Round The States

New Delhi, 6 August 2009

Swine Flu Death

STATES ON HIGH ALERT

By Insaf

All States have been put on high alert following the country’s first swine flu casualty in Pune, causing widespread panic. The death of 14-year-old Rashida Shaikh has not only forced the Maharashtra Government to declare a swine flu epidemic in two districts—Pune and Satara, but has made the Union Health Ministry wake up from its slumber. The latter has issued fresh guideline to prevent further spread of the disease following long queues of people thronging designated hospitals for a check-up. Not only in Pune, but also in Delhi and Chennai The panic has come to such a pass that even those who suffer from just a sniffle do not want to take any chances. Shockingly, a TV expose has bared the truth about some States’ lack of preparedness in dealing with this deadly disease: In Patna, the designated Centre was locked, in Chennai the doctors at the hospital were clueless about treatment and in Delhi there were no signboards to direct patients to the separate screening centres earmarked for the H1N1 strain. 

Clearly, the fault rests at the Health Ministry’s doorstep as it treated the swine flu issue very casually. Not only have people not been educated on the virus and the preventive measures to be taken, but the health authorities approach has been lackadaisical. At the immigration section of the International Airport on Tuesday last, Insaf found that there were only two doctors present, basically collecting forms from passengers about their travel details and whether they had a cough or cold. They didn’t take the trouble to even question the passengers, leave aside undertake a check-up! The big question is: Are the fresh guidelines issued now enough? In a major departure from the earlier procedure, the Ministry has said that people showing mild signs of swine flu — cold, cough, fever etc would no longer be quarantined in designated hospitals till their sample results are known. They could go home. In effect, hoping that people would not fear getting tested. Are the hospitals geared to take the pressure?   

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Political Warfare In Himachal

Himachal Pradesh is in the throes of a political warfare between the ruling BJP and the Congress. The State Government has lodged a corruption case against Union Steel Minister and five-time Congress Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife, Pratibha Singh, former Congress MP. The “evidence” -- a two-decade old audio recording which allegedly contains the Singhs’ conversation with a retired bureaucrat, now dead, about money transactions. It’s an act of “political vendetta”, responds Singh, while Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal rubbishes it on grounds that the voice in the CD is confirmed by the Central Forensic Science Laboratory. Interestingly, the said CD was released by Virbhadra’s friend-turned-foe former Minister Vijay Singh Mankotia way back in May 2007. Even as the top leaders battle it out, Congress workers in Shimla are gearing up for the fight and lodge protests for the “frivolous” charges and the BJP is all set to go on the offensive on the issue of corruption. Will the law take its own course? 

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Imphal on The Boil

Fake encounters have now set Manipur’s Imphal on fire. The Capital in this North-eastern State has been put under indefinite curfew following widespread violence, leaving 40 protestors injured in clashes with the police. The protests erupted after a Delhi weekly carried photographs showing a former People’s Liberation Army (PLA) militant, ostensibly killed in a police encounter, unarmed.  Leading the protestors to surmise that he was killed in cold blood. Worse, a pregnant woman too was killed in an alleged fake encounter. As a result of the protests, normal life has been disrupted for the past 48 hours, with shops and business establishments closed and transport services between Manipur and neighbouring States cancelled. To prevent the protests from spilling to adjoining areas, Chief Minister Ibobi Singh has ordered a judicial probe by a sitting judge of the Gauhati High Court. Will this suffice?

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Assam Cong Upbeat

The Congress in Assam has reason to be upbeat. It has won the municipal elections with a thumping majority in the State. The Party, under Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, outshone its rivals by huge margins. It won 408 seats as against Asom Gana Parishad’s 87 and BJP’s 59 tally. Importantly, the State Election Commission statistics show that the while the Congress won a majority in 20 municipal committees, the AGP and the BJP managed to do so only in one each. In town committees too, the Congress was way ahead of its competitors, reposing its confidence of “people’s acceptability” after the Lok Sabha poll, wherein it had got one seat less than its 2004 tally. Both the AGP and BJP have reason to be worried, not only for the drubbing they got but the fact that even the Independents’ tally of 89 was better than theirs!

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Maharashtra’s Dalit Plan

Maharashtra will take the lead in curbing atrocities strictly against Dalits, if its recent decision is effectively implemented and yields desired results. Early this week, the State Government resolved to invoke tough provisions of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989, and fine an entire village if an atrocity is reported from there. This apart, the Administration could hold back the development funds of the village. The decision follows statistics revealing a steady increase in the number of atrocities against the SCs:  from 689 in 2004 to 844 in 2005, 1,001 in 2006 and 1,173 in 2008. Atrocities against STs, too ranged between 233 and 286 during the same period. While the villages will form their own vigilance committees, the District Magistrates have been asked to implement the provisions strictly. With the State having the second largest Dalit population after Uttar Pradesh, will BSP supremo Mayawati follow suit instead of building statues only? 

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 States Review 3-tier Education System

The Human Resource Development Ministry’s proposal to set up educational tribunals may require some reworking, as the Bill is currently being examined by the States. While initial reactions from States to the concept of tribunals have been positive, there appears to be some disagreement over the three-tier system. At the bottom of this structure is the district educational tribunal, which envisages a tribunal in each district, so that complaints from the area can be heard. Few States, including Gujarat and Orissa have objected to this district tribunal on grounds that there won’t be enough work to merit a separate body. This is so because each higher education institution is supposed to have a grievance redressal mechanism as it is and the district tribunal may be superfluous. Instead, a two-tier system would suffice.---INFA

OPEN FORUM

New Delhi, 3 August 2009

Foreign Office Challenges

NEED FOR OUT-OF-BOX IDEAS

By Prakash Nanda

On assuming charge on 1 August, the new Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, said that “though our foreign service counts among the best in the world, in a rapidly evolving world situation, the task is to further augment our diplomatic and professional capabilities as we are called upon to play an even more prominent role in world affairs. This will be an important area of focus in my new responsibilities”.

Although, Rao did not say it in so many words, it is undeniable that that apart from the continuing relevance of traditional diplomacy, which, in essence, deals with political and security interests of the country, economic diplomacy, environmental diplomacy, public diplomacy, increasing need of accountability of the Foreign Office to the Parliament and media are all equally significant in this age of globalisation.

The new Foreign Secretary has expressed confidence that she is looking forward to dealing with all these complicated issues and that her task is going to be “absorbing”. While one wishes her all the best, it is relevant to ponder over whether the ever-increasing inter-actions of New Delhi with the outside world should be the sole responsibility of the Indian Foreign Office.

If the country has done well by the Government not holding any more “the commanding heights of economy”, will it not be better if likewise the Foreign Office changes its mindset of occupying the commanding heights in matters pertaining to external affairs and shares the responsibility with other organisations, both Governmental and private?

This is not to suggest that the Foreign Office is no more relevant. The point is that as is happening in other parts of the world, the Foreign Office can retain the driving seat in the country’s international behaviour by metamorphosing itself “from the role of the gate-keeper, to that of the coordinator”.

In fact, some foreign offices have already evolved to the next stage, “the networked catalyst”. For instance, Germany has allowed its provinces to deal in many matters directly with European Union. Some border-provinces in China have been empowered to deal with the neighboring countries on some economic matters.

So has been the case with many ASEAN and Latin American countries. In fact, Australia has gone to the extent of replacing its trade commissioners in its American consulates with US nationals under the belief that they would better sell the Australian products and interests --- and thus save money!

Secondly, as the U.S. and leading European nations have proved, it is much more productive if the inputs to the foreign policy-making come freely from media, think tanks, universities and civil society.

Of course, in India these institutions, compared to their western counterparts, are relatively poor; and that is because most of them continue to be fed by the External Affairs Ministry in some form or the other (most of the personnel in our think tanks are former Government officials). Besides, the Official Secrets Act is a huge impediment. It sustains broader closed-door culture of the foreign policy bureaucracy that must be eliminated.

But it is a transitory phase and these non-Governmental institutions are bound to play a more decisive role in days to come through the judicious use of the 2005 Right to Information (RTI) Act that might offer scholars a chance to access Government documents that have long remained off limits. 

Otherwise too, with the increasing globalisation of the country’s economy, foreign policy matters are now affecting the day-to-day lives of the ordinary citizens and thus becoming electoral issues. As a result, Parliament, unlike in the past, is witnessing more debates on foreign policy and its suggestions or inputs can no longer be ignored.       

On the other hand, it is equally worth questioning the health of the Foreign Office itself. The fact remains that the Indian Foreign Service (IFS), whose personnel run the Foreign Office and manage the country’s external relations, is a remarkably small service, given India’s global aspirations. With fewer than 800 professional diplomats (though total staff of the Ministry is about 3500, professional diplomats number about 700).

Not only that. It’s an annual budget of just over half a billion dollars in fiscal year 2006–07, the service is stretched across 119 resident missions and 49 consulates around the world. In contrast, the Chinese Foreign Office has a total strength of 4500 and the country spends 1.23 billion dollars every year. The corresponding figures for Germany are 6550 and 3.2 billion, UK 6001 and 3.7 billion, Japan 5500 and 2.92 billion, the US 19667 and 10 billion.

Additionally, though the IFS still attracts talented youngsters and has drawn platitudes for its competence, the overall impression in other State Capitals is that Indian diplomats are essentially reactive, not pro-active. American expert Stephen Cohen once titled a chapter on Indian diplomacy as “India which says No”, his reasoning being that Indian diplomats often reflect “a defensive arrogance and acute sensitivity to real and perceived slights”.

Unlike foreign services of the developed countries, the IFS does not have any provision for a lateral entry into the service at middle levels from think tanks, universities, corporate sector and media, even for short durations. It may be noted here that the U.S. allows a small number of positions in its Foreign Office to officers from other allied countries, including France and the UK, as a means to expose these officers to Washington’s labyrinthine bureaucracy.

The US also has a hiring category of “technical appointee,” designating individuals who are neither permanent civil servants nor political selections vetted by the White House. These technical appointees serve a maximum of four years and offer outside expertise --- academic, scientific, or private sector --- that might not otherwise reside in the bureaucracy. In return, appointees benefit from seeing the internal processes of the US Government. A programme of this sort in the IFS is worth considering.

Moreover, after 1966, no significant administrative reforms have been undertaken in the Foreign Office. Recall, that year the former MEA Secretary General N R Pillai, had presented a report, which has been partially implemented. In May 1983, the Samar Sen Committee gave a report on strengthening the Indian Missions abroad, but it was not implemented. 

In 2000, the then External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh had asked senior officials for a report on reforms in the service. His successor Yashwant Sinha who wanted to strengthen economic diplomacy, appointed a committee under NK Singh to suggest ways. But nothing came from the moves of these two Ministers. The reason? Neither of them stayed long as Foreign Minister to implement their ideas.

The moral of the story: It is time for fresh ideas and approaches. As an emerging global power, India must not hesitate to take all the remedial steps to reinforce all its diplomatic tools, including the foreign office. ----- INFA

(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)

OPEN FORUM

New Delhi, 3 August 2009

Foreign Office Challenges

NEED FOR OUT-OF-BOX IDEAS

By Prakash Nanda

On assuming charge on 1 August, the new Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, said that “though our foreign service counts among the best in the world, in a rapidly evolving world situation, the task is to further augment our diplomatic and professional capabilities as we are called upon to play an even more prominent role in world affairs. This will be an important area of focus in my new responsibilities”.

Although, Rao did not say it in so many words, it is undeniable that that apart from the continuing relevance of traditional diplomacy, which, in essence, deals with political and security interests of the country, economic diplomacy, environmental diplomacy, public diplomacy, increasing need of accountability of the Foreign Office to the Parliament and media are all equally significant in this age of globalisation.

The new Foreign Secretary has expressed confidence that she is looking forward to dealing with all these complicated issues and that her task is going to be “absorbing”. While one wishes her all the best, it is relevant to ponder over whether the ever-increasing inter-actions of New Delhi with the outside world should be the sole responsibility of the Indian Foreign Office.

If the country has done well by the Government not holding any more “the commanding heights of economy”, will it not be better if likewise the Foreign Office changes its mindset of occupying the commanding heights in matters pertaining to external affairs and shares the responsibility with other organisations, both Governmental and private?

This is not to suggest that the Foreign Office is no more relevant. The point is that as is happening in other parts of the world, the Foreign Office can retain the driving seat in the country’s international behaviour by metamorphosing itself “from the role of the gate-keeper, to that of the coordinator”.

In fact, some foreign offices have already evolved to the next stage, “the networked catalyst”. For instance, Germany has allowed its provinces to deal in many matters directly with European Union. Some border-provinces in China have been empowered to deal with the neighboring countries on some economic matters.

So has been the case with many ASEAN and Latin American countries. In fact, Australia has gone to the extent of replacing its trade commissioners in its American consulates with US nationals under the belief that they would better sell the Australian products and interests --- and thus save money!

Secondly, as the U.S. and leading European nations have proved, it is much more productive if the inputs to the foreign policy-making come freely from media, think tanks, universities and civil society.

Of course, in India these institutions, compared to their western counterparts, are relatively poor; and that is because most of them continue to be fed by the External Affairs Ministry in some form or the other (most of the personnel in our think tanks are former Government officials). Besides, the Official Secrets Act is a huge impediment. It sustains broader closed-door culture of the foreign policy bureaucracy that must be eliminated.

But it is a transitory phase and these non-Governmental institutions are bound to play a more decisive role in days to come through the judicious use of the 2005 Right to Information (RTI) Act that might offer scholars a chance to access Government documents that have long remained off limits. 

Otherwise too, with the increasing globalisation of the country’s economy, foreign policy matters are now affecting the day-to-day lives of the ordinary citizens and thus becoming electoral issues. As a result, Parliament, unlike in the past, is witnessing more debates on foreign policy and its suggestions or inputs can no longer be ignored.       

On the other hand, it is equally worth questioning the health of the Foreign Office itself. The fact remains that the Indian Foreign Service (IFS), whose personnel run the Foreign Office and manage the country’s external relations, is a remarkably small service, given India’s global aspirations. With fewer than 800 professional diplomats (though total staff of the Ministry is about 3500, professional diplomats number about 700).

Not only that. It’s an annual budget of just over half a billion dollars in fiscal year 2006–07, the service is stretched across 119 resident missions and 49 consulates around the world. In contrast, the Chinese Foreign Office has a total strength of 4500 and the country spends 1.23 billion dollars every year. The corresponding figures for Germany are 6550 and 3.2 billion, UK 6001 and 3.7 billion, Japan 5500 and 2.92 billion, the US 19667 and 10 billion.

Additionally, though the IFS still attracts talented youngsters and has drawn platitudes for its competence, the overall impression in other State Capitals is that Indian diplomats are essentially reactive, not pro-active. American expert Stephen Cohen once titled a chapter on Indian diplomacy as “India which says No”, his reasoning being that Indian diplomats often reflect “a defensive arrogance and acute sensitivity to real and perceived slights”.

Unlike foreign services of the developed countries, the IFS does not have any provision for a lateral entry into the service at middle levels from think tanks, universities, corporate sector and media, even for short durations. It may be noted here that the U.S. allows a small number of positions in its Foreign Office to officers from other allied countries, including France and the UK, as a means to expose these officers to Washington’s labyrinthine bureaucracy.

The US also has a hiring category of “technical appointee,” designating individuals who are neither permanent civil servants nor political selections vetted by the White House. These technical appointees serve a maximum of four years and offer outside expertise --- academic, scientific, or private sector --- that might not otherwise reside in the bureaucracy. In return, appointees benefit from seeing the internal processes of the US Government. A programme of this sort in the IFS is worth considering.

Moreover, after 1966, no significant administrative reforms have been undertaken in the Foreign Office. Recall, that year the former MEA Secretary General N R Pillai, had presented a report, which has been partially implemented. In May 1983, the Samar Sen Committee gave a report on strengthening the Indian Missions abroad, but it was not implemented. 

In 2000, the then External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh had asked senior officials for a report on reforms in the service. His successor Yashwant Sinha who wanted to strengthen economic diplomacy, appointed a committee under NK Singh to suggest ways. But nothing came from the moves of these two Ministers. The reason? Neither of them stayed long as Foreign Minister to implement their ideas.

The moral of the story: It is time for fresh ideas and approaches. As an emerging global power, India must not hesitate to take all the remedial steps to reinforce all its diplomatic tools, including the foreign office. ----- INFA

(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)

Sunday Reading

New Delhi, 7 August 2009

Receding Glaciers

THREAT TO HIMALAYAS REAL

By RK Rao

 
The warning is coming true. The Himalayan glaciers are receding. A joint research study by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Pune University Department of Geology has revealed that the north western Himalayas has become warmer by 1.4 degree Celsius over the last one century. This steady and shocking warming, says the path-breaking study, has not only led to the “delay in the onset of winter but also a reduction in snowfall.”

Another interesting finding is the universally high rate of increase in both maximum and minimum temperatures in the past three decades in the north western Himalayan region. As against this, in other high altitude mountainous regions of the world, such as the Alps and the Rockies, the minimum temperature has increased more rapidly than the maximum.

It has also been made known that in many parts of Lahual and Spiti region in Himachal Pradesh, glaciers have been receding at a phenomenally quick pace. A study by Ahmedabad-based Space Applications Centre (SAC) of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has revealed that the size of Samudra Tapu glacier has receded by 862 m between 1962 and 2005. And in the same region, since 1962 more than 100 glaciers of the size less than one sq.km have lost 38 per cent of their expanse.

Researchers drive home the point that the Himalayan glaciers, one of the largest expanse of glaciers outside the polar region, have receded by a substantial extent during the second half of the last century. According to R K Pachauri, Chairman, TERI, “Any evidence that glaciers are melting is a warning bell. We are seeing the phenomenon across the globe—the Arctic’s, the Andes, the Alps and now the Himalayas. It is likely to severely alter India’s fresh water balance and adversely impact food and energy production”. Indeed, the receding Himalayan glaciers are a grim warning that India can ignore only at its own peril.

On another front, the receding of the Gangotri glacier in the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand has resulted in the declining flow of water into the Ganga. Pictures taken by a string of remote-sensing satellites over the years have shown that the glacier shrinkage in the Himalayan region has been taking place in a progressive manner over the years. Other glaciers of importance including Pindari and Milarn are also going through the process of shrinkage. Worse, Ratnakona glacier is believed to be on the verge of disappearance.

Indeed, as pointed out by researchers, the unchecked shrinkage of  glaciers not only poses a severe threat to the Himalayan rivers but also to the plains of the thickly-populated North India, drained by major rivers such as the Ganga and Yamuna fed by the Himalayan glaciers. Along with global warming, human interference into the finely-tuned Himalayan eco system has added to the process of glacier shrinkage in the snow-clad ranges. In this context, a fact-filled study by the International Commission for Snow and Ice states: “Glaciers in the Himalayas are receding faster than in any other part of the world and if the present trend continues, the likelihood of their disappearing is quite high”.

It has been computed that glaciers in the Himalayan region cover about three million hectares and make up more than 15 per cent of the total mountain expanse. Environmental scientists drive home the point that 15,000-odd Himalayan glaciers support perennial rivers including Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra, all of which constitute the lifeline of a major part of the Indian sub continent. On another front, researchers note, the Himalayan glacial snowfields store about 12,000 cubic km of fresh water and exert a remarkable cooling effect on the entire region.

As it is, the glaciers on the western side of the Himalayas are fed by winter and summer precipitation. On the other hand, glaciers in the eastern and central parts of Himalayas are fed by winter and summer precipitation. Since the Himalayan glaciers carry large amounts of silt and sediment, more water would mean silting of the dams. This would, in turn, reduce the lifespan of the dams. As stated by experts, the melting of glaciers could also affect the diverse flora and fauna of the Himalayan eco system.

Against this backdrop, ecologists specializing in the Himalayan region highlight the need for an ideal blend of traditional and modern concepts to stem the tide of receding glaciers and restore their health. In fact, research studies based on the satellite imageries have shown that the process of glacier melting is enhanced by global warming. With the global warming steadily pushing up the average temperature, the Himalayan glaciers are likely to undergo extinction at a faster pace.

On the global front, alarm bells are ringing over the fact that all the glaciers that flow into the seas off the Antarctica peninsula are fast receding. This remarkable shrinkage of Antarctica glaciers was noticed from the analysis of data in the form of satellite images and aerial photos covering a period of half a century. “Fifty years ago, most of glaciers were growing in length but the pattern is now reversed and the glaciers are fast shrinking” confirms the British Antarctica Survey (BAS).

Glaciers that drain inland ice on the Antarctica peninsula, a region previously identified as vulnerable to global warming, too are shrinking fast and more than 85 per cent in this part of South Pole are known to have broken part over the last one century, say researchers. Across the world, over the past five years the diminishing of glaciers has grown by an average of 30-metres. Antarctica, the fifth largest continent in the world, contributes more than 90 per cent of the world’s ice most of it is above the sea level. In the event of even a small fraction of the ice cap in Antarctica melting, it could result in a serious threat to low-lying areas including islands and coastal settlements. It is about time the world comes together to save the glaciers from extinction. Global action on a war-footing is the need of the hour. ---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)