed inmany subjects andmastered thetenetsofWesternandEasternphilosophy.

However, it was when the Swamiji met his would-beGuruShriRamakrishnaParamahamsa inDakshineshwarduring 1881-82, his life was verily transformed and theemergenceofthemightySwamiVivekanandabegan.Un-derthespiritualguidanceoftheMasterShriRamakrishna,SwamiVivekanandaflourishedand realizedhis truena-ture and his life’smission. Shri Ramakrishna concludedthatSwamiVivekanandawasdestinedforliberationandGod-realization,butordainedthathefulfilhismissionforBharatandmankindbeforemeetingwithhisdestinedin-dividualliberationorMukti.

In the words of Swamiji about his Master, “All that Iam,all thattheworlditselfwillsomedaybe, isowingtomyMaster,ShriRamakrishna,whoincarnatedandexpe-riencedand taught thiswonderfulunitywhichunderlies

Swami Vivekananda

His Mission and Message for Bharat

31J A N U A R Y 2015

everything,havingdiscovereditalikeinHinduism,inIslam,andinChristi-anity.”

Wandering Monk After the passing away of Shri Ra-makrishna, Swami Vivekanandatravelled the length and breadth ofBharat,manyatimeonfoot,severaltimesduringwhichhegotfirst-handexperience of the situation at largeand what the society in Bharat hadcometo.MoreandmorehesawhowthepeopleofBharatweregettingen-amouredofmaterialismandWesternmanners and customs ignoring thetruespiritandprinciplesoftheVedasandVedanta.

Healsosawthewretchedconditionofthepoorandtheilliterateandhowtheywerelivingalifeofabjectpenuryandindignity.Heblamedtheeducat-edandprivilegedsectionsofBharatfor neglecting and failing to upholdthe tenets of her ancient spiritualitywhilekeeping thepoorandthemar-ginalisedaway from trueknowledgeandspiritualexperience.

All thisaroused inhimadesire to

start a mission for the regenerationof Bharat based on the original ide-alsofspiritualknowledgeandexpe-rience. During his trip to the south-erntipofBharat, inKanyakumari, in1893,Swamijiswamtoarock in themiddleoftheIndianOcean,satonitandmeditatedforalongtime,duringwhichhesawavisionofwhathewasto do to help Bharat regain her lostglory.

Tour of the WestFulfillingthewishesofhiswell-wish-ersaswellashisown,Swamijisailedto America to attend theWorld Par-liament of Religions in Chicago heldin 1893.Hisfirstaddress to thedel-egates as a representative of HindureligiononSeptember11, 1893,wasreceived with thunderous applauseand thereafter he addressed thegathering a dozen times, expound-ing theprinciplesofHinduism -- theVedas,Upanishads,Vedantaandtheuniversalityofspirituality.

Swamiji stayed abroad for manyyears, especially in the US and Eu-rope,making two separate trips be-

tweentheyears1893and1901.Dur-ing theseyears,hegave lecturesonKarma Yoga, Jnana Yoga and RajaYogaandpracticalVedantaandmadeseveral insightful observations onother religions such as ChristianityandIslam.

Healsocamedownheavilyontheconversionactivitiesofmissionariesin Bharat. He faced severe criticismandoppositionfromorthodoxgroupsof other religions as well as fromsome Hindu sects for conveying hisboldandforthrightviewsonmattersspiritualandotherwise.

Duringtheseyearsabroad,Swamijialso got a first-hand account of thematerial progress achieved by theWest, strides made in science andtechnology as well as the improvedconditionsofwomeninthosesociet-ies.However,especiallyinhissecondtripabroad,SwamijialsorealizedthebaneoftheexcessivematerialismoftheWest,seeing forhimself the lustforpower,jealousyandvanitywhichweretakingholdoftheWesternmind.Healsoopinedthatwithoutspiritual-ity, excessive focus on power andmaterialism was bound to result in

It was a speech that no one in Bharat can forget: Swami Vivekananda’s address to the delegates of the Parliament of Religions held in Chicago on September 11, 1893. While all the other religious leaders and thinkers addressed the august gathering in a formal manner, the Swamiji began his speech with these memorable words, “Brothers and sisters of America …” That touched a chord among the audience and all stood up to applaud this great Sanyasin from the East. The speech underlined the unity and universality of all religions and the need for living together in harmony, far unlike what we see today: Terrorism, with all its horrible consequences that go with it – wanton butchery, rape and slaughter. It is here the Swamiji’s message to Bharat and the whole world becomes relevant: Do not fight, but realize the oneness of all religions.

32 J A N U A R Y 2015

conflictandchaos,aprophecywhichwas proved by the two world warsthatensuedlater.

Mission for Bharat SwamijirealizedthatuntilthepeopleofBharatlivedclosetotheirtruena-ture,whichisbasedonearnestfocuson spirituality and studied restraintwhenitcametomaterialism,theywillnot face any problems. He felt thatdeviating from this true nature wasthecauseofalltheillsfacingourso-ciety.Sohefelt theneedtoeducatethemassesaboutthetruemeaningofspirituality.Buthealsorealizedthatteaching spirituality to people withemptystomachwasnotgoingtofetchanyresults.

Sohestressedtheneedfortakingcareofthematerialneedsofthepoor,serving the ‘Daridra Narayan’ as heput it.Hecamedownheavilyonthe

exclusivist and sacrosanct attitudesoftheeducatedandprivilegedclass-eswhorefusedtomixandsharewiththe masses. He also frowned uponthesuperstitionsandsocialevilsfol-lowedby the so-called ‘Don’t-touch-ists’,sayingthatifthiscontinuedforanotherhundredyears, thewholeofBharatwould become a lunatic asy-lum.

Swamiji laid great emphasis oneducation,whichhesaidwasmainlyabout man-making. He said educa-tion should produce bold, fearlesspeople with Kshatriya virya andBrahmaTeja.Hewasalsoagreatsup-porterofwomen’seducationandhadthehighestrespectforthewomenofBharat.

Through various organisations hehelped to start, Swamiji set abouthis taskofcreatingmenandwomenwhowould take forwardhismissionof removing ignorance and poverty

inBharatandspreadthemessageofoneness and universality of beingsas conveyedby theancient seersofBharat.

All the travel and incessant worktookaheavytollonSwamiji’sphysi-calconditionalthoughhewasofim-mense physical strength combinedwith mental fortitude. He kept con-veyingtohisdisciplestheforebodingthathewasgettingabouthisupcom-ingphysicaldeath.But,obsessedashewaswithhismission,hecontinuedtowork despite illness and physicaldiscomfort. Finally,knowing theendwasnear,heinformedhisdisciplesofthesame,givingtheminstructionstocarryhiswork forward.SwamiVive-kanandalefthisphysicalbodyonJuly4,1902,leavingbehindhismessageand legacy for others to follow andfulfilhismission.

Unfinished Agenda Aswe lookaroundus today,weseethat ignorance and poverty are stillrampant.Blind imitationof theWestandalackofrespectandunderstand-ingofourancientknowledgeandwis-dom are widely prevalent especiallyamongtheeducated.

It is time for the sons and daugh-ters of Bharat to dig deep into themessage of Swamiji and rededicateourselvestohismissionwhichisyettoreachitsgoal.Thiswecandobyre-doublingourefforts to remove igno-ranceandpovertyinoursocietyandworkincessantlytobecomeasocietyofbraveandfearlesspeoplewhoaretrue inheritors of the glorious, uni-versalmessageofharmony,onenessandperfectionofallbeingsasenun-ciatedbyourforefathersintheVedasandVedanta.

We need to act upon Swamiji’smessage that service toman is ser-vice toGodandcollectivelycreateasociety free from all wants and har-monious,anexamplefortheworldtofollow.Thiswouldbeourbesttributeand act of gratitude to the Swamijiaswecommemorate thecompletionof 150 years since his birth on thisPunyabhoomi.

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Let’s act NOW to stop the Himalayan Disaster

The ice ismelting. The thirdbig-gest concentration of snow inthe world, the Himalayas, is

wilting under the pressure of con-stant environmental changes and isgiving way. And yet the authoritiesconcernedaredoingpreciouslittletoavertthedisaster.

Recently,a reportwasfiledby theinternational conference on devel-opment, biodiversity and climatechange,organisedbythedepartmentofsociology,GovernmentPostGrad-uateCollege, ChambaandHimachalPradeshUniversity,Shimla,incollab-orationwiththeAsiaClimateEduca-tionCentre, Jeju,SouthKorea, Inter-

nationalUnion forConservationandNature, WG-05 International Socio-logical Association, NDMA, Govern-ment of India, and Sewa HimalayasabouttheworseningconditionoftheHimalayas. The report categoricallystated that the condition at the Hi-malayasisbadandvariouscountriesthatbenefited from thegreatmoun-tainrangesneedtodosomethingur-gently.

The Himalayas contain the thirdlargest body of snow on our planetaftertheArcticandAntarcticregions.Naturally, when the biodiversityof such a large mountain ranges isdisturbed, a lotmore will be in line

along with that. The Himalayas arethesourceofmanyofthegreatriversofAsialiketheGanges,theYangtze,theIndusandtheMekong.So,iftheHimalayasareunderthreat,itmeansa great source of water for a largepopulationinAsiawillalsobeunderthreat.Thisisaseriousprobleminaworldwhichhasseentoomanywarsoninvaluableresourceslikewater.

Not surprisingly, themajor reasonforsevereclimatechangesintheHi-malayasisthegreedofhumanbeingsto grab all they can from the greatmountain and its natural resources.TheHimalayashavethehighestdamdensityintheentireworld,withmore

35J A N U A R Y 2015

than a thousandwater reservoirs spanning themountainrangesincountrieslikeIndia,Bhutan,NepalandPakistan.Theseprojectsarebringinginseriousecologicalandsocialeffectscausingdisaster to the biodiversity of the region. Thisisalldoneforthemuch-sought-afterhydroelec-tricity,whichisofficiallyclaimedascleanerandcheaper.

InHimachalPradeshthereare41hydelprojects;76 new ones are in the pipeline and three havebeen stopped due to environmental problems.Thesearethefiguresgivenbythestate’selectric-ityboard.Theenvironmentalandsocialeffectsofthenumerousdamswouldbehugeandthenum-berofaffectedpeoplesimplycannotbecounted.Withthis, increasingtouristactivitiesatthispic-turesque mountain is also causing serious cli-matechanges.Thereisanever-increasingnumberoftrekkers,mountaineersandnature-loverswhomakeabeelinefortheHimalayas.Theirnumbershavebeensohighthattheenvironment’snaturalequilibriumisdisturbed.Treeshavebeencuttomakeroadsandcampsiteshavereplacedmead-ows–thevisitationofeco-disasteriseverywhere.

MillionsofpeopledependontheHimalayasfortheirlivelihood.Whenthegreatmountainmelts,ittakesdowntoomanythingsalongwithit.Thecatastrophic flash floods in Uttarakhand lastyearareaprimeexample. In theireagerness togetincreasedtouristfootfallsandbecomeener-gyrich,thestategovernmentsintheHimalayanrangeareputtingtheirowncommunitiestodan-ger. Inmanystates likeUttarakhand,communi-tieshavebeendisplacedfromtheirlandwithoutanycompensationoreffectiveresettlementandrehabilitationschemes.

Scientists,geologists,socialactivistsandvol-untary organisations have called upon all gov-ernments who are benefiting from the Himala-yas,andwhoareinapositiontomakeapositiveimpact, to act NOWand save theworld’smostbeautifulmountainranges.Whileweneedalltheenergyand tourismmoneywecanget,wealsoneedtorememberthatbecomingtoogreedycanprovebedisastrousforourgood.

Uttarakhand floods prove that point all tooclearly.

The ice in the Himalayas is melting at an alarming pace; flash floods are becoming a recurring feature; the eco-system in the whole of Himalayan region is under serious threat – all because of human greed. Unless this trend is reversed --and reversed fast – it will be bring in its wake untold disaster to thousands of people and may be to the whole world. The Government of India and all the others concerned should immediately chart a course of action to arrest this trend and save this most beautiful snow-bound region of the earth from disappearing for ever.

Natural resources in Himalaya are contaminated by humans

Saving the HimalayasLikethegovernmentsofmostothercountries,theIndiangov-

ernmenttoohasnotworriedtoomuchabouttheilleffectsofenergyandtourismprojectsintheHimalayanrange,thoughithasmadesomeeffortseverynowandthentoprotecttheregion.

In2010,thegovernmentlaunchedaNationalMissionforsav-ingandsustainingtheHimalayaneco-systemanddevelopcar-bonsinks throughaforestation. It set theguidelinesandbestpractices for sustaining the Himalayan eco-system which issharedwithallstatesintheregion.ItalsolaunchedaNationalActionPlanonclimatechangeinJune2008,includingaMissionforSustainableAgriculturetodevelopstrategiestomakeagri-culturemore resilient to climate change throughdevelopmentof newer varieties of thermal resistant crops, new credit andinsurancemechanism,betteraccesstoinformationanduseofbiotechnology.

Addingtotheabovemeasures,thegovernmentcanconducta scientific study and key areas across the Himalayas shouldbedeclaredeco-sensitivezoneswherenoinfrastructure,powerprojects, tunnels and unscientific ways of building roads andhotelsfortourismshouldbeallowedtobeconstructed.Inotherareas,GramSabhasshouldbemadethesoledecision-makingbodytodeterminetheusageoftheirlandandnaturalresources.

36 J A N U A R Y 2015

Inflation based on the wholesaleprice index (WPI) declined to thefive-yearlowofzeropercentinNo-

vember(1.77%inOctoberand7.5%inthe corresponding month last year),largelyduetoamoderatefallinfood,fuel and manufacturing productsprices. Crude prices are also declin-ingenabling cheaper imports (crudeoilandgoldformthemajorchunkofour imports). The zero rate of infla-tion,lowestsinceJuly2009,afteritsstubbornnorthernmovementforthepastseveralyears,hasagainprompt-ed India Inc. to demand a cut in in-terest ratebytheReserveBank.TheFinanceMinistryhasstronglybackedtheir demand, but the RBI usuallygoesby the retail indexandnot theWPItodecideoninterestrates.

ThedatareleasedbytheCommerceandIndustryMinistryonMonday,De-cember15,havesurprisedmanyob-servers.Someof themsaid that thedata are not that encouraging sinceit could lead to deflation indicatingweak demand and sluggishness intheeconomy.SaidPronobSen,chair-man of the National Statistics Com-

mission,“Inflationhasfallentoofar.What matters is that manufacturingand manufacturing inflation below3%points todeflation. It isnotverygood.”

But the industrydoesnotseemtobeworried about it. AjaySShriram,presidentofCII’sindustrylobby,saidthatthis(zeroinflation)shouldinduceRBI to rethink its cautiousmonetarystanceandurgentlymove towardsagrowth-propelling monetary policy.“RBIshouldnotwaittillthenextmon-etary policy announcement; it mustreducetheinterestratesubstantiallyasindustrialproductionisintheredandinvestmentandconsumptionde-mandisyettoshowvisiblesightsofapick-up,”hesaid.

Key rates kept unchangedDespite industry’s vociferous de-mand,RBIGovernorRaghuramRajankeptthekeyinterestrates

unchanged in the bank’s fifth bi-monthly policy announced on Tues-day,December3,hintingatloweringthe rate early next year adding that

the success of ongoing governmentactions in removing infrastructuralbottlenecks will be key to revivinggrowth.

Under the policy, the apex bankwill keep the repo rate unchangedat8.0%andkeep the cash reserveratio (CRR) unchanged at 4%. It willcontinue to provide liquidity underovernightreposat0.25percentandliquidityunder7-dayand14-daytermreposofup to0.75percentofNDTLof the banking system through auc-tions; and continue with daily one-daytermreposandreverserepostosmoothliquidity.

Rajansaidinhispolicystatement:“Retail inflation, as measured bythe consumer price index (CPI), hasdecelerated sharply since the fourthbi-monthly statement of September.This reflects, tosomeextent, transi-toryfactorssuchasfavourablebaseeffects and the usual softening offruits and vegetable prices that oc-curs at this timeof the year.On theother hand, protein-rich items suchasmilkandpulsescontinuetoexpe-rience upside pressures, reflecting

‘Cut interest rates’ Pressure mounts on Reserve Bank

Is a rate cut round the corner, now that the inflation is zero percent? This is the question uppermost in the minds of most of the corporate honchos and economists. But RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has not given any firm assurance on this in the bi-monthly monetary policy that he announced on December 3. On the other hand, he chided the industry for the immense risk premium that is asked from the corporates. Meanwhile, there is concern about the huge revenue shortfall and the government is busy finding out ways to meet this yawning gap even as the investors are awaiting some concrete steps from the Modi government on liberalisation and reforms at the earliest.

37J A N U A R Y 2015

structuralmismatches insupplyanddemand. The absence of adequateadministeredpricerevisionsininputslikeelectricityhascontributedtotheeasingofinflationinthefuelgroup.”Thepolicythatkeptthekeyratesun-changed justifies the findings of apoll survey conducted by Reuters acouple of days before in which onlyfouroutof45economistspolledsaidthat they expected the central banktocutrates.

The governor said that corporatesshouldnotblametheRBIforthehighinterest rates charged on projects.“The immense risk premium that isaskedfromcertaincorporates isbe-cause of the state of their leverage,becauseoftheriskstheyhavetakenandbecauseof their inability or un-willingnesstorepay.ItshouldnotbeattributedtoRBI.Whatwecontrol istheriskfreerate,whattheycontrolistheriskpremiumoverthat.”

Huge Revenue Shortfall Thegovernmentfearsapotentialrev-enueshortfallofoverRs.1lakhcrorethisfiscalyearand inorder tomain-tainthefiscaldeficittargetof4.1%ofgrossdomesticproduct(GDP)itmay

resort to some drastic expenditurecuts.Thisisindicatedinthe143-pageMid-YearEconomicAnalysistabledinParliamentonFriday,December19.

ChiefeconomicadviserArvindSub-ramaniantoldapressconferenceaf-ter the document was submitted toParliament: “To revive growth goingforward,publicinvestmentmayhavetoplayagreater role tocomplementand crowd-in private investment...Considerationshouldbegiventopur-suing counter-structural fiscal policyas a way of reviving growth and tofinding the fiscal space to financesuchinvestment.”

Subramanian, who joined FinanceMinister Arun Jaitely’s team a fewmonths ago, suggestedmore publicinvestmentwhichwillresultincapac-ityadditioninsectorssuchaspowerandroads.Assforresources,hesaidthat would come through better ex-penditure management, higher rev-enuemop-up or even throughmoreborrowingsfromthemarket.HealsosuggestedareviewoftheUPA’spub-lic-private partnership model to runinfrastructureprojects.

Thereportalsohintedatareviewofallthespending,revenueanddeficittargets that thegovernmenthadset

earlier. It isunlikely that thegovern-ment will stay within a fiscal deficitzone of 3%, the target set duringUPA’s regime. Subramanian’s sug-gestions would mean reworking thestrategy,atleastintheshort-tome-dium termasgrowthhasbeenslowtopickup.Thestatementalsocomesatatimewhenthe14thFinanceCom-mission,whichhassubmitteditsre-port,islookingattheFiscalRespon-sibilityandBudgetManagement lawandthetargets.

Surge in Foreign Funds InflowWith the fall in oil prices, and infla-tion touching zero, the stock mar-ket has been agog with excitement.Therehasbeenahugeflowofover-seasfunds(overRs14,000crorethismonthsofar),takingthetotalinflowinto the capitalmarket to a stagger-ingRs2.6lakhcrorethisyear.

According to reliable sources andlatest data, net investment by for-eign investors intoequitiesstoodatRs3,430croreduringDecember1-19,while total inflows in the debt mar-ket during the same periodwere Rs10,808 crore, taking the total to Rs14,239crore($2.3billion).

MarketanalystsmaintainthatFIIsor foreign institutional investors, orForeignPortfolioInvestors,havebeenbettingontheIndianmarkets,mainlyonaccountof thereformsagendaoftheModigovernmentwhichisyettotake off in full swing. Foreign inves-torsarealsomovingfundsintodebtmarketinordertotakeadvantageofthehigheryields.

Ladderup Wealth Management’sManaging Director Raghvendra Nathsaid:“Mostforeigninvestorsarefind-ingIndiaafarbetterchoicethatcangenerate returns in both short andlongterm”.

Current account deficit widens

Ontheforeigntradefront,India’scur-rentaccountdeficit(CAD)widenedto$10.1billionor2.1%ofgrossdomesticproduct (GDP) in thesecondquarter

38 J A N U A R Y 2015

ofthecurrentfiscalfrom$5.2billionor 1.2%ofGDP in the year-ago-peri-od.Thisisattributedpartlytoaboostinimportsandsluggishgrowth.CADstoodat$7.8billionor1.7%ofGDPintheApril-Junequarter.

Butthebalanceofpayments(BOP)stood at a surplus of $6.9 billion inthe second quarter this year thanksto good portfolio inflows, though itwas lower than $11.2 billion in theprevious quarter when net portfolioinflowsstoodat$12.4billionandthemerchandise trade deficit was nar-rowerthantheQ2figureof$38.6bil-lion,at$34.6billion.

According to RBI’s latest data, theBOPstoodatasurplusforthefourthconsecutive quarter in the secondquarterofthecurrentfinancialyear.

“The current account deficit couldhavebeenmuchworsehadcrudeoil

pricesnot cooledoff.Weneed tofi-nancecurrentaccountdeficitthroughexport of goods and services andcapitalflowswhicharemoreperma-nent in nature than the short termcapitalflows,dependingonwhichisrisky,” Abheek Barua, consultant atIcrier,said,whileRupaRegeNitsure,chief economist at Bank of Baroda,forecastan increase ingold importsthatmightwidenthedeficit.

Bankersdonotseemuchimpactonthecurrency.“TheCADhasshownamarginal rise and it was largely ex-pected. There is unlikely to be anyimpact on the rupee,” said AnanthNarayan G, regional head of finan-cialmarkets,SouthAsia,atStandardCharteredBank.

Even as foreign investors turnedbullishonIndiandebtmarkets,non-resident Indians reduced theirdollarinvestments into bank deposits ow-ingtoacut in interestrates.NRIde-positflowsfellto$4.1billioninJuly-Septemberfrom$8.2billionthesameperiodlastyear.NRIremittancesarealso likely to see a fall because ofthe fall in international crude pricessince thoseNRIswhoareworking inoilexportingcountries,especiallytheMiddleEast,mightfindtheir incomesubstantiallyreduced.

Horses and rhinos lived in India 54.5 mn. years ago, research says

Fossil find reveals anancient relativeof horses andrhinoslived54.5millionyearsagoinIndia.Experts

have uncovered a fossil from this creature that lived54.5millionyearsagoinwhatisnowIndia.

Modernhorses,rhinosandtapirsbelongtoabiologi-calgroup,ororder,calledPerissodactyla.Alsoknownas ‘odd-toed ungulates,’ ani-mals in the order have, astheirnameimplies,anunevennumber of toes on their hindfeetandadistinctivedigestivesystem.

Workingattheedgeofacoalmine in India,a teamof JohnsHopkins researchers and col-leagues has filled in a majorgap in science’s understand-ingoftheevolutionofagroupofanimalsthatincludeshorsesand rhinos. That group likelyoriginatedonthesubcontinentwhen itwasstillan islandandheadedswiftly forcol-lisionwithAsia, the researchers have reported in theNovember20onlinejournalNatureCommunications.

‘ManyofCambaytherium’sfeaturesliketheteeth,thenumberofsacralvertebraeandthebonesofthehandsandfeetareintermediatebetweenPerissodactylaandmore primitive animals,” the researchers say. ‘This is

theclosestthingwe’vefoundtoacommonancestorofthePerissodactylaorder.”Anopen-pitcoalminenorth-eastofMumbaiyieldedwhatRose,oneoftheresearch-ers,sayswasatreasuretroveofteethandbones,withmorethan200fossilsturnedouttobelongtoananimaldubbedCambaytheriumThewissi,aboutwhichlittleis

known.The British colonial rulers

created a false theory underthe studyofMaxMueller andhisassociatesthatAryansmi-gratedfromCentralAsiatoIn-diaonhorseback.Thecornerstone of this theory was thathorsesare alien to the Indiansubcontinent and are nativeofCentralAsia. Thenewfind-ings prove that this theory isfalse. At that time itself, thegreatscholarslikeDayanandaSaraswathi, Arbindo Ghosh,

BGTilakandSwamiVivekanandaopposedthisrootlesstheory of Aryanmigration vehemently. Still our politi-calleadersoftheeracontinuedtoclingtothistheory.Sixty-sevenyearsafterIndependence,westillteachourchildren the same baseless theory. It’s high time wetaughtourchildrenourtruerootswithpride.

40 J A N U A R Y 2015

Sixty-nineyearsafterhisdeath,themysterysurroundingNetajiSubhashChandraBose’sdeath

still continues to haunt his country-menandfollowersallovertheworld.His death is immersed in too muchsecrecy,andeachgovernmentinthecountryhasonlymanagedtodeepenthe shadow of secrecy around hisdeath.

The controversy erupted again re-cently when the BJP government re-leasedsomefilesrelatingtoNetaji’sdeath. BJP, which has been vocifer-ously demanding the release of topsecretfilesrelatedtohisdeathearli-er,hasnowtakenaU-turnexpressingitsinabilitytoreleasethefilesinfull.

The Government of India, at thetimeofSubhasChandraBose’sdeathstatedthatitoccurredfromthird-de-greeburnshesufferedonAugust18,1945,inanaircrash.Itwasreportedthat the overloaded Japanese plane

inwhichhewastravellingcrashedinJapanese-occupiedFormosa(nowTai-wan).Butmanyamonghisfollowers,especiallythoseinBengal,refusedtobelievethistheoryatthetime.

Since then, conspiracy theorieshave surfaced, keeping alive vari-ous martial myths about Bose. TheGovernment of India has, since in-dependence at various times, insti-tuted three commissions of inquiry.Ofthese,twosupportedtheclaimsofdeath intheaircrash,while the lastrejectedsuchclaims.

Thegovernmenthasruledoutpub-licisingthedocumentsrelatedtoNe-taji’s death citing national securityissues. This has only deepened themystery,makingonewonderwhatisinthosefilesthatharmsnationalse-curityifdisclosedtothepublic.

In2012,authorAnujDharreleasedabook titled “India’sBiggestCover-up”.Dharhaswrittenhisbookbased

onvarioussecuritydocuments.Whileconductinghisresearchforthebook,Dhar carried out voluminous re-searchesandcontactedgovernmentsfrom various countries. When hecontacted theTaiwangovernment, itruledouttheallegedaircrashwhichsupposedly killedBose.WhenaSu-premeCourt judgewasappointedtoinvestigate the mysteries surround-ingBose’sdeath,hetooruledoutthepossibilityofanaircrash.

Dhar claims that Bose escaped toRussia in search of a new ally. Overtheyears,manypeopleinvestigatingthe death of Netaji have supportedthis theory. But the governmentshavebeensilentonthisissue,addingmorefueltothefire.

Over the years, there have beenvarious attempts to declassify thefiles. Public interest litigations havebeenfiledandeventheNationalAd-visoryCouncil(NAC)hasbeenforced

Mystery continues to haunt the nation

41J A N U A R Y 2015

to issue clarifications, stating that it hadnoroletoplayinthesecrecysurroundingNetaji’sfiles.

Almost all the governments have beenadamant in their stand about not releas-ing them. In 2007, the Central Informa-tionCommissionorderedthegovernmentto release the files. But the Ministry ofHome Affairs refused to disclose all thedocumentspertainingtotheShahNawazCommittee (1956) and the G D KhoslaCommission(1970-74),whichinvestigatedthe mysterious disappearance of Netaji.Thegovernmentstatedthatitwouldleadto“serious lawandorderproblem in thecountry,especiallyinWestBengal.”

AfterthefalloftheSovietempirein1991,Asiatic Society scholars visiting Moscowcame across information that convincedthemthatrecordsaboutBosewereavail-ableinthesecurityandintelligencerelat-edarchives in that country. Researchers,ledbyDrPurabiRoyofKolkata’sJadavpurUniversity, later alleged that the govern-ment was not keen to help them accessthearchives to ferretout the informationconcerned.

The government may have reasons tobelievethatdeclassifyingfilesonNetaji’sdeathmaycompromisenational integrityandjeopardizeitsrelationshipswithothernations.Butagovernment’sdutyistoitscitizens before any foreign country. ThepeopleofIndianwouldliketoknowwhatactually happened to one of the favoritesonsofIndia.

How did Netaji Subhas Bose die? Did he die in an air crash or due to some other reasons? Or did he meet with an unnatural death at all? These are the questions that are still tugging at the hearts of the people of India who loved and still love him most for his valorous stand against British imperialism and his inspiring adventures to free the motherland from the clutches of colonialism. The governments at various times ordered a number of inquiries but none of their full reports have seen the light of day “for national security reasons.” The result? The mystery of Netaji’s death only deepens…

The Saintly Angle

OnSeptember 16, 1985, inanoldhouse in Faizabad,formerly the capital of Oudh, a reclusive holy man

knownasBhagwanjiorGumnamiBaba(the‘SaintwithNoName’)died.LocalshadlongsuspectedthathewasnoneotherthanSubhasChandraBose.

According to them,Netajiwashelpedbyhis Japaneseallies to fakehisdeath, reachedRussiaand returned toIndiamany years later to lead the secret life of a saint.Surprisingly for a poor sadhu (mystic), the ‘Saint withNoName’leftbehindmanytrunksofpossessionsandin1986, realising that thesemight solve themystery onceandforall,Bose’snieceLalitaobtainedaHighCourtor-derforaninventorytobemadeoftheircontents.Amongthe 2,673 items indexed, Lalita claimed she saw letters

inheruncle’shandwritingandfamilyphotographs.Gum-namiBaba’sbelongingswerere-packedin23boxesandsenttotheDistrictTreasury.TherehadbeenatleastfourknownoccasionswhenBhagwanjireportedlyclaimedhewas Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose himself. HandwritinganalysisexpertandformerAdditionalDirectoroftheNa-tionalInstituteofCriminologyandForensicScienceDrB.LaldeposedbeforetheJusticeMukherjeeCommissionofInquiry thatprobedthedisappearanceofNetaji that thehandwritingsofBhagwanjiandBosedidmatch.However,thecommissiondidnotaccept theclaimthatBhagwanjiwasBoseforwantofanyclinchingevidence.Atthesametime,thecommissionalsorejectedtheofficialviewoftheIndiangovernmentthatBosediedin1945.

42 J A N U A R Y 2015

• RajuShanbhag

It’slikethesceneoutofafairytale.You wish for something, and youseethatinthemagicmirrorinfront

ofyou.Youjustwishfor that inyourmindandyouritemofdesireisinyourlaps!Now,changethisscenariowithalittlebitofrealism,throwinalittlebitofmoderntechnology,andyouarestaringatabilliondollarmarketofIn-dia’semergingonlineretail.

Computersarethemoderndaytele-visions,whichmeanstheyareevery-whereandeveryonecanaffordthem.Internet isthenewmusthavegizmoevenforthoseintheruralareasofthecountry.Allthis,coupledwiththeun-

precedentedadventofsmartphones,isopeningupnewavenuesofshop-pingfortheIndianpublic.

And the Indian e-commerce com-paniesarelaughingallthewaytothebank.

Maybe the traditional brick andmortarretail industryhasnothingtofear, as of now. Of India’s INR2560billion retailmarket,online retailac-countsforonly INR138billion,whichisaminusculeamount.Sowhybrickandmortarretailersareafraidofon-

lineretail?Thedevilisinthedetailsofonline

growth. Flipkart, founded by formerAmazon employees Sachin Bansaland Binny Bansal in 2007, had aninitial investment of four lakh ru-pees.Afterjustseveneventfulyears,the company is doing in excess ofINR1,100 million in revenues. Thismeteoricrisehasattractedotherkeyplayersintothegame.AmazonIndiahaspoured in INR120billion into itsexpandingmarket,andthecompanyclaimsithascroresofproductsinitskitty.

So how are the companies usingtheseinvestments?Thisiswherethestory getsmurkier and intimidating,atleastfortraditionalretailers.Mostof the investmentsareused toofferunbelievable discounts to lure cus-tomers. On its ‘Big Billion Day,’ on6th October 2014, Flipkart offeredmind numbing discounts on variousproducts.Infact,manysellersonthewebsite didn’t know that their prod-uctswerebeingofferedatdiscountedprices!Thisattractedlotsoftrafficto

E-tailing takes everyone by surprise

It is the new “in thing” in retail trade: e-tailing. Never had the traditional retailers or customers expected or experienced such a phenomenon. Buying through internet, and that too at hefty discounts! The big shopkeepers had a ‘kushy’ time so long as the customers flocked in droves to their stores, picked whatever they wanted, paid the bills and left for home. But e-tailing has changed all that. Why go to the malls or shops all the way amidst heavy traffic and noise, ask the e-tailers. We are here to bring whatever you want at your doorsteps. And that has caught the fancy of the Indian public. So, the e-tail era has dawned and e-tailing is here to stay, much to the dismay of the retail traders, especially the big players.

43J A N U A R Y 2015

thewebsite,butitalsocreatedlotsofunpleasantincidents.

Many of the Flipkart’s custom-ers complained that the prices ofproducts were jacked up to showdiscountson thebigday.Manyoth-ersdoubtedthevalidityofthesedis-countsasmanydiscountedproductswere simply not available. Flipkart’sserverbrokedownanumberoftimesandmanycustomerssimplycouldn’tlogintotheiraccount.

Ifitwereafewiratecustomers,Flip-kart could have still handled thingsamicably.Butthecompanyandothere-tailers like Amazon and Snapdealcame in for serious trouble whenmany large consumer brand com-panies like Samsung and Sony ex-pressed reservations about the waydiscountswerebeingofferedtocus-tomers without their consent. Manylike LG even threatened towithdrawtheirproductsaltogether from theseonline websites if they didn’t stopoffering unreasonable discounts ontheirproducts.

But can these companies and afast growing group of discontentedbrick and mortar retailers stop theemerging invasion of online retail?TheanswerisanemphaticNO.Ifonelooks at the way these businessesarestructured,oneunderstandsthatit’snearlyimpossibletocontainthemwith the current laws. For example,none of the major online retailerslikeFlipkartorAmazonsellgoodsontheir own. It’s always sold by somethird party vendors who are usingthese online platforms to sell theirproducts.Theseportalstakeaheftycommission for providing this plat-form.ThisalsoexplainshowAmazonhas been able to pour in billions of

rupeesofinitsIndiancompanywhenFDIinIndianretailisprohibited.EvenAmazon’sownproduct,AmazonKin-dle,ane-bookreader,issoldthroughthirdparties.Unfortunately, thecus-tomerisonceagainshort-changedinthisentireprocess. Theyget thede-vicebutpaymorefor theextra layerof reselling: theKindle that sells forRs.7,140ontheUSonlinestoregoesforRs9,999ontheIndianwebsite.

Nevertheless, traditional retail-ers are crying foul and are askingthe competition commission to in-tervene. But they must understandthatopposingonlineretailingwillnotdo themanygood.A fewyearsago,when large shopping malls invadedtheretailscenesinIndia,smallkira-nashopshadstartedworryingabouttheirfuture.Buttoday,bothsmallki-

rana shops and largemalls co-existpeacefully.

Similar trends are emerging whenit comes to online retailing. Majorbrick and mortar retailers like BigBazaarareconsideringforayintoon-linebusiness.Itisalsoreportedthatmanyotherbrickandmortarretailersare either considering moving theirpresenceonlineorcoordinatingwithalreadyestablishedonlineplayerstoreapthebenefitsofthismoderndaybusinessventure.

And that’s the right way forward.ConsideringPrimeMinisterNarendraModi’s serious intentions of makingIndia a tech savvy country, internet-based retailing is here to stay. Thetraditional retailers better start co-ordinating with their online counter-partstostayafloat.

Online sales is big, and is getting bigger

Tips for traditional retailers Onlineretail revolutionhasalreadytakenovertheUS.Butthetradi-

tional retailers are not giving up so easy. They have rediscoveredtheirbusinessand involvedmanynewaspects tomake itmoreattrac-tivetothecustomers.Hereareafewtipsforbrickandmortarretailerstocountertheonlinethreat.

Turningthestore intoa fulfilmentcentre:Retailershavemore limitedwarehouseinfrastructurefortheironlinebusinesses,butmayhaveabigadvantageinmanystorelocationsnationallyandevenworldwide.Theycanremodeltheirstorestoadddirectorderfulfilmentandstockingintheback-office,limitingtheassortmentsstockedonthefloor.

Takethe in-storeexperiencetoadifferent level:Retailersmust focuson theexperiences in their storesanddigitallyenable theirassociatestobeat leastasknowledgeableasthecustomer isabouttheproductstheysell.Shoppingforfunisnotdead–customersstillenjoyexceptionalbrick-and-mortar events.When customers come into the store, rewardthemwithagreatexperience–bothintermsofbrandandservice.Equipsalespeoplewithtabletsormobiletechnologythatenablethemtobetterservecustomers.

44 J A N U A R Y 201544 D E C E M B E R 2014

• BeluruSudarshana

It isawell known fact thatourancestorswho lived thousands of years ago hadstudied botany in themost scientific

manner. This knowledge of the floraandfaunaofIndiaisdeeplyembed-ded in our scriptures and ritu-als. Ayurveda is the appliedscience of plant medicine.Overtheyears,onlyritu-als are being followedblindlywithout look-ing into the realprinciple behindworshipping theplants.Thebook,“Sacred Plants ofIndia” by NandithaKrishnaandMAmrithalingamthrowslightonmanysuchplantswhichareconsideredsacredbythepeopleofIndia.Notonly this, the book methodically disprovesmanyWestern notions about the history ofIndiausingbotanicalinformation.

Itisquiterefreshingthattheauthors,bothChennai-basedenvironmentalists,havepro-videdapoliteandelegantimageryofplantsthatareworshippedacrossthecountry.Thefirst part deals with the general history ofplantsinIndia.Whileprovidingdetailsabouttheplants,theauthorswrite:“TheAryansoftheearlyVedicperiodwerepantheists,wor-shippersofnature.Thesametreeswerewor-shippedinboththeHarappansitesandinthe

Vedas,indicatingthattheysharedthesamecultureandtraditions.”Thisisinfactaboldand authentic statement which demolishesthemuchtoutedAryan-Dravidiantheory.Thebookprovides a long list of plants referredtointheRigVeda(allegedlyauthoredbythe`invadingAryans’!)whichareseeninalmostall thepartsof India for centuries. Thefirstchapter is dedicated to the imageries fromtheIndusValleycivilisationandsucceedsinprovingthispointbeyonddoubt.

The chapter `Tree worship in the Epics,Puranas, Jainism and Buddhism’ narrates

Sacred Plants of India by Nanditha Krishna and M Amrithalingam

Published by Penguin

pages: 312

Price: Rs. 399.00

Marvellous lucidity of Puranic facts

45J A N U A R Y 2015 45D E C E M B E R 2014

how sacred trees areworshipped andusedfor their medicinal and economic values. Itis interesting to note that jack fruit tree isthe tree of the Kaliyuga! (The agriculturalmagazine, `Adike Patrike’ in Kannada, hasbeenpublishinga seriesofwell-researchedarticlesonthejackfruitandthiscanbejustacoincidence).WecometoknowthateveryJainaTirthankara isassociatedwithonesa-credtreeortheother.

Thechapter titled`SpecialTrees’explainsthemythologicalandPuranic importanceofplants like Kalpa Vriksha, Chaitya Vrikshaand Sthala Vriksha. This chapter also liststhe plants related to Asterisms and Zodiacsigns.Thefirstsectionendswithaninterest-ingnoteonsacredgrovesand treeworshipoutsideIndia.

Thebookhastaxonomicaldetails,mytho-logicalnotesandliststreesthathavemyste-riouspotencyofmorethan80sacredplants.Thus, thebook gives unifiedplant informa-tiononhistory,mythology,scienceandmed-icine.The logicalprecisionof information islaudable.

The trees and their rock sculptures areprovided for greater understanding of theplants.Thelinedrawingsmakethebooklooklike a botany textbook, but the narration issimpleandelegant.Particularlynotablearethe names of plants in various languages,thoughthiscouldhavebeenbetterthanthe

appendix of name-list A C Dutta’s populartextbook!

India’srichplantheritageisbeinglost.TheFoundationofRevitalisationof LocalHealthTraditions, (FRLHT), a Bengaluru-based in-stitution along with the Institute of Trans-disciplinaryHealthSciencesandTechnology,isaninstitutionwhichiscampaigningfortheprotectionofmedicinalplantsofIndia.Ithasanonlinedatabaseofsuchplants,withnamesearchfacilityinvariousIndianlanguages.Areadingofthisbookalongwiththisdatabasewill result in adeeperunderstandingof thesubject.

The present discourses on ecology, thedebateoncarboncredit, thedangersofde-forestation, the issue of clean energy -- allhavetheirobliquereferencesinIndianplantmythology.ThebenefitsofwalkingaroundaPeepaltree,oraTulsiplant,sleepingunderasacredtree,allpointtothesame:Weneedtopreservetheforests.TheIndianbeliefthatalltheplantsareabodesofthedivinepersonal-ityitselfisenoughtosubstantiatethepointthatourconcernforecologicalconcerndatesbacktothousandsofyears.Tosumup,thisbook isanewage infosheeton Indianheri-tage.

AuthorNandhita Krishna has alsowrittenanotherbook̀ SacredAnimalsofIndia’whichmustbeasinterestingasthisone!

Ourancestorshadheldtheplantsandtreesinhighesteem.TheyknewtheimportanceofpreservingNatureinitspristineglory.Infact,theywentstillfurtherandworshippedthetrees

becauseoftheirmedicinalpropertiesandtheireconomicvalue.Thebook,“SacredPlantsofIndia”,throwslightontheseandmanyotheraspectsoftreesinIndiaandsoitisamustreadforallthose

Natureloverswhowanttoprotectit.

46 J A N U A R Y 2015

Hindus of the world unite! You Have Nothing to Lose…

Thethree-dayWorldHinduCongress,whichbeganon November 21, saw deliberations on several

subjects relevant to Hindu society. The conclave,organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) aspartofitsGoldenJubileecelebrationsindelhifromNovember 21st to 23rd was inaugurated jointly byRSSSarsanghachalakMohanBhagwatandTibetanspiritualleaderHisHolinessDalaiLama.

Addressing the inaugural ceremony of theWorldHinduCongress,ShriMohanBhagwatsaidthattheworldalwaysneededHinduthoughtsorIndictradi-tionandhence it is the responsibilityofHindus toteachandguide theworld.He stated that aHinduis someonewho sees unity in all humandiversity.LeadershipbasedonHinduvaluesand tradition isessential for theworld,hesaid.ShriBhagwatsaidworld had experimented with various models forover2,000yearsandwaslookinguponHinduvaluestoshowtherightway.

He said Hindus should rise in unison and show“the world leadership based on values”. However,hestressedthat itwouldnotbeinreactiontoany-thing or against anybody, but in keeping with theIndianvaluesaimedtobetheteachertotheworld.

TibetanspiritualleadertheDalaiLama,calledhim-selfagoodHinduandsaidthatasenseofonenessisneededamonghumanbeings.‎HesaidBuddhismandHinduismare“spiritualbrothers”andnotedthatancientHinduvaluesofnon-violenceand religious

harmonycanplayabigroleinspreadingharmonyintheworld.

About1,500delegates,from40countries,attend-edthemeeting.Thedelegatesincludedthosecom-mitted to working for the resurgence of Hinduism.TheparticipantshaverepresentativesfromamongsttheYazidisandHindusofPakistan.

Black people in US seethe in anger

ThedecisionofagrandjuryintheUSstateofMis-souri not to charge the police officer who shot

dead an unarmed black teenager named MichaelBrownhasoutragedAmerica’sblackcommunitylikeneverbefore.ThejuryfoundthatnoprobablecauseexiststofileanychargesagainstOfficerWilsonandreturned a no-true bill on each of the five indict-ments.

Tensions in theSt Louis suburbof Fergusonhadrisenaheadofthejudgmentwithprotestersgather-ingtohearthelongawaitedjury’sdecision.

LawyersspeakingonbehalfofMichaelBrownJr’sfamilyslammedthegrandjury’sdecisionnottopur-suecriminalchargesagainstthepoliceofficer,Dar-renWilson.CivilRightsactivistReverendAlSharptoncalledthegrandjury’sdecisionas“notsurprising”andpushedforathoroughfederalinvestigation.

Noted American journalist Charles Blow ques-

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tionedthewholeprocessofinvestigationandpros-ecution. In an article published in the New YoursTimes,hewrotethatthatthejury’sfailuretoindictthewhitepoliceofficertouchedsomethingdeepandancient and has angered and anguished the blackcommunity.Heandseveralotherprominentleadersof the black community have even questioned therole of the prosecutor and suggest that his perfor-mancewaswoefullyinadequate.

The killing of Michael Brown exposes the deep-rootedmalaiseinAmericansociety,whichhasnowbeencorroboratedbyaProPublica,aPulitzerPrizewinningnewsinvestigatingagency,study.Ananaly-sis inOctoberbyProPublicaofpoliceshootings intheUSA from2010to2012 foundthatyoungblackmales are 21 timesmore likely to be shot deadbypoliceofficersthantheirwhitecounterparts.

Witnessessaythat18-year-oldMichaelBrownhadhisarmsraisedinapparentsurrendertotheofficerwhenhewasshot.Butthepoliceversiondescribedastrugglebetweentheteenagerandtheofficerbeforehistragicdeath.

TheincidenthasnowbecomeaflashpointforUSracerelations.

India Ranked Less Corrupt than China

Thisisapieceofnewstocheerabout.ATranspar-ency International’s (TI)annualsurveysays that

IndiaislesscorruptthanChinaforthefirsttimein18years.Accordingtothesurvey,thenationwideoutcryagainstcorruptionhelpedliftglobalperceptionsofIndiaoncorruption.

Intheyearlyrankingofleast-corruptcountries,In-diajumped10placesfrominitsrankinglastyearto85thoutofthe175.Chinatumbled20placesintherankingtonumber100.ThelasttimeIndiadidbetterthanChinaintherankingswas1996.

TheBerlin-basedwatchdogsurveyedmultilateralbanks, big foundations and other international in-stitutionsabout the level of corruption indifferentcountriestocomeupwithitsannualCorruptionPer-ceptionsIndexwhichwasusedfortherankings.

Perceptionsabout Indiawerehelpedas anti-cor-

ruptionmovementsandnationalelections focusedtheworld’slargestdemocracy’sattentiononcorrup-tion,saidtheBerlin-basedwatchdog.Thecallforacrackdownoncorruptionledtonewlawsandanewgovernment. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whospearheadedthecampaignfortheBJPandbecamePrime Minister of India, vowed to fight corruptionwhichhelpedinaugmentingitsimage,TIsaid.

In contrast, China’s President Xi Jinping has ex-pressed his desire to end corruption and his gov-ernmenthasorderedthearrestofanumberofhigh-profilepoliticalandmilitaryleaders.However,manyobservers are sceptical. China slippedbelow Indiaafteritlostmoregroundthanalmostanyothercoun-tryintherankings.

ThetwoAsiangiantshavehadthesamerankingsin2006and2007,butthisisthefirsttimeChinahasslippedbelowIndiaintherankingssince1996.Whileitmayhavegainedalittlegroundthisyear,Indiastillhasalongwaytogobeforeitcanberankedneartheleast-corrupt countries like Australia, Canada, Sin-gaporeandDenmark.

Chinese Craze for New Weapons Systems

Chineseleadershavealwaysbeenobsessedwitharmsrace,whetherathreattoitssecurityexists

ornot.TherecentcallbyPresidentXiJinpingtothePLAforfasterdevelopmentofadvancednewmilitaryequipmenttohelpbuildastrongarmyisaclearex-ampleofthis.Chinahasof latesteppedupitsam-

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bitiousmodernisation plan that has repercussionsacrosstheregion.

Speakingatatwo-dayconferenceofthePeople’sLiberationArmy,Xisaidthatmilitaryreformsshouldbe “guided by the objective of building a strongarmy”,theofficialXinhuanewsagencyreported.Xiwasquotedassayingthatadvancedweaponryistheembodimentofamodernarmyandacrucialsupportfor national security and rejuvenation. He furthersaidthatnewweaponsmustbeinnovative,practicalandforward-thinkingtomeetthedemandsofactualcombatandfillintheweakspotsofChina’sexistingequipment.

Xi has been pushing to strengthen the fightingabilityofChina’s2.3million-strongarmedforcesasthey project power across disputed waters in theEastandSouthChinaSeas.

China has developed emerging stealth fightertechnology,anti-satellitemissilesandnowhasoneaircraft carrier in operation and is planning more.China’sdefensespendingthisyear isset toriseby12.2 percent to 808.2 billion Yuan ($131.3 billion).Analystssay that theactualdefenseoutlaysmightbemuchmorethanthis.

Though the Chinese defence establishment hasbeen hit by charges of large-scale corruption, itsarmy remainsoneof themost feared forces in theregion. While India is far behind China in defenceexpenditure($47.4billion),thenewgovernmenthas

shownsomewillingnessinthisregardbyraisingtheFDIcapinthedefencesectorfrom26to49%.

Today,theIndianarmedforcesareinastateofpiti-fulneglect.Billionsofdollarswouldberequiredtoputthenationalsecuritysystemsbackonrailsafteradecadeofneglect.Ifallthepressingneedsofthethreearmedforces–theArmy,theNavyandtheAirForce–weretobemetfully,thenationwouldrequirefunds inexcessof$100billion.And thishas tobemanagedwithinthenextthreeorfouryears,notde-cades, if Indiahastobolster itsdefenceandcomeupwith a credible andeffectivedeterrent vis-a-visChinaandPakistan.

Fears of Reds’ comeback in Germany

Germany’s far-Left party has returned to powerinastategovernmentforthefirsttimesincethe

BerlinWallfell25yearsago,stokingheateddebateabout its communist roots. The Left Party, widelyseen as the successor to the Socialist Unity Party

(SED) that once ruled East Germany, will head thegovernmentof Thuringiaafter the stateParliamentnarrowlyvotedtoapproveanewcoalition.

ThousandshaveprotestedinthestatecapitalEr-furt against the prospect of the pro-Russian, anti-NATOLeftassumingpower.

Despitesuchprotests,ThuringiastateParliamentvotedtoapproveMr.Ramelow’sthree-waycoalition

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aftertheSocialDemocrats,MrsMerkel’spartnerinthefederalgovernment,rejectedanalliancewithherChristianDemocratsinthestate.

ThuringiawaspartofEastGermanyuntilreunifica-tion,andmanyhaveexpresseddismayattheformercommunists’returntopower.TheUnionofVictims’Associations of Communist Tyrannyhas expressedfearsbysayingthattheOldSED(SocialistUnityPar-ty)comradesandStasiinformersrunthestate.Thedirector of the Stasi memorial in Berlin, HubertusKnabe, said thatmanywhowere in prison in erst-whileEastGermanyareveryupset.Theyfeelthatthelessonsofhistoryhavebeenforgotten,hesaid.

The German President, Joachim Gauck, chose toforsake political neutrality and spoke against thenew far-left government in Thuringia. He said thatpeopleofhisagewho lived in thecommunistEastGermanywouldfinditquitehardtoacceptthenewdispensation. Many German elders have said thattheycannotfullytrusttheLeftPartyandhaveques-tionedwhetherthepartyhasreallydistanceditselffromtheideastheSEDoncehadabouttherepres-sionofpeople.

Water war hots up between AP and Telengana

Therehavebeenrepeatedallegationsagainsteachother fromAP and Telangana governments over

the issueof utilisationofwater from theSrisailamwater reservoir. Earlier, AP ChiefMinister had saidpowergeneration results indepletionofwater lev-el in the reservoirwith far- reachingconsequencesondrinkingwatersupplyandotherusages.Healsoquotedearliergovernmentorders,wellestablishedpracticesandmutualagreementsonpowergenera-tion andwater use to highlight the issue and con-cerns.

Meanwhile,HarishRao,TelanganaIrrigationMin-ister,reiteratedthattheywerenotviolatinganyorderingeneratingpoweratSrisailam.HesaidthatAPhadusedupover60TMCwaterandisnowallegingmis-useofwaterbyTelangana.KRMB’sorderissuedonOctober31limitedtheutilisationofSrisailamwaterby Telangana forpower generation tillNovember2

toTMC.TheAP government onNovember9 and 10 com-

plained about Telangana utilising more than fiveTMCofwatertillNovember2.Accordingtosources,the AP government also approached the Centre toconvey thatevenafter thedeadline, theTelanganagovernment,whichisfacingpowershortage,hadre-leased25,000cusecsofwaterandgeneratedover300MWpower.

Ontheotherhand,theTelanganagovernmentde-fended itself by saying that the AP chief minister,duringhistenureintheundividedAP,hadneverfol-lowedtheorders.Italsostressedneedfornewop-erationalguidelinesandprotocolsfortheutilisationofwaterfromSrisailamandtheKrishnawater.

India should use its might: President Pranab Mukherjee

President Pranab Mukherjee has urged the se-curity forces tobeprepared touse itsmight to

safeguarditssovereigntyofthenation.SpeakingataceremonialfunctionandparadeatTezpur,whichisoneoftheeminentairbasesoftheIndianAirForcein the eastern sector, President PranabMukherjeesaid:“Topreservepeaceandharmonyandpromoteall-rounddevelopment,itisimperativeforustohavean effective deterrence and a strong defense.” Hesaidwhilethenationwasfirmlycommittedtopeace,itmustbeequallypreparedtouseitsmighttosafe-guarditssovereignty,shouldtheneedarise.“Today

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ournationisonthepathofgrowthinallfields.Whilethenationgrowsanddevelopsinallrealms,thesub-continent also faces varied threats especially from

non-stateactors,”hesaid.Earlier, he presented the Presidential Standard,

whichisconsideredasoneofthegreatesthonoursfor anAir ForceUnit, to 115HelicopterUnit and26Squadron of the Indian Air Force “in recognitionof their selfless devotion and outstanding perfor-mance,bothduring the timeofwarandpeace.HestatedthattheresilienceandtenacityoftheAirWar-riorshavebeenasourceoftremendousprideforthenation. Theprofessionalexcellence,gritanddeter-minationexhibitedbythemarehighlylaudable,thePresidentsaid.Healsoappreciatedthereliefoper-ations renderedby themen andwomen in blue indisaster-hitregions.

Overhaul in US’ Immigration policy: Relief for Indians?

USPresidentBarackObamahasoverhauled theUSimmigrationpolicy,whichwilldeferdeporta-

tionofthousandsofundocumentedimmigrantsandofferthemworkauthorisation.Thereareanestimat-ed11million illegal immigrants in theUS.Becauseofthismajorshake-upunveiledbyObama,undocu-mented parents of childrenwho areUS citizens orlegalresidentswillbeabletoapplyforworkpermitslastingthreeyears.

Thisexecutiveorder isexpected toprovide reliefforasmanyas1,70,000 Indianswhoare in theUSillegally. It’sbeen said that thereare4,50,000un-documentedimmigrantsfromIndia.Intermsofper-centage,Indiansarethesecondlargestbeneficiariesafter theMexicans. A large number of IndianswillalsogetareprievefromhavingtoleavethecountrythroughanotherprovisionofObama’sorder,whichallowsthespousesandchildrenofgreencardhold-erstoapplyforawaiverfromtheillegalstatus—andeventuallytoapplyforgreencard—withoutleavingtheUS.

Obama’ssweepingimmigrationreformhasdrawnmixedreaction.Whileimmigrantsandactivistswhohad gathered across the Southland and watchedPresident Obama announce that he’ll shield mil-lions of people from deportation displayed quietoptimism, Republican Congressman Dana Rohra-bacher,ofHuntingtonBeach,saidObamaisonthewrong side of the issue and is overstepping presi-

dential boundaries. The Republicans slammed thePresident’s action as an overreach. Responding tothecriticismbytheRepublicanParty,commonlyre-ferredtoastheGOP(GrandOldParty),thePresidentsaid:“TothosemembersofCongresswhoquestionmyauthoritytomakeour immigrationsystemworkbetter,orquestion thewisdomofmeactingwhereCongresshasfailed,Ihaveoneanswer:passaBill.”

RNI KARENG/2000/2368 Aseema English Monthly. Postal Reg. MNG/504/2012-2014Publishing and Posting date : First of every month @ konchady post office