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Bank Employees Blackmail:NPA BUCK STOPS AT STAFF DOOR, by Shivaji Sarkar, 7 August 2009 |
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ECONOMIC
HIGHLIGHTS
New
Delhi, 7 August 2009
Bank Employees Blackmail
NPA BUCK STOPS AT STAFF DOOR
By Shivaji Sarkar
It is the worst blackmail of 110
crore people by 10 lakh bank employees. They have no rationale to go on strike
as their major demand for 17.5% increase of wages has been accepted. But no
sooner had the Indian Banks Association accepted it that they jacked up the
demand to 20%. Clearly, a gross irresponsible attitude.
Since employees in different sectors
have got a raise, the demand cannot be outrightly rejected. The bank employees,
however, have a limited claim. They are only managers of people’s money put in
their custody. They hardly earn. They are only known to lose. They are also
responsible for the high non-performing assets (NPA) --- literally losses.
Holding the nation to ransom for two
days has cost the nation billions. It has affected national and international
trade. It has caused immense problem for thousands of job seekers who have to
arrange for bank drafts and traders who have to arrange for bank guarantees and
payments.
It also raises doubts about the
credibility of the system. Such irresponsible attitude also leads to the growth
of the parallel subterranean sectors like hawala and hundis. The
subterranean sectors have been growing over decades primarily because of their
efficient functioning that is not known to break-down.
The Basel II norms --- the
principles set for making banking more credible and efficient --- have not made
much difference to the banking system in the country. On paper most of the
Indian banks have improved on their capital adequacy ratio in line with the
global Basel II norms. But the staff has not been able to do much to reduce the
NPAs. Instead, scandalously the NPAs have increased by 25.67% in the case of 14
scheduled public sector banks.
Undoubtedly, the present losses due
to the strike have to be quantified. The inefficiency of the staff has also
made the banking operators increase their charges indiscriminately making it
one of the most expensive banking system’s in the world. It is oppressively
expensive for a nation that has almost 70% people out of the banking system.
The high cost has made it unaffordable.
Sadly, the staff does not consider
it their responsibility to make the system affordable. The losses are mounted
on the nation. Being organized, the staff thus extracts whatever pound of flesh
they want.
Not for them the fact that the bank
staff is supposed to protect the wealth of their custodians. Instead, they are
breaking into it, weakening the national financial system and pushing the
country back on its quest for progress.
Importantly, an ASSOCHAM study has
expressed concern over the risk management practices of the banks. It said that
the net non-performing assets of 14 commercial banks, in absolute terms, have
increased by 25.70%. Wherein the Gross NPAs of banks rose from Rs. 283.9258
billion ($7.47 billion) to Rs. 321.2948 billion ($8.45 billion) between
2007-2008.
The maximum rise of 266% in net NPAs was witnessed by the
Punjab National Bank in the third Quarter of 2007-08, followed by the Centurion
Bank of Punjab with an increase by 125%, ICICI Bank 77%, Vijaya Bank 49%, HDFC
Bank 37.46% and the State Bank of India 25%.
In simple terms this means that the
staff has virtually misappropriated Rs 32100 crores. Since the banks are in the
public sector and even the private banks deal in public money, the losses are
dumped on the users conveniently. The recent Lehman Brothers and AIG debacle in
the US
has not taught the sector any lesson.
Additionally, an employee in a
sector gets a raise based on the factors of the prevailing price rise,
performance and profits of the sector.
The bank employees qualify only on the first count. Yes, they have
qualified for the dole because of high food and consumer price inflation. On
all other counts they have miserably failed.
Needless to say, the Indian Bank
Association (IBA) has taken the decision of granting 17.5% hike without taking
the nation into confidence. Can the bank users afford this kind of illogical
raise when their actual wealth is shrinking? The IBA should not function like a
cartel. It has to function in the interest of depositors and other users. Its
functioning in managing the banks has also been questioned. Before accepting the
grant of any raise it should have consulted with the people on whose money they
do business.
The negotiations would be on for
quite some time. The IBA needs to stress on the cost of sharing the losses. The
wage agreements have to be transparent. Since the society can bear the cost
only in a limited manner of less than 0.10%, the cost of the losses must be
dumped on the staff and officers at a proportion that needs to be decided. The
staff and officers should be told that every gain has its risks as well and
they could not evade that.
The settlements of the NPAs must be
done every year. This would also have a salutary effect. The officers and staff
would feel more responsible while handling public money. They would treat the
bank customers with more respect and hopefully harass them less.
The employees are correct in
demanding the pension. The financial sector at the prompting of the stock
market wants pension to be linked to the equity market. This puts public money
again at high risk and it adds to the profits of the manipulators. This demand
of the bank employees should be accepted and the pension must not be left to
the speculators.
The wage agreements should have
checks both on the employees as well as the employers. If employees have to pay
for operational losses, the employer also does not have right to play with the
money of employees --- pension after all is deferred wages and not a dole.
The IBA and employees are both
responsible for the present morass and they need to settle it without dumping
any cost on the nation. ---- INFA
(Copyright,
India News & Feature Alliance)
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First N-Submarine Launched:INDIA UPS ANTE ON COASTAL SECURITY,Radhakrishna Rao, 3 August 2009 |
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DEFENCE NOTES
New
Delhi, 3 August 2009
First N-Submarine
Launched
INDIA UPS ANTE ON COASTAL SECURITY
By Radhakrishna Rao
India’s first indigenously developed
nuclear-powered submarine INS Arihant (destroyer of enemies)equipped with
twelve K-15 ballistic missile with a range of 700-kms was launched on 26
July by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Speaking at the function held as
part of the launching of the submarine at the Eastern Naval Command in Visakhapatnam, the Prime Minister observed that India had finally joined the elite group of five
countries, US, UK, Russia, France
and China,
capable of building nuclear-powered under-sea vessels.
The 110-mt long, 11-metre wide INS Arihant
capable of displacing 6,000 tons of water will have to go through harbour, sea
and weapons trials before becoming fully operational and this process is
expected to take a minimum of two years for completion.
Designed and developed by the Indian Navy, the Bhaba
Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and the Defence Research and Development
Organisation (DRDO) with Russian assistance and participation of a number of
Indian industries, the INS Arihant powered with a 85-MW miniaturized nuclear
reactor can acquire surface speeds of
22-28 kmph and submerged speed of up to 44-kmph.
Incidentally, Manmohan Singh and
Defence Minister Antony made a special
mention of the of the Russian contribution that helped India realize a
”historic milestone” in the challenging enterprise of building a nuclear submarine through the route of public-private
partnership.
Significantly, the INS Arihant, which marks
25 years long diligent research work and determined developmental efforts, in
the face of a global technology denial regime, was originally conceived in 1971
after China
launched its own nuclear submarine. However, the development of the submarine
could only be taken up in 1984 as part of the Advanced Technology vessel (ATC)
project with the support of the erstwhile Soviet Union.
But its break-up in the early 1990s slowed down the INS Arihant’s development.
Asserted Vice Admiral (Rtd) D.S.P.Verma, who heads the ATV project, “Because of
the technology denial, everything was built from a scratch”.
Importantly, the Prime Minister underscored
the need for vigilant coastal security. Said he: “The sea is becoming
increasingly relevant in the context of India’s security interests and we
must readjust our military preparedness to this changing environment.”
Clearly, the INS Arihant has helped India take a
major step towards completing the third leg of its nuclear triad — the ability
to fire nukes from land, air and sea. The first two legs of the triad in the
form of bombers like the SU-30MKI capable of delivering nuclear weapons and
Agni series of road and rail mobile missiles are already in place.
As it is, the doctrine of nuclear triad is
quite crucial to India’s
defence since the country has declared the “no first use of nuclear weapons.”
By all count, our weapons system should be sturdy enough to survive the impact
of a first strike for immediate retaliation.
Eventually, the US$2.9b Arihant will have
its K-15 ballistic missiles (also called Sagarika) replaced by a 3,500-km range
K-X class missile. “This is a very big capability. It means we can launch
missiles with nuclear warheads from ground, drop nuclear bombs from air and
also fire them from under sea” said sources in the DRDO.
As things stand now, the INS Arihant could
help India
possess a blue water navy capable of exercising its influence over a vast
stretch of the oceanic waters. For this leviathan packed with a miniature
nuclear reactor can keep moving stealthily in the depth of water for a long
time.
In distinct contrast, a diesel-powered
submarine which is required to move up to the surface everyday for ejecting
carbon dioxide produced by the generator and recharging can easily be detected
by the adversaries. Pointed out a DRDO official, “The turbine operating on
enriched uranium in the INS Arihant is a clean system. But a diesel generator
emits carbon dioxide. You cannot discharge it into the water. So the submarine
has to be brought up to the surface every day to eject carbon dioxide into the
atmosphere”.
Alarmed by the massive Chinese naval
build-up, India has unveiled a plan to posses three more nuclear submarines
modeled on the Russian Akula class under-sea
vessels to realize its goal of Blue Water Navy equipped with a second
strike capability.
However, India’s submarine fleet pales into
insignificance compared to the over 100 submarines, including many
nuclear-powered submarines, being operated by the Chinese navy which is now
preparing to challenge the US dominance of the global oceanic waters.
On its part, New Delhi
has entered into an agreement with Moscow
for the leasing of two nuclear-power Nerpa submarines for a period of 10 years.
The delivery schedule of the Nerpa to the Indian navy has been hit by a mishap
the Russian nuke submarine sustained during under-sea trials.
Besides, a number of Indian private sector
companies have significantly contributed to the realization of the Arihant. The
heavy engineering giant L&T’s Hazira complex began steel-cutting for the
submarine’s construction in 1998 when former President Kalam was the Defence
Minister’s scientific adviser.
According to L&T sources, its submarine
design centre used the latest 3D modeling and product data management software.
“Launching the Arihant is a great event for the nation because we are in the
select club of countries having a nuclear-powered submarine” said
Dr.A.Sivathanu Pillai, DRDO’s Chief Controller (Research and Development).
The 85 MW Pressurized Heavy Water (PHW)
reactor for the submarine was designed and developed by BARC. Though the
country has rich experience in building PHW rectors based on natural uranium as
fuel and heavy water as coolant, the reactor used in the INS Arihant utilizes
enriched uranium as fuel and light water as both coolant and moderator. There
is no gainsaying, this is the first time that India’s nuclear establishment has
built such a reactor.
Meanwhile, Pakistan has termed the
induction of INS Arihant into the Indian Navy as a “destabilizing step” and
said it was capable of defending itself in the face of all such challenges .A
statement issued by Pakistan’s External Affairs Ministry in Islamabad said,
“without entering into an arms race with India, Pakistan will take all
appropriate steps to safeguard its security and maintain strategic balance in
South Asia”. ----- INFA
(Copyright,
India News & Feature Alliance)
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Swine Flu Death:STATES ON HIGH ALERT, by Insaf, 6 August 2009 |
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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?
* * * *
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?
* * * *
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?
* * * *
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!
* * * *
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?
* * * *
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
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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Foreign Office Challenges:NEED FOR OUT-OF-BOX IDEAS, by Prakash Nanda,3 August 2009 |
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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)
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Foreign Office Challenges:NEED FOR OUT-OF-BOX IDEAS, by Prakash Nanda,3 August 2009 |
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|
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)
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