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Indian Airspace Violation:DECODING THE CHINESE INTENT, byHina Pandey,15 September 2009 |
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Round The World
New Delhi, 15 September 2009
Indian Airspace
Violation
DECODING THE
CHINESE INTENT
By Hina Pandey
School of International Studies, JNU
The recent reports of Chinese
violations of the Indian airspace in Leh region in Jammu and Kashmir has become a daily norm in
the Indian Media. It is now officially confirmed by military officials too that
indeed the Chinese copters violated the country’s territory. It is interesting
to note that few years ago during the same time, the Indo-China Joint Working Group
met for the second time in New Delhi,
to maintain and promote peace on the border. It resulted in taking up of
measures such as prior notification of military exercise, prevention of air
intrusions and redeployment of forces along the Line of Actual Control.
This process was continued further
and followed by another meeting in 1993 in Beijing, which further sought greater
transparency about the activities along the LAC. The same year, Prime Minister Late
Narasimha Rao too visited China
(6thSeptember) and both sides pledged to “strictly respect and
observe the LAC. Again, 1995 saw one of
the most significant agreements on border peace, wherein the two sides mutually
agreed to withdraw from Sumdorong
Chu Valley.
It could only be a coincidence that “acts of breach” occurred almost the same time
when “pledge to not to breach” had been taken.
According to a leading English daily,
military officials also acknowledged that activities along the border are seen
every year around August-September and hence need not to taken as “alarming
signs”. However, this time the People’s Liberation Army has set a record of
breaching the LAC approximately 26 times in the same month. Is the Indian
Military acknowledging Chinese presence in the border region? If not, then why
has border patrolling been intensified in recent days? What are Beijing’s intentions in
blatantly violating the Indian airspace?
Similar signs occurred before the
Indo-Sino war of 1962 and yet the Government wants to keep mum and is busy down-playing
the issue by blaming it on the difference of perception on the LAC by both
countries. Reports of such incursions are not new. In August last year too, the
Chinese patrols entered Indian territory and
made as many as 223 attempts to violate it. However, this time the tension
seems to be building up along the border.
The graph of the Sino-Indian
relationship has from time to time always oscillated from “being potential
friends” to “being potential enemies.” Beijing has always maintained its record
of following a slightly aggressive foreign and domestic policy as compared to
New Delhi, and is never ashamed to makes use of its might to resolve political
issues, be it border disputes with India, Taiwan Straight, Tibet or curbing of
human rights in Tiananmen Square and media rights in Tibet. The Chinese have
vehemently reacted on many such issues which have played a role in
deteriorating Indo-Sino relationship.
One such major issue is the assistance
to Pakistan’s
nuclear programme. This is not to suggest that the two countries have never
come closer, In fact, both the countries experienced a phase of normalization
in relations since 1988. The process of
improvement began with Prime Minister Late Rajiv Gandhi's visit to China which resulted in India’s recognition of Tibet as a region of China which enjoyed autonomy. New Delhi decided to push ahead with Beijing without waiting for a border
settlement.
This momentum continued with several
other high-profile visits, including that of former President R.Venkataraman,
resulting in a significant acknowledgment by Beijing
as well that the border problem wasn't a serious one and that both India and China must resolve it through
peaceful means. Gradual exchanges and reciprocal visits by both countries’
officials brought the Sino-Indian relations closer in the fields of arts,
science, technology, health, trade and others. Historically too, both the
countries have existed as nations since a very long time and have expanded
themselves to become the world’s massive storehouse of human resource.
Both embraced modern governance
almost at the same time. China
declared itself as People’s Republic of China
on 1st October 1949, whereas India became an independent nation
on 15th August 1947. However, despite the convergence of historical
experience and cooperation in many sectors, there have remained certain
unfilled possibilities due to which the two have never been able to maintain a sound
foundation such that their association can be translated into a strong
marriage.
It is the residual effect of those
unresolved issues, combined with the obscure understanding that New Delhi has about Chinese behavior which makes it rather
difficult to perceive Beijing’s
intention in a good light. Besides, accessing Chinese intention and power
incorrectly have always proved harmful in the past. This accentuates the
importance to carefully decode recent Chinese air space violations. Also both
the Governments have downplayed this issue and have maintained a diplomatic
position.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry
spokesperson Jiang Yu declined any such reports and said its border patrols are
conducted strictly in accordance with the law. He reiterated that the two
countries had arrived at a consensus about making efforts to safeguard peace
and tranquility on the border, while the border issue is being negotiated. The Ministry
of External affairs too, on September 7th maintained that this wasn't an issue
at all and that India and China shared
the most peaceful border. However, it has asked for the clarification from Beijing, and is awaiting
its response.
It is interesting to note that
reports of incursion coincided with the visit of spiritual leader Dalai Lama to
Taiwan
to comfort typhoon victims. This has evoked a reaction by the Chinese, who have
suspended certain dealings with Taiwan.
New Delhi too has received an upsetting reaction
from Beijing
regarding His Holiness’s forthcoming visit to Arunachal Pradesh. Are these reactions
from the Chinese Government signaling towards something that New Delhi should become apprehensive of?
In International politics, power is
defined as the ability of a State to advance and defend its interests. This capability
gets highlighted even more when put to comparison with another State. Hence, power
is defined as a State’s relative ability to another, which can be articulated
through military, economic or cultural means. Given this backdrop, the recent
Chinese violation of Indian airspace does raise many questions regarding the
Chinese intentions.
Are these recent incursions symbolic
with the power projections? Is this one of the Chinese ways to convey its
hegemonic ambitions to New Delhi in the Asian
continent, given that both India
and China
are the only two candidates having a potential of being a global power in the near
future? Or, is it a means to challenge Indian regional hegemonic tendencies in South Asia? This unpredictable Chinese nature and
carefree attitude of the Indian Government has created a labyrinth of questions
for the strategic community to answer. ---INFA
(Copyright, India
News and Feature Alliance)
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Worrying Internal Security:STATES STERNLY TICKED OFF, by Insaf, 17 Sept, 09 |
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Round The States
New Delhi, 17 September 2009
Worrying Internal
Security
STATES STERNLY
TICKED OFF
By Insaf
The States have been sternly ticked off by the Centre as
never before for not doing enough to tackle the country’s internal security.
Little has been done by way of reforms, despite repeated reminders. Nothing
has, for instance, been done to set up police establishment boards to decide
transfers and postings of police personnel. Some States have even reduced cops
to “a football to be kicked from one post to another.” Worse, most State
governments have failed to provide adequate funds for the police, whereas
security should be the first charge on the State exchequer! Importantly, the
Centre’s despair was first spelt out candidly by the Union Home Minister P
Chidambaram while inaugurating a three-day Conference of Directors General of
Police and Inspectors General of Police on internal security in the Capital on
Monday last. At the same time, he offered a solution to the top cops: “Why do
you remain silent when arbitrary postings and transfers are made by the State
Governments?...Is it not your duty, as heads of State police to raise your
voice not only on behalf of your officers but also on behalf of the people that
you are duty-bound to protect.” The big question is: When will mindsets and old
habits change?
Strong criticism came the next day from the Prime Minister,
Manmohan Singh, who lamented that little success has been achieved in dealing
with Left-wing extremism, the “most serious” internal security threat. Latest statistics
reveal that the Naxalites have their pockets of influence in 20 States. More
than 20,000 police station areas in 223 districts in these States had been affected.
Of these, the CPI (Marxists) remains the most potent of the Naxal group with
presence in 17 States and a 90 per cent share in Naxal violence. Violence has
been consistently witnessed in about 400 police stations areas of about 90
districts in 13 of these States. Last year 1,591 incidents of Naxalite violence,
resulting in 721 killings, were reported from 399 police stations areas of 87
districts of 13 States. This year’s figures are not far behind. There were 1,405
incidents of Naxal violence resulting in 580 killings already from 355 police
stations in 78 districts of 11 States
* * * *
Mamata Scores Again
Winds of change continue to blow in West
Bengal with the Trinamool Congress giving the ruling CPM yet
another crushing blow. This time in Siliguri, the nerve centre of North Bengal politics and the State’s second most
important commercial hub after Kolkata. The formidable TMC-Congress combine got
a clear majority on Tuesday last bagging 29 of the 47 seats in the Municipal Corporation
elections, demolishing the Left Front’s three-decade rule. The CPM managed to
win only 17 seats against its strength of 36 in 2004. This, despite Siliguri being
one of the few corporations which has a good track record, with the State’s
Urban Development Minister Ashok Bhattacharjee, who hails from here and is its MLA.
Besides, not only did the minister campaign actively, but so did Chief Minister
Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. In sharp contrast, the TMC chief, Mamata Banerjee, did
not go there even once. Indeed, it is a decisive victory for Didi, who joyously proclaimed that they
had captured the “Red Fort.”
* * * *
Gujarat Booster For BJP
Gujarat’s Narendra Modi has given the demoralized
BJP a much-needed morale booster. After a string of defeats since the Lok Sabha
polls, the party wrested five Assembly seats from the Congress in the State’s byelections
held for seven seats. The Congress retained one and managed to take one from
the BJP. With this recent victory, the strength of the saffron party in the
182-member Assembly has gone up to 122, the Congress trailing with just 54 and the
rest six others. Clearly, the bypoll has provided Modi a breather too after his
party’s defeat in the Junagadh municipal elections this June. Addressing a
rally on Monday last, the Chief Minister felt emboldened enough to warn “that
the people of Gujarat support us strongly.”
Meanwhile, the BJP has added a seat each to its kitty in Madhya Pradesh and
Uttaranchal bypolls. The Congress has to find solace in retaining one seat each
in Madhya Pradesh and the Andhra Pradesh bypolls.
* * * *
Bundelkhand Wins
Lottery
In the struggle for one upmanship between Congress General
Secretary Rahul Gandhi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, the poverty-stricken
Bundelkhand region has won a big lottery. On Monday last, the Prime Minister’s
Office approved a Rs 30,000-crore special development plan for the region,
notorious for dacoities, drought and starvation deaths. In fact, the package is
a lot more than what Rahul asked for, Rs 8000 crore. However, his demand for a
Bundelkhand Authority covering both UP and Madhya Pradesh is on hold. But this
should not be a damper as all proposals for the region, covering parts of the
two States will be directly implemented by the Centre. For starters, while the
National Thermal Power Corporation will build a Rs 20,000 crore 4,000 MW power
plant at Lalitpur in MP, the Water Resources Ministry has been asked to prepare
the Ken-Betwa river linking project between the two States. In addition, the Agriculture
Ministry is to plan a Central
University to provide research
inputs to farmers on alternative crops requiring small quantities of water. Interestingly,
political warfare has its plus points!
* * * *
Student Trouble In Sikkim
Is Sikkim
going the Maharashtra way? Last week the N-E State’s
Chief Minister Pawan K Chamling found his counterparts in Bihar, Nitish Kumar
and Assam’s
Tarun Gogoi complaining. The reason: Sikkim students had “abused and
beaten up” non-local students at the Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology
(SMIT) and the North Eastern Hills University (NEHU) respectively. While the
SMIT’s director was forced to close down the college last week for 10 days, the
police had to beef up security at NEHU. Trouble started at the SMIT, after a
Bhutia student abused some non-Sikkim students and later a few Sikkim students
beat up non-locals during a volleyball match, forcing over 600 of them to take refuge
on the sixth floor of the hostel. The next day saw non-locals catching trains
back to Bihar. Of the 2,000 students in the
SMIT hostel, 1400 are non-locals with 800 from Bihar
alone. At NEHU, Assamese students were attacked by local students. Is
regionalism raising its ugly head in the North-East?
* * * *
Rajasthan Rewriting
History
History continues to be written and rewritten in Rajasthan
with the change of rulers. Congress Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has got his
Government to issue instructions to the State Education Boards to scrap controversial
references from books that promote right-wing propaganda and also blame the
Congress for encouraging insurgency in Jammu & Kashmir. The books were
introduced during the BJP’s Vasundhra Raje’s Government in 2003 and are said to
be written by academics who were sympathizers of the Hindu organizations such
as the RSS, VHP and the Bajrang Dal. The Gehlot Government set up a three-member
committee to look into the matter. This committee recommended that
objectionable portions be deleted. Must politicians play duck and drakes with
history, ignoring truth and age-old values? ---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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Cops, Stop Being Kicked As Football:BRAVE WORDS, WILL IT LEAD TO CHANGE?,P.I. Kaushish,19 Sept 09 |
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Political Diary
New Delhi, 19 September 2009
Cops, Stop Being Kicked As Football
BRAVE WORDS, WILL IT LEAD TO CHANGE?
By Poonam I Kaushish
Until yesterday it was dubbed as yet
another conference of DGP’s and IG’s on internal security last week. One more
seminarian approach. The same monotonous
actions and reactions, with a minor change of a comma here and a full stop
there. All to make it sound spanking new and different. Of a Government on the
ball, talking and acting tough. Yawn.
Till the new Union Home Minister Chidambaram ‘kicked’ up enough food for
thought for the policemen: “Stop
allowing yourself to being reduced to a football, to be kicked here and there.
“Why do you remain silent when
arbitrary postings and transfers are made by the State Government? Is it not your duty, as head of State police
to raise your voice not only on behalf of your officers but also on behalf of
the people that you are duty bound to protect. ” Leaving the stunned cops
rubbing their eyes in disbelief.
But Chidambaram hadn’t finished.
Next he rebuked the States for their ‘transfer
raj’ policy “from one post to another, without regard to the damage done to
the job as well as the officer.” Not
only that. Noting with concern the failure of the States to constitute the Police
Establishment Board — a mechanism suggested by the Supreme Court for deciding
on police transfers and postings, he wondered why the police Chiefs were silent
when their men are transferred and posted on the whims and fancies of their State
maibaaps. Further, he asked asking them to introspect on what really was the
length of tenures of key police functionaries like the deputy superintendents
of police and SHOs. Enough is enough, was his clear message.
Next it was the turn of the Prime
Minister’s turn to pitch for police reform. He called for the creation of a
“new-age policeman” who is more professional, better motivated, equipped and
trained with the latest in tactics and technology. Highlighting the current
state of cops where on an average a policeman gets in-service training only
once in 20 years, he read out the riot act. “This is totally inadequate in the
changed circumstances and this must be rectified …. Police training must keep
pace with the best practices being followed in the world.”
Brave words, indeed. Do the Prime
Minister and his Home Minister mean what they say, and say what they mean? Are
winds of change in the offing? Will are policewallah
goonda really get a make-over? Importantly, will our leaders heed their
advice and desist from transferring cops every time there is a change in
Government? Questions abound.
How motivated and ill-equipped our
police are was laid bare with deadly precision during the 26/11 terror attacks
in Mumbai last year, when cops with lathis
and antiquated rifles were seen battling terrorists armed with sophisticated
weaponry. Think. There are 14.5 policemen per 10,000 people, when the desired
manpower should be 22 policemen per 10,000 people. In Bihar, a Naxal-prone State, the ratio of policemen to the
public per 10,000 is a meagre 0.9 i.e hardly one policeman for 10,000 people.
More. Shocking is the tenure of our khakiwallahs. In states like UP, the
average tenure of DSPs is an abominable four months. Punjab,
too, has a poor track record on this front. Notwithstanding States like Tamil
Nadu, Gujarat and Kerala who are not bitten by
the transfer bug and believe in a stable tenure for police officers. Add to
this poor salaries which has encouraged corruption.
Add to this the problem of Chief
Ministers using transfer as a danda
to get cops to do at their bidding. Those who refuse to follow orders are
humiliated and given punishment postings. Besides, they are bereft of any out
of the box ideas are content to wallow in inane, obsolete and muddle-headed
formulations to complex and important strategic issues. Resulting in a complete
paralyses in policy-making and the
operational command of our police personnel.
Not a few CMs argue that
Chidambaram’s diktat infringes on the powers of the State as per the
Constitution. As it undermines the federal structure and erodes the authority
of the leader. Asserted a CM: “A no-transfer
policy would be disastrous. An incompetent or corrupt SHO could wreck havoc in
the countryside as a State Government helplessly watches from the fringes.
Besides, who would the DGP be accountable to? Given that the State Government decides
the cops Annual Confidential Report? This is not reforming the system but deforming
it.”
Arguably, is the police more sinned against than sinning?
Are the main culprits the politicians? The truth is midway. Both work in tandem
in furthering their own self-interest, with the result the system becomes
self-perpetuating. Where criminalization of politics has given way to
politicization of crime and political criminals. Resulting in the complete
brutalization and dehumanisation of the polity and the police. We have come a
full circle.
It is pointless to argue that the
State has withered away. Shockingly, the police still functions according to
the Police Act of 1861. This provides it with a negative role, basically that
of protecting the establishment. Only if successive governments had fully
implemented the recommendations of the National Police Commission, set up in
1971 under the Chairmanship of late Dharma Vira, ICS Retd, former Cabinet
Secretary and Governor of three States, India would not have come to this sorry
pass.
The Commission had recommended that
the ethos of the Police force should be shifted from one of enforcement to
enablement, called public relations today.
It wanted the Police Act of 1861 repealed and replaced by a new Act and
law and order divided into two separate departments, with a separate police
force for each.
Alas, successive governments have given a quiet burial to
this report and instead opted for quick-fix solutions for chronic maladies.
Result? Gross political interference. In 2000, the then Home Minister LK Advani
set-up another Police Commission with a brief to look into four aspects: how to
stop political interference and influence, change the mindset of the force,
improve the public interface and image, prevent politicization, criminalization
and corruption in the police. But this too was confined to the dustbin of
history.
What next? The time has come to usher
in drastic changes in the police administration to make it more accountable and
to protect it from political interference. The Centre and States need to overhaul
the outdated, 145-year-old Indian Police Act, and implement the Supreme Court’s
seven-point directive in a landmark judgment last year. Namely, to prevent
politically engineered mass transfer of officers on change of a Government, setting
up of a National Security Commission to ensure that the selection of chiefs of
Central police organizations was fair with a fixed two-year tenure and a State Security
Commission to monitor transfers and postings.
In addition, over-centralisation
should be replaced by decentralization and functional autonomy to the police
from the Station House level onwards and their goals and objective set with the
cooperation and consultation of the local population. A properly structured and representative body
of local residents should be associated with setting priorities and goals.
Besides, the standards prescribed
for recruitment, training and emoluments for the police etc. also need radical
revision, according to the National Police Commission. There should be a shift
from quantity to quality of Police leadership.
It is better to have half a dozen officers of the rank of a
Sub-Inspector in a police station to prevent and detect crime than to have 25
semi-literate and ill-paid constables. Competent officers should be posted in
the affected districts and given a stable tenure of at least 2 to 3 years to
make a difference. In addition, they need to be provided improved weapons and
greater mobility.
In the ultimate analysis, a
revolutionary change is the need of the hour. Merely mouthing platitudes will
no longer work. The Centre needs to think beyond the headlines. The bottom line
is clear. When push comes to a shove there is no easy option. The Government has to tackle the basic issue
first --- honest and effective modernization of the police force, with the
constabulary getting its due. Are you serious, Mr. Chidambaram? The country
wants action and results, not footballs being kicked around! ----INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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Cops, Stop Being Kicked As Football:BRAVE WORDS, WILL IT LEAD TO CHANGE?,P.I. Kaushish,19 Sept 09 |
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Political Diary
New Delhi, 19 September 2009
Cops, Stop Being Kicked As Football
BRAVE WORDS, WILL IT LEAD TO CHANGE?
By Poonam I Kaushish
Until yesterday it was dubbed as yet
another conference of DGP’s and IG’s on internal security last week. One more
seminarian approach. The same monotonous
actions and reactions, with a minor change of a comma here and a full stop
there. All to make it sound spanking new and different. Of a Government on the
ball, talking and acting tough. Yawn.
Till the new Union Home Minister Chidambaram ‘kicked’ up enough food for
thought for the policemen: “Stop
allowing yourself to being reduced to a football, to be kicked here and there.
“Why do you remain silent when
arbitrary postings and transfers are made by the State Government? Is it not your duty, as head of State police
to raise your voice not only on behalf of your officers but also on behalf of
the people that you are duty bound to protect. ” Leaving the stunned cops
rubbing their eyes in disbelief.
But Chidambaram hadn’t finished.
Next he rebuked the States for their ‘transfer
raj’ policy “from one post to another, without regard to the damage done to
the job as well as the officer.” Not
only that. Noting with concern the failure of the States to constitute the Police
Establishment Board — a mechanism suggested by the Supreme Court for deciding
on police transfers and postings, he wondered why the police Chiefs were silent
when their men are transferred and posted on the whims and fancies of their State
maibaaps. Further, he asked asking them to introspect on what really was the
length of tenures of key police functionaries like the deputy superintendents
of police and SHOs. Enough is enough, was his clear message.
Next it was the turn of the Prime
Minister’s turn to pitch for police reform. He called for the creation of a
“new-age policeman” who is more professional, better motivated, equipped and
trained with the latest in tactics and technology. Highlighting the current
state of cops where on an average a policeman gets in-service training only
once in 20 years, he read out the riot act. “This is totally inadequate in the
changed circumstances and this must be rectified …. Police training must keep
pace with the best practices being followed in the world.”
Brave words, indeed. Do the Prime
Minister and his Home Minister mean what they say, and say what they mean? Are
winds of change in the offing? Will are policewallah
goonda really get a make-over? Importantly, will our leaders heed their
advice and desist from transferring cops every time there is a change in
Government? Questions abound.
How motivated and ill-equipped our
police are was laid bare with deadly precision during the 26/11 terror attacks
in Mumbai last year, when cops with lathis
and antiquated rifles were seen battling terrorists armed with sophisticated
weaponry. Think. There are 14.5 policemen per 10,000 people, when the desired
manpower should be 22 policemen per 10,000 people. In Bihar, a Naxal-prone State, the ratio of policemen to the
public per 10,000 is a meagre 0.9 i.e hardly one policeman for 10,000 people.
More. Shocking is the tenure of our khakiwallahs. In states like UP, the
average tenure of DSPs is an abominable four months. Punjab,
too, has a poor track record on this front. Notwithstanding States like Tamil
Nadu, Gujarat and Kerala who are not bitten by
the transfer bug and believe in a stable tenure for police officers. Add to
this poor salaries which has encouraged corruption.
Add to this the problem of Chief
Ministers using transfer as a danda
to get cops to do at their bidding. Those who refuse to follow orders are
humiliated and given punishment postings. Besides, they are bereft of any out
of the box ideas are content to wallow in inane, obsolete and muddle-headed
formulations to complex and important strategic issues. Resulting in a complete
paralyses in policy-making and the
operational command of our police personnel.
Not a few CMs argue that
Chidambaram’s diktat infringes on the powers of the State as per the
Constitution. As it undermines the federal structure and erodes the authority
of the leader. Asserted a CM: “A no-transfer
policy would be disastrous. An incompetent or corrupt SHO could wreck havoc in
the countryside as a State Government helplessly watches from the fringes.
Besides, who would the DGP be accountable to? Given that the State Government decides
the cops Annual Confidential Report? This is not reforming the system but deforming
it.”
Arguably, is the police more sinned against than sinning?
Are the main culprits the politicians? The truth is midway. Both work in tandem
in furthering their own self-interest, with the result the system becomes
self-perpetuating. Where criminalization of politics has given way to
politicization of crime and political criminals. Resulting in the complete
brutalization and dehumanisation of the polity and the police. We have come a
full circle.
It is pointless to argue that the
State has withered away. Shockingly, the police still functions according to
the Police Act of 1861. This provides it with a negative role, basically that
of protecting the establishment. Only if successive governments had fully
implemented the recommendations of the National Police Commission, set up in
1971 under the Chairmanship of late Dharma Vira, ICS Retd, former Cabinet
Secretary and Governor of three States, India would not have come to this sorry
pass.
The Commission had recommended that
the ethos of the Police force should be shifted from one of enforcement to
enablement, called public relations today.
It wanted the Police Act of 1861 repealed and replaced by a new Act and
law and order divided into two separate departments, with a separate police
force for each.
Alas, successive governments have given a quiet burial to
this report and instead opted for quick-fix solutions for chronic maladies.
Result? Gross political interference. In 2000, the then Home Minister LK Advani
set-up another Police Commission with a brief to look into four aspects: how to
stop political interference and influence, change the mindset of the force,
improve the public interface and image, prevent politicization, criminalization
and corruption in the police. But this too was confined to the dustbin of
history.
What next? The time has come to usher
in drastic changes in the police administration to make it more accountable and
to protect it from political interference. The Centre and States need to overhaul
the outdated, 145-year-old Indian Police Act, and implement the Supreme Court’s
seven-point directive in a landmark judgment last year. Namely, to prevent
politically engineered mass transfer of officers on change of a Government, setting
up of a National Security Commission to ensure that the selection of chiefs of
Central police organizations was fair with a fixed two-year tenure and a State Security
Commission to monitor transfers and postings.
In addition, over-centralisation
should be replaced by decentralization and functional autonomy to the police
from the Station House level onwards and their goals and objective set with the
cooperation and consultation of the local population. A properly structured and representative body
of local residents should be associated with setting priorities and goals.
Besides, the standards prescribed
for recruitment, training and emoluments for the police etc. also need radical
revision, according to the National Police Commission. There should be a shift
from quantity to quality of Police leadership.
It is better to have half a dozen officers of the rank of a
Sub-Inspector in a police station to prevent and detect crime than to have 25
semi-literate and ill-paid constables. Competent officers should be posted in
the affected districts and given a stable tenure of at least 2 to 3 years to
make a difference. In addition, they need to be provided improved weapons and
greater mobility.
In the ultimate analysis, a
revolutionary change is the need of the hour. Merely mouthing platitudes will
no longer work. The Centre needs to think beyond the headlines. The bottom line
is clear. When push comes to a shove there is no easy option. The Government has to tackle the basic issue
first --- honest and effective modernization of the police force, with the
constabulary getting its due. Are you serious, Mr. Chidambaram? The country
wants action and results, not footballs being kicked around! ----INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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Delhi To Geneva:MIXED SUCCESS IN WTO TALKS, by Dr P K Vasudeva |
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Open Forum
New Delhi, 11 September 2009
Delhi To Geneva
MIXED SUCCESS IN WTO TALKS
By
Dr P K Vasudeva
The recently-concluded World Trade
Organisation mini-ministerial meeting in Delhi
early this month has raised two questions: One, has India been able to re-energize the Doha
Round? Two, has the mini-ministerial provided the 'value-addition'?
Well, the answer to both these
questions is yes/no. It was a pyrrhic victory for India
as it succeeded in getting the trade ministers of 35 countries to agree to resume
negotiations in Geneva
later this month. But the main stumbling block — the opening of developing
countries’ agriculture and services sectors to exports from developed
countries, keeping the flexibility of imposing duties when the need arises, and
the issue of the huge hidden subsidies provided to American and European
farmers — still remains.
However, the silver lining is that the trade ministers representing the
broader membership of the WTO are said to have lifted the logjam in the Doha
Round of talks to clinch a global free trade agreement on goods and services.
The two-day meet got a unanimous affirmation that chief negotiators and senior
officials should restart the entire process as there was need to conclude the
Doha Round within 2010. It was decided that the work agenda for the least
developed countries (LDCs) covering all specific issues across the spectrum
should be put on a fast-track for negotiating convergence with the WTO chief,
Pascal Lamy, and Chairs of Negotiating Groups taking the lead in this process.
This was possible as the mini-ministerial group clearly recognized that
differences subsist on issues and intensifying the negotiations was the first
step towards bridging the gaps. The Doha Round, which began in 2001 in the
Qatari capital, has been stalled on differences between the rich and poor
countries over agricultural subsidies and non-agricultural market access (NAMA)
i.e., industrial goods and the last ministerial meet floundered in July 2008.
Farmers in India are convinced that their produce could
become competitive if both the US
and Europe did not fund their farmers with
huge hidden subsidies. The two worlds remain as divided as they were, and
nothing has really changed since July 2008. India, for instance, has very
little options. If it opens its agricultural sector to the developed world, it
would be a betrayal of its farmers and of rural India, already facing the impact of
some other free trade agreements signed earlier. Farmers’ suicides continue
till this day, the recent being in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, despite
the loan waivers and other welfare schemes, showing the tremendous distress,
particularly in the non-irrigated farmland areas, which form the bulk of rural India.
There are even fears in certain quarters that the Government might
relent on reducing or doing away with tariffs on NAMA as a trade-off to get
more HI-B1 visas from America for the high-profile information technology
sector. The US is extremely
unlikely to change its stand on the basics, and in fact its trade
representative Ron Kirk made it known in Delhi
that rich developing nations such as India,
Brazil and China had the
added responsibility of making tough decisions in order to make the Doha Round
successful.
However, he drew an instant retort from Brazil’s
feisty external affairs minister Celso Amorim that developing countries had
already made significant concessions while the rich nations only paid lip
service to the development dimensions of Doha’s
agenda. They had brought nothing substantive to the table. Worse, the recent
global economic crisis, had affected both developed and developing countries,
wherein the two had difficulties in living up to the reforms and commitments
the new Doha
round would require.
Indeed, much has changed across the world since July last year due to
the deepening economic crisis and the scars it left, particularly in the rich nations.
As a result, they have become even more
protectionist. For example, if the US makes any commitment it would
have to pass the scrutiny of its Senate, which will not be easy given the
rising American unemployment figures. France, usually far more liberal and
internationalist in matters of trade, has also turned more protectionists due
to pressure from its trade unions.
Thus, the undercurrents at the New Delhi
meeting and the official summary issued at its end, in fact, clearly
demonstrate that none of the substantive issues had moved an inch towards
resolution since the Doha
round. From the Indian perspective, the fact that we were able to place our
concerns--the need to move forward on services negotiations along with
agriculture and industry rather than leave opening up of services for later --is
however, a plus.
Realistically speaking it is unlikely that the round will conclude by
December 2010. But then, trade negotiations involving more than 153 countries
are bound to be a torturous process. Stumbling blocks are inevitable. But a
'development round' that fails to take on board the concerns of developing
countries is a non-starter. It is time the developed world woke up to that.
Recall that the special safeguard
measure (SSM) was one of the issues, which led to the collapse of the talks
last year. While the US,
backed by some agriculture exporting developing countries, was pushing for a
less effective SSM (with high trigger points and a ceiling on the increase in
import duties), India and China wanted
the mechanism to be easier to operationalise.
Another area of disagreement was the issue of sectoral negotiations for
reducing duties to zero on select industrial goods. India
wants that the sectoral negotiations should be purely voluntary, while the US wants they
should be linked to flexibilities in other areas like a lower reduction
obligation in average tariffs. The issue related to the freedom of using the
flexibility for keeping some items out of reduction commitment
(anti-concentration) also needs to be settled. India should make efforts to work
on informal timelines for sorting these out. ---INFA
(Copyright, India
News and Feature Alliance)
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