WORLD'S LARGEST DEMOCRACY

The mother of all elections, election for the most powerful office of the world has just come to an end. Without doubt the world looks to the USA for leadership. Not everyone though is ready to accept its hegemony. Some look at this great country with awe, some with hatred, some with loathing, some with envy...........there is indeed a plethora of different feelings associated with the greatest democracy of the world. On the one hand it is a bullying super power, poking its nose all too often in the internal affairs of other sovereign countries, and on the other it is the only truly free country in the world, a land of hope and opportunity, which has over centuries welcomed peoples of all nationalities, cultures, colour and creed into its fold. Like it or hate it, America is the undisputed leader of the world. There have been instances of countries like China, Cuba, Iraq, Iran etc challenging its hegemony, most have been left much the worse for it. What better proof of its greatness, that the country has chosen as its leader a black American of African origin, and one with ‘Hussein’ as his middle name. It is not too long ago that one heard of the Ku Klux Klan and its campaign against blacks. I can still remember the severe thrashing of a black motorist by white policemen, caught on camera in New York. But Obama’s historic win has proved beyond doubt that the day that Martin Luther King Jr had dreamed of has finally arrived. And what a proud moment it is for America.
However, the purpose of this blog post is not to sing praises of America, it is to introspect into our own democracy, the largest one in the world.
All of us would have followed the riveting election campaign for US presidency. I for one did not follow it too closely, but follow it I did. What struck me most was the dignity, humility and grace with which it was conducted. The mutual respect shown by candidates to each other during and after the campaign. The primary between Obama and Hillary Clinton, was a close run thing. But once over, the graciousness with which Hillary accepted defeat and then, more importantly, pledged her support for Obama as the presidential candidate was touching. It was gracious and sporting to say the least.
The actual campaign, between Obama and McCain, was equally fascinating for its dignity and grace. Imagine for a moment what the same campaign would have looked like, had it been an election in India, say for example between Mulayam and Madam M. I shudder to even think what kind of mudslinging, slandering, verbal abuse and physical violence that would have been used. I would rather not go into all that. But the point I am trying to make is the difference in the quality of politics and politicians. I am not for a moment suggesting that the presidential campaign in the US was totally devoid of mudslinging or slander, but it was kept to a minimum. The real focus was on how the two proposed to govern the country. Even in defeat McCain was gracious enough to urge his own supporters to move on from the disappointment of defeat, and support the President elect as best possible. In his own words, "I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him but offering our next president our goodwill and earnest effort to find ways to come together.
"Whatever our differences, we are fellow Americans."
Obama on his part assured the Republican supporters that he was indeed their President as well and had no hard feelings, while he said, “And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn – I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too.”
We in India keep talking about reforms. Reforms in the civil services, Police, Intelligence Agencies, Armed forces et al, but what is required most is reform of our Democracy, plagued and poisoned as it is, by partisanship, pettiness and immaturity.
But we can take pride in the fact that we have had a large number of citizens from the minority communities hold high offices. Fakruddin Ali Ahmed, Giani Zail Singh and Abdul Kalam as Presidents and right now we have Manmohan Singh as the Prime Minister, not to mention the numerous others who have held and are holding senior ministerial appointments. However there are numerous important lessons that we ought to learn from other more successful democracies of the world.
Reform must commence from the top, if we want to take our country, with the immense potential that it has, to its rightful place on the International stage.

UNITY IN DIVERSITY

    And finally the rogue of Maharashtra, Mr Raj Thackeray is behind bars. But I cannot but wonder, for how long. Indian law enforcement agencies are notorious for their inability to keep the rich and powerful behind bars for any length of time.

    The other day I was standing in a Bank at Pune filling out a form, when another customer walked up to me and asked me something in Marathi. Much as I would have liked to help him, I didn't understand him. And I told him as much in Hindi. Pat came the remark, "Maharashtra me rehte ho aur Marathi nahi aati?" I have lived in Pune for many years, not at a stretch, but off and on. But never had I heard this kind of a retort before. Clearly, Raj Thackeray's propaganda had prompted the remark. Not to be outdone, I said, "When you go to Andhra you wouldn't know Telugu either". And fortunately, that was the end of that. The trend however is another manifestation of the fallacy of 'Unity in Diversity'.

How could the authorities allow matters to come to such a sorry pass? What is our country coming to? If things are left to themselves, the Tipping point, which will fragment the country will inevitably arrive, sooner or later. We call ourselves a Secular state, which shows tolerance towards all religions. The Dictionary meaning of secularism is :
a system of political or social philosophy that rejects all forms of religious faith and worship. In plain terms, for a secular state, it means, the Government not having anything to do with Religion. But in actual fact, secularism in India the way it is practiced by the state, is minority appeasement. And as far as the populace is concerned, there is hardly any religious tolerance in evidence. Riots, desecration and vilification of churches, perceived mockery of religious Gods by artists and painters, terrorism in the name of Jehad………..and the list just goes on and on. In the south we have demonstrations and burning of buses against Hindi language. Where is the unity in diversity? Only in slogans?

India, is a big country, but unlike some other countries like America or Canada it's becoming way too unmanageable. Why should a country so diverse in culture, language, ethnicity, creed, colour etc. be a single state. Especially since I have already shown above that 'Unity in Diversity' is nothing more than a slogan. Europe has countries, the size of Punjab, or in many cases even smaller. And since the World War II, they have had a relatively stable and peaceful existence (exceptions notwithstanding). Erstwhile USSR gave way to a number of nation states on being unshackled from communism. Though there have been minor skirmishes between states which were part of erstwhile USSR, I am of the firm belief that in the long run, the break up of the Soviet Union will turn out to be the reason for prosperity in the region.

Had India not been held together by military might, it would have disintegrated long ago. States in the North East, Kashmir and possibly Punjab, to name a few would have seceded. The question that I want to ask the readers of this blog is "Would it be such a bad thing for India to allow some of these provinces, which have been bleeding the country for decades, to be allowed to secede? The oft repeated answer that I get is "where will it all end?" There will hardly be an India left. But so what? Wouldn't India, or what was left of it be more prosperous than any of the other provinces that have been clamoring for Azaadi. And in the long run like Europe, a time would come when these very nation states after having seceded, and realized their folly would want an 'Indian Union' on the lines of the 'European Union.'

However, one of the pitfalls of a Democracy, esp. in a country like India is petty politics. And so, even a hint of a suggestion of the kind that I have made above by any political party, would push the country into throes of rage, anger and very likely violence by the so called 'Nationalists'.

Note: If you find my thoughts offensive, feel free to post your comments without prejudice. It will be my endeavor to respond objectively.

CRICKET AND THE OLYMPIC MEDAL

If you have been through the narrow lanes and by lanes of old Delhi's residential areas, where you have hardly enough space even to walk, you find children playing Cricket with ingenuously designed bats and balls. Bats made out of wooden logs and balls made out of old socks, or tennis balls being used as cricket balls. It is impossible to miss them. And this unfortunately is true not only of Delhi, but of the entire country. While football say for example can be played anywhere and everywhere without much ingenuity, as a football can be fabricated rather easily with old rags, cotton wool, or for that matter anything that is round in shape, its only cricket that you would find being played. Indeed we are a Cricket crazy country.

Why did it take India till 2008 to get an individual gold medal in Olympics? A country of a billion had, not one individual gold medal till the current year. Why?

        The answer is plain and simple. 'Cricket'.

        It is indeed difficult, to imagine that there has never been one talented enough person, capable of winning an Olympic gold medal in the second most populous country of the world. While we have our Northern neighbour, China(the most populous country of the world) topping the medals tally, we barely made it to the tally. The reason: 'Chinese don’t play Cricket.'

        While the above has been said slightly tongue in cheek, the more serious point here, is that children whose talent needs to be nurtured to make them succeed, play only one game, and that, unfortunately is not, and never will be, an Olympic sport. The whole country is playing cricket throughout the year, it is the only sport(if it can be called that) that is considered worth playing. And what do we have to show for it. Amongst the cricket playing nations in the world, which can be counted on fingertips, our country which plays only one game has never been on the top for more than a few months. In fact, it is perpetually struggling to be amongst the first three cricketing nations in the world.

        Talent, there would be in abundance in the country. Talent for Athletics, Swimming, Tennis, Badminton, Wrestling, Boxing and the host of other individual sport. Much of the talent never gets the opportunity to blossom. (Think of the young boy who is washing dishes in one of the roadside Dhabas or another who is making beedis in a factory, to help his folks make ends meet). Of the remainder, that has the opportunity, ninety nine percent concentrate their energies on Cricket, a game that in my opinion requires the least amount of athleticism.  It is hardly surprising therefore, that of the meagre one percent that remain, there has been only one Olympic gold medallist.

        It does not end there either, while cricketers are raking in moolah, not only from the BCCI but also from endorsements, the other sportspersons are struggling to afford the game, for want of adequate sponsorship.

        And I am not even talking of the other ill effects of the game. The very shape of Cricket stadia, prevent them from being used for any other sport. What a criminal waste of prime real estate. The all pervasive nature of fan following of the game in the country, results in a needless waste of millions of man hours throughout the year. A single game itself takes between one to five days to complete, a colossal amount of time in this day and age. And at the end of which, numerous times there is no result (in test matches particularly).

        Take the case of the two hugely successful Hindi movies based on games in India, 'Lagaan' and 'Chak de India'. While both movies were hugely popular and successful, only one of them got nominated for an Oscar. And there are no prizes for guessing which one (for those who don’t already know). It obviously had to be the one on Cricket, notwithstanding the fact that our country has won the Olympic gold in Hockey on so many occasions in the past.

        If we have to produce medal winners, we have to seriously think of weaning the youth away from Cricket. While banning the game altogether would be a rather draconian step in a free country, we ought to think seriously about making the game less attractive and popular, as also encourage other sports.

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  1.    1  A game that requires you to put on a pullover / sweater to keep yourself warm while playing scarcely qualifies for a game.

BEST BOOKS ON INDIA

Something for the reading Buffs. I found these readers recommendations of the best books on India. I would not particularly fancy all of the recommendations but nevertheless reproduce the same below:

In spite of the Gods - Ed Luce
India - What can it teach us? - Max Mueller
In light of India - Octavio Paz
India: a million mutinies now - VS Naipaul
India: A history - John Keay
A two volume history of India - Romila Thapar and Percival Spear
The Idea of India - Sunil Khilnani
The Argumentative Indian - Amartya Sen
Wings of Fire - APJ Abdul Kalam
Ignited Minds
Being Indian
A search in Secret India - Paul Brunton
A source book of Indian philosophy - S Radhakrishnan
India My Love - Osho
India - from Midnight to Millennium - Sashi Tharoor
India Unbound - Gurucharan Das
The Algebra of Infinite Justice - Arundhati Roy -
Five Point Someone - Chetan Bhagat
One Night at Call Centre - Chetan Bhagat
The Discovery of India - by Jawaharlal Nehru
The British Rule in India - by Karl Marx
The Wonder that was India - A L Basham
Imagining India - Ronald Inden
The Vedas, Bhagavad Gita,
Engaging India - Strobe Talbott
The Polyester Prince - Hamish McDonald
Yuganta - Irawati Karve
Swami and Friends - RK Narayan
The Vendor of Sweets - RK Narayan
The Great Indian Novel - Shashi Tharoor
Sardar Sarovar: The Independent Review - Bradford Morse
Power Play - Abhay Mehta
City of Gold - Gillian Tindall
City of Djinn’s - William Dalrymple
The Hills of Angheri - Kavery Nambisan
Words Like Freedom - Siddharth Dube
Savaging the Civilized - Ramachandra Guha
Sourcebook of Indian Tradition - Ainslee Embree
Early history of India (and other volumes) by Romila Thapar
The world is flat - Thomas L. Friedman
Social Background Of Indian Nationalism - by A R Desai
The Age of Kali - William Dalrymple
The Burdens of Democracy - Pratap Bhanu Mehta
Why Ethnic Parties Succeed in India - Kanchan Chandra
India’s Economic Reforms - Jagdish Bhagwati
Raag Darbari
The Best of R K Laxman
Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
In Light Of India - Octavio Paz
Tamas - Bhisham Sahni
The Elephant Paradigm - Gurcharan Das
Culture Shock! India - Gitanjal Kolanad
Everybody loves a good draught - by P. Sainath
Freedom at Midnight - Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins

Go through the complete post here.

HANUMAN SYNDROME : INDIAN ARMY

Indian defence forces are currently going through a period of turmoil. Manifestations of the numerous malaise plaguing the services are, increase in the number of personnel applying for premature release from service, large number of senior officers declining to attend prestigious courses of instruction, lack of subscription in officer training academies, large No of cases of financial impropriety and moral turpitude especially amongst the top brass. Incidents of desertion, soldiers running amok, fratricide, suicides, not to mention the large number of cases of indiscipline etc are threatening to tear the very fabric that holds the forces together.
The rising discontent among the army’s folds, especially post the announcement of the recommendations of the SCPC is the least of the Army’s worries. Erosion of values, corruption, especially in higher ranks and the bulging, pot bellied midriff of the Army comprising primarily of superseded officers is not helping matters.
One of the major causes of discontent besides poor pay and perks and an unfavourable exit policy is the ‘Hanuman Syndrome’ which is taking a grip of the Army like never before. Let me explain what this syndrome is in the next few paragraphs.
An army during peace, is required to prepare for war, primarily through training and by equipping itself better, in tune with the changing times and technology. But increasingly over the last few years, Army is being called upon or many a times volunteering for internal security duties and aid to civil authorities. In fact the charter being given to the Army on such occasions goes much beyond aid to civil authorities, to include mundane tasks which should ideally be handled by the civil administration. The firebrand National Conference leader from Kashmir, in his speech in parliament (during the floor test of NDA govt) said that the Amarnath Yatra would go on irrespective, till even a single Muslim remained in Kashmir. “Show me one Kashmiri", he shouted, "who has threatened the Yatra”. The truth of the matter is that the Yatra has been threatened with terrorist attacks on numerous occasions every year. But for the laudatory efforts of the Army, this Yatra would not have been possible, not incident free in any event, for many years now. Not without the administrative and security arrangements made by the security forces every year. That is what Mr Abdullah conveniently forgot to mention. While Mr Abdullah spoke well and his speech was in fact praised by many, this factual mistake in his speech was not pointed out.
Is there any justification for the use of the Army in organising pilgrimage to a place of worship? Particularly in Kashmir, the Army is involved in almost all facets of civil administration be it the Amaranth Yatra, Muzaffarabad bus service, keeping the roads and highways open to traffic, building roads, schools, playground etc. The Army top brass has been volunteering to take on such responsibilities in the name of Project Sadbhavna or some other name, ostensibly in an effort to win the hearts and minds of the civil populace. Five decades of trying the same thing in the North East and two decades in Kashmir have not borne much fruit.
And this tendency of volunteering for tasks on behalf of the civil administration is not limited to the troubled areas alone. At the very sight of rains in the beginning of the monsoons, a senior army Generals, without even awaiting the customary requisition from the District authorities start asking their staff, when the flood relief columns should be deployed. If its a life in danger because the civil administration has left a manhole uncovered, and an unfortunate individual falls into it, or it is earthquake, floods riots, Tsunami, or any other disaster, natural or otherwise, its the Army which is required for resolution of the crisis. Elections in Kashmir are not possible without the support of the Army and so is the case in many other parts of the country. In fact disaster management by the civil authorities does not appear to be at all possible without the support of the Army.
In effect therefore the Army is so embroiled in matters non military, that it has no time or resources left at its disposal for carrying out any worthwhile training.
The unfortunate part, is that the Army's top brass has all but decided that Counter insurgency, aid to civil authorities, flood relief, disaster relief, election duties et al has become its primary responsibility. Senior officers of the Army are apparently beginning to enjoy it and are eager to plough the forces at their disposal in such duties, as these, give them a sense of importance, bring them closer to the civil administration who would otherwise shun them, and gives a sense of purpose to their lives, with no probability of a war in the near future. Like Hanuman, who dedicated his life in the service of people with whom he had no or little concern, going around the city of Lanka with his tail on fire, trying to save someone else's wife who had been abducted by a third party, the Indian Army has taken it upon itself to be the saviour of the country and the civil administration, rather than being an instrument of last resort. This is what I call the ‘Hanuman Syndrome.’
Almost three fourths of the Army is deployed in Kashmir which comprises three of the largest Corps' of the Army. And the entire lot in Kashmir is actively engaged in counter Insurgency or guarding the Line of Control(LC), with no time or resources to engage in any worthwhile training activity. On the one hand we have diplomatic initiative and confidence building measures to improve relations with Pakistan, and on the other we are sitting in bunkers along the LC, physically manning posts to guard the same.
The Indian army has been short of a large number of officers for many years now. The lucrative job market, given its thrust by the booming IT industry which continues to propel India into becoming an IT superpower, the burgeoning economy and rising aspirations of India’s youth are propelling bright young personnel away from taking up Armed Forces as a career. Capable youngsters obviously choose a life in the corporate sector which promises, money and relative comfort in metropolitan cities compared to the tough and demanding life in the Armed Forces, which is plagued by low pay scales, slow promotions and a host of other ills. The armed forces on their part are making matters worse for themselves by certain absurd policies. Officers in the service bracket between ten and twenty five years are looking to move on to a second career in the corporate sector and be a part of the country’s growth story.
Shortage of officers is nothing new, in fact the services have been plagued by it for the last at least about four decades. The situation however has never been as serious as it is now. The Armed Forces and the government have therefore decided to make it more difficult for officers to proceed on premature retirement from service. Even after serving in the Army for twenty years, officers are not being allowed voluntarily exit from service. One has to wonder whether we are living in a free country. What can be worse than living in a free country where one is not even free to choose where one wants to work. Unfortunately even the courts, that are supposed to be guardians of democracy, are not looking at such matters sympathetically on grounds of national interest. Thus compounding the discontent in the armed forces, leaving the officer cadre disenchanted. And if the leadership itself is not motivated and happy, what can be expected from the troops.
The issue of an Exit Policy from the three defence services, or rather the lack of it, typifies the callous and unprofessional nature of the HR policies pursued by the Indian defence organisations. The Indian constitution guarantees liberty as a fundamental right and this right, especially to pursue employment, is not curtailed under the Army, the Air Force or the Navy act, which are a straight copy of the British acts initiated in the early twentieth century for the British colonial forces in India.[1]
India is also a modern, liberal democracy like the US where the freedom of the individual, including the soldier, has been guaranteed by the state. The defence services can not operate outside the dictum of the law or the state; however the Indian military has been provided this immunity against the founding principles of the Indian state by weak politicians and inept bureaucrats. The issue of an equitable exit policy, however, is the worst form of violation of fundamental rights possible in any democratic country.
Cases of corruption in the Army are coming under intense media and public scrutiny on a regular basis. Such cases have been coming out in the press with amazing regularity, so much so, that some of them cease to make news. The Army is thus fast losing its ‘Holy Cow’ image. It is losing the respect from society that it used to command in the past.
The pay commission has done little to assuage the numerous grievances of the forces pers. On the contrary it has precipitated an outpouring of emotionally charged outburst from the forces. That the service personnel have not given voice to their anguish is understandable, but the retired lot has created history by actually taking to the streets in protest.
Time is ripe therefore for the services, nay the nation, to carry out a sincere and thorough introspection into the state of affairs of the services and to come up with the necessary policy changes. And the Army top brass to shed its ‘Hanuman Syndrome’ before it is too late.
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[1] National Interest Blog: http://pragmatic.nationalinterest.in/2008/08/02/stop-lossing-the-exit-policy/

INDIA MINUS K-WORD

Ever since my first posting to the Kashmir valley, about two decades back, I have wondered whether our policies in Kashmir are in our best interests, whether the massive effort being put in by the country to retain Kashmir as an integral part of India are worth it. Somehow, over the years I have been more and more convinced that all our efforts are in vain. In fact Kashmir has become a prestige issue with the country. India would be a much better and more prosperous country without having to devote time, energy, effort and resources not to mention the burden on the finance minister, towards Kashmir. Its an ungrateful people that we are talking about here. Kashmiris have little or no regard for the amount of funds that are being pumped into their state or the amount of subsidy being given to them.
However as Jug Suraiya succinctly put it in his editorial in the Times of India, available online at http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Editorial/India_minus_K-word/articleshow/3382132.cms, “Any suggestion that Kashmir should, if it so wants, be allowed to secede from the Indian Union is immediately deemed to be treasonable, and its proponents to be agents of Pakistan’s ISI, who wish to hive off not just Kashmir but to fragment and balkanise India by fomenting insurrection across the country.” I have therefore never wanted to be branded a traitor or an anti national. And much against my instincts refrained from suggesting that Kashmir be allowed to secede from India.
In the last about five days I have heard or read a lot in the media suggesting what my instincts have been suggesting for a long time now. Maybe its time to give serious consideration to the idea of letting Kashmir fend for itself in the Jungle out there. Never before have I ever come across such suggestions in the media, be it print, TV or radio. For the benefit of those that have missed them out, there is the article by Swaminathan Aiyar in the Times available online at http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Columnists/S_A_Aiyar_I-Day_for_Kashmir/articleshow/3372132.cms. And on TV a programme on whether Kashmir can or should be granted independence was aired in ‘Face the Nation’ on CNN IBN on the 19 Aug 2008. Jug Suraiya’s editorial column on the subject is available at the link in the second paragraph.
While one can argue and debate the pros and cons of retaining Kashmir till cows come home, the fact of the matter is that it is evident that the Kashmiris themselves do not seem to be in favour of remaining with India, not the ones in the valley in any event. The struggle and strife in the valley is looking uncannily similar to India’s struggle for independence. Should Kashmir ever gain independence, the Kashmiri terrorists of today, would become shaheed Bhagat Singhs and Chadrashekhar Azads of independent Kashmir’s history books. The current agitation in the valley, seems similar to the Quit India movement of 1942. Only, it has been precipitated by the inept handling by the govt of the Amarnath Shrine board controversy.
What we have to ask ourselves is whether it is worth its while, to spend the millions of dollars in Siachen glacier as also in the state of J&K on maintaining law and order, checking infiltrations, etc. Funds which are so badly needed by many other states of the country. What about the lives of the thousands of soldiers martyred in Kashmir? And the numbers are rising every day. What answer does the country have to the orphaned children of our soldiers? For what have they laid their lives down? In the 21st century, we are guarding our Line of Control like primitive people with eyeball to eyeball contact with our adversaries and by making physical fences along the border to check infiltration. Can a progressive economy like ours afford this kind of expenditure in this day and age?
Besides, one of the major problems that our country is facing today, is that, its large size is really becoming quite unmanageable. Unity in diversity is only a good slogan. We have MNS trying to oust North Indians from Maharashrta, the Bodos killing Biharis in Assam, south Indian states agitating against Hindi as a language, Maoists terrorizing innocent civilians in almost all parts of the country, and of course the much appeased, minority Muslims running amok creating terror in all parts of the country. And this is probably, just the beginning. In another couple of decades if things keep going the way they are we are going to have the Army in anti insurgency role almost all across the country. Currently we have about a third of the country’s army in J&K and other north eastern states facing insurgency problems. In a couple of decades at this rate, the entire Indain Army will only be tackling insurgency with no troops left to fight a war, should that be required.
We need not fear for the safety of the rest of our territory, once Kashmir is gone. Pakistan today is not in any position to wage a war with any country, it has enough problems of internal strife of its own. ‘As you sow, so will you reap’ is an apt idiom that comes to mind, looking at the state of Pakistan today. As for China, its much more busy trying to prove its supremacy economically, militarily and as a sporting super power at the world stage to have time to even think of waging a war with India. In any event a war at this stage would take China’s development back by a couple of decades. Something that China can ill afford at this time, given the fact that it has to compete with the United States for global supremacy.
It therefore appears to this blogger that the time may be right, to at least initiate a debate on Azaadi for Kashmir, or, as Arundhati Roy has put it, for Kashmir to gain azadi from India, and for India to gain azadi from Kashmir? The other choice of course is to retain Kahmir and give Pakistan a quasi legitimate gateway through which to keep bleeding our country, something that it has almost perfected in the last few decades.