US perfidy and Manmohan
By M.V. Kamath
Organiser
If the Prime Minister who is so supportive of the US does not know it, only God and a powerful public opinion can save the country from imminent disaster. India should have its own foreign policy and it should implement it with determination.
We don’t have to be carried away by sweet talk. If the US wants any help, it must uphold India’s right to be a Permanent Member of the Security Council with veto power. It is time Britain and France are shown the door.
How much trust can we place in the United States? And who speaks authoritatively for the country? From what one notices, the Obama Government speaks in many voices. US Under Secretary of State William Burns who was in India early in June, told a press conference that the resolution of the Kashmir dispute should take into account the “wishes” of the people of the state, an impertinence that deserves to be strongly condemned.
The question of holding a plebiscite is totally irrelevant and under no circumstances will India agree to it. But there has hardly been any correction of Shri Burns’ faux pas from Washington, leaving one guessing what the Obama Government is upto.
Or consider this: Addressing a meeting of the top American and Indian Corporate Executives in Washington on June 10, US Secretary of State Clinton said that she saw India as “one of a few key partners worldwide who will help us shape the 21st Century” adding that “India is already a major player on the world stage and we look to cooperate with New Delhi as it shoulders responsibilities in its new position of global leadership”.
But will the US support India’s claim to Permanent Membership of the UN Security Council? It certainly wouldn’t, of what Acting Assistant Secretary for International Organisations, James Warlick, is to be believed.
According to him “We (the US) do not support extension of the veto in the UN Security Council”. So what kind of responsibilities can India shoulder without veto power as a Permanent Member of the Security Council?
And may one also ask: In what sense are England and France superior to India? They should be asked voluntarily to retire from the Security Council or debarred from membership by a majority vote in the General Assembly. And if China can have the veto, why shouldn’t India? If it is to play a role that Secretary of State Clinton assigns to it? Does Hillary Clinton want India to play second fiddle to the US, a larger replica of Pakistan?
Shri Burns was even more brash. He asked India to close down the Indian Consulate in Jalalabad in Afghanistan because of Pakistani complaint that India is “fomenting trouble” through that Consulate in the North West Frontier Province and Baluchistan? Can India ask the US to tell Pakistan to shift its capital from Islamabad to Karachi because Islamabad is causing trouble in Jammu & Kashmir? Who is Shri Burns to advise us where we should set up our Consulates?
The US does not want Iran to equip itself with nuclear weapons, but it is turning a blind eye to what is happening in Pakistan which is expanding its nuclear arsenal by leaps and bounds? And yet America is pouring billions of dollars into Islamabad’s kitty. Pakistan already has 60 nuclear weapons in its arsenal and is working hard to produce more. There is not a word of protest from Washington on the subject.
According to US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, the United States will look to India to be “a net provider of security in the Indian Ocean and beyond”. That is nice of him to say so, but has Shri Gates given any thought to India’s internal security problem?
According to the latest findings, Pakistan is hosting 42 terror camps where over 2,000 terrorists belonging to the Lashkar-e-Taibe, Jaish-e-Mohammad and HuJi are getting training.
Has Shri Gates given the matter any thought? Washington speaks with a forked tongue. It has promised to give $ 7.5 billion to Pakistan over the course of the next five years, forgetting that Pakistan has used a substantial amount of aid given to it in the past to fight terrorism only to build up its own arms with modern weapons and equipment for conventional war against India. And who has revealed this truth? A Pentagon document, that’s who.
According to revelations by the Pentagon documents, all this was done with the full knowledge of the Bush Administration. It would seem that a major 9/11 American defence supply to Pakistan under Foreign Military Financing (FMF) had nothing to do with its fight against terrorism.
While the Taliban and Al-Qaeda gained ground in the tribal areas of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan, Islamabad bought eight P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft and their refurbishment worth $ 474 million. It also placed orders for 5,250 TOW anti-armour missiles worth $ 186 million. Besides buying more than, 5,600 military radio sets worth $ 163 million, Pakistan bought six AN/TPS surveillance radars worth $ 76 million. It is a long list of purchases which includes 500 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles, 1,450 bombs of 2,000 lbs each, 500 JDM tail kits for gravity bombs and 100 Harpoon anti-ship missiles worth $ 95 million, not to mention six Phalanx close-in naval guns worth $ 80 million. Does the Taliban or for that matter, Al-Qaeda run ships as well? Who is fooling whom?
Then we have reports that the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of the Government of India has marked more than 200 transactions in the country as ‘terror-financed’ under circumstances of “unusual complexity and lack of bona fide purpose”.
Will Smt Hillary Clinton kindly ask her friends in Pakistan how they spend the money given to them as aid by the US? At every stage of the game the United States is proving itself to highly unreliable.
On May 20, 2009 The Times of India reported from Washington that the “US has again given what virtually amounts to a free pass to Pakistan’s India-specific nuclear weapons programme, washing its hands of reports by its own military and intelligence that Islamabad is rapidly expanding its nuclear arsenal while insisting it will ensure US aid is not spent on the country’s nuclear programme”. And who was supporting Pakistan’s perfidy?
Writes The Times of India: “Most of the batting for Pakistan was done by the State Department, but the Director of the CIS, Leon Panetta and America’s highest ranking military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen also stepped up during their day’s engagements to certify the security of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons”. The New York Times in a front page story quoted Bruce Riedel, a former White House official as saying that Pakistan “has more terrorists per square mile than any place on earth and it has a nuclear weapons programme that is growing faster than any other place on earth”. India is being taken for a ride; all the smooth talk of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is hogwash.
If the Prime Minister who is so supportive of the US does not know it, only God and a powerful public opinion can save the country from imminent disaster.
India should have its own foreign policy and it should implement it with determination. We don’t have to be carried away by sweet talk. If the US wants any help, it must uphold India’s right to be a Permanent Member of the Security Council with veto power.
It is time Britain and France are shown the door. They have been in Security Council for far too long and they are no longer the powers they once where with their Imperial pretensions.
http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=301&page=14
Monday, July 20, 2009
Monday, July 13, 2009
** Warning about China
'Nervous' China may attack India by 2012?
July 12, 2009 - Rediff.com
A leading defence expert has projected that China will attack India by 2012 to divert the attention of its own people from "unprecedented" internal dissent, growing unemployment and financial problems that are threatening the hold of Communists in that country.
"China will launch an attack on India before 2012. There are multiple reasons for a desperate Beijing to teach India the final lesson, thereby ensuring Chinese supremacy in Asia in this century," Bharat Verma, Editor of the Indian Defence Review, has said.
Verma said the recession has "shut the Chinese exports shop", creating an "unprecedented internal social unrest" which in turn, was severely threatening the grip of the Communists over the society. Among other reasons for this assessment were rising unemployment, flight of capital worth billions of dollars, depletion of its foreign exchange reserves and growing internal dissent, Verma said in an editorial in the forthcoming issue of the premier defence journal.
In addition to this, "The growing irrelevance of Pakistan, their right hand that operates against India on their behest, is increasing the Chinese nervousness," he said, adding that US President Barak Obama's Af-Pak policy was primarily Pak-Af policy that has "intelligently set the thief to catch the thief".
Verma said Beijing was "already rattled, with its proxy Pakistan now literally embroiled in a civil war, losing its sheen against India." "Above all, it is worried over the growing alliance of India with the US and the West, because the alliance has the potential to create a technologically superior counterpoise. "All these three concerns of Chinese Communists are best addressed by waging a war against pacifist India to achieve multiple strategic objectives," he said.
While China "covertly allowed" North Korea to test underground nuclear explosion and carry out missile trials, it was also "increasing its naval presence in South China Sea to coerce into submission those opposing its claim on the Sprately Islands," the defence expert said. He said it would be "unwise" at this point of time for a recession-hit China to move against the Western interests, including Japan. "Therefore, the most attractive option is to attack a soft target like India and forcibly occupy its territory in the Northeast," Verma said.
But India is "least prepared" on ground to face the Chinese threat, he says and asks a series of questions on how will India respond to repulse the Chinese game plan or whether Indian leadership would be able to "take the heat of war".
"Is Indian military equipped to face the two-front wars by Beijing and Islamabad? Is the Indian civil administration geared to meet the internal security challenges that the external actors will sponsor simultaneously through their doctrine of unrestricted warfare? "The answers are an unequivocal 'no'.
Pacifist India is not ready by a long shot either on the internal or the external front," the defence journal editor says.
In view of the "imminent threat" posed by China, "the quickest way to swing out of pacifism to a state of assertion is by injecting military thinking in the civil administration to build the sinews. That will enormously increase the deliverables on ground -- from Lalgarh to Tawang," he says.
http://www.rediff.com///news/2009/jul/12nervous-china-may-attack-india-in-2012-defence-expert.htm
July 12, 2009 - Rediff.com
A leading defence expert has projected that China will attack India by 2012 to divert the attention of its own people from "unprecedented" internal dissent, growing unemployment and financial problems that are threatening the hold of Communists in that country.
"China will launch an attack on India before 2012. There are multiple reasons for a desperate Beijing to teach India the final lesson, thereby ensuring Chinese supremacy in Asia in this century," Bharat Verma, Editor of the Indian Defence Review, has said.
Verma said the recession has "shut the Chinese exports shop", creating an "unprecedented internal social unrest" which in turn, was severely threatening the grip of the Communists over the society. Among other reasons for this assessment were rising unemployment, flight of capital worth billions of dollars, depletion of its foreign exchange reserves and growing internal dissent, Verma said in an editorial in the forthcoming issue of the premier defence journal.
In addition to this, "The growing irrelevance of Pakistan, their right hand that operates against India on their behest, is increasing the Chinese nervousness," he said, adding that US President Barak Obama's Af-Pak policy was primarily Pak-Af policy that has "intelligently set the thief to catch the thief".
Verma said Beijing was "already rattled, with its proxy Pakistan now literally embroiled in a civil war, losing its sheen against India." "Above all, it is worried over the growing alliance of India with the US and the West, because the alliance has the potential to create a technologically superior counterpoise. "All these three concerns of Chinese Communists are best addressed by waging a war against pacifist India to achieve multiple strategic objectives," he said.
While China "covertly allowed" North Korea to test underground nuclear explosion and carry out missile trials, it was also "increasing its naval presence in South China Sea to coerce into submission those opposing its claim on the Sprately Islands," the defence expert said. He said it would be "unwise" at this point of time for a recession-hit China to move against the Western interests, including Japan. "Therefore, the most attractive option is to attack a soft target like India and forcibly occupy its territory in the Northeast," Verma said.
But India is "least prepared" on ground to face the Chinese threat, he says and asks a series of questions on how will India respond to repulse the Chinese game plan or whether Indian leadership would be able to "take the heat of war".
"Is Indian military equipped to face the two-front wars by Beijing and Islamabad? Is the Indian civil administration geared to meet the internal security challenges that the external actors will sponsor simultaneously through their doctrine of unrestricted warfare? "The answers are an unequivocal 'no'.
Pacifist India is not ready by a long shot either on the internal or the external front," the defence journal editor says.
In view of the "imminent threat" posed by China, "the quickest way to swing out of pacifism to a state of assertion is by injecting military thinking in the civil administration to build the sinews. That will enormously increase the deliverables on ground -- from Lalgarh to Tawang," he says.
http://www.rediff.com///news/2009/jul/12nervous-china-may-attack-india-in-2012-defence-expert.htm
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
** Punjab Burnt for a day
Punjab Burnt for a Day
May 26, Sulekha Blog
Manmohan Singh
Every citizen including those belonged to Sikh faith at first instance surprised that how attack inside Gurdwara in Vienna ( Austria) is related to the instantaneous unrest in Punjab. People irrespective whether Sikh or Hindu came on the streets and expressed their anger.
First of all, the incidence of Gurdwara in which a saint belonging to Ravidasia faith lost his life and few others were wounded.
Here in Punjab. Agitating people were hailing from Ravidasia faith. Saint Ravidas hailing from south has got following amongst the backward class people of Punjab. Saint Ravidas holy work has got respectable place in holy book of Sikh faith Sri Guru Granth Sahib. Thus he stands amongst the others saints and gurus whose work is included in Sri Guru Granth Sahib.
This was not Sikhs versus Hindus. As it was not even when Punjab was burning in post Blue Star era ( 1984-1992 ) . Though at that time it was tried to divide the two main communities. They remained united. The reason being both communities believe in the teachings of Sikh gurus and bow against Sri Guru Granth Sahib , as this holy book contains the works of all Sikh , Hindu and Muslim saints. Not only that the common language bind them. Inter caste marriages are common in Punjab.
Ravidasis are backward, not accepted socially by high cast Sikhs (Jats agrarian class). These Ravidasis are landless laborers and workers though some of them have non agricultural industries like leather processing units.
These so called backward class people as generally feel rejected and dejected and whenever they find some reason to revolt they do it. Once their Saint is killed in Vienna they have valid reason to revolt.
Punjab government allowed the situation to worsen to be en cashed for the coming bye-election. Punjab policemen , who are otherwise considered very hard and public generally avoid and afraid of them , were found silently watching. Even not acting when they could easily in some pockets. May be not willing to invite the wrath of public against them also obeying their masters.
Properties worth of crores was destroyed not looted. To whom they are showing their anger. Destroying their own properties which are created by the government by using the contributed income of public in the form of taxes. Badly destroyed was the Maruti showroom at one place. All the high end models were damaged.
Whenever depressed class people get the chance to revolt, first they target the village Bania and his grain shop and loot it. They settle the score over Banias who they think loot the public silently since ages. Here the most damaged was the Maruti Showroom (definitely owned by some high caste businessman).
Agitators were from the section of youth, with no work, from the group of unemployed numbering 18 lacs in Punjab.
It is time to rethink, Gudwaras are meant for all, and in the same spirit Gurus include all the then religious saints irrespective of cast and creeds. Better upper class Jats they show equality to all as their gurus showed.
Some social orientation is needed. On the government part youth of the Punjab need work and employment. This is to be started now unless the things take ugly turn and politicians utilize the situation for their ends, with fresh wounds to be healed for the decades to come.
Caste Dividing Sikhs @ http://ibnlive.in.com/news/caste-cutting-clash-of-identities-dividing-sikhs/93465-3.html
http://newshopper.sulekha.com/blogs/post/2009/05/punjab-burnt-for-a-day.htm
May 26, Sulekha Blog
Manmohan Singh
Every citizen including those belonged to Sikh faith at first instance surprised that how attack inside Gurdwara in Vienna ( Austria) is related to the instantaneous unrest in Punjab. People irrespective whether Sikh or Hindu came on the streets and expressed their anger.
First of all, the incidence of Gurdwara in which a saint belonging to Ravidasia faith lost his life and few others were wounded.
Here in Punjab. Agitating people were hailing from Ravidasia faith. Saint Ravidas hailing from south has got following amongst the backward class people of Punjab. Saint Ravidas holy work has got respectable place in holy book of Sikh faith Sri Guru Granth Sahib. Thus he stands amongst the others saints and gurus whose work is included in Sri Guru Granth Sahib.
This was not Sikhs versus Hindus. As it was not even when Punjab was burning in post Blue Star era ( 1984-1992 ) . Though at that time it was tried to divide the two main communities. They remained united. The reason being both communities believe in the teachings of Sikh gurus and bow against Sri Guru Granth Sahib , as this holy book contains the works of all Sikh , Hindu and Muslim saints. Not only that the common language bind them. Inter caste marriages are common in Punjab.
Ravidasis are backward, not accepted socially by high cast Sikhs (Jats agrarian class). These Ravidasis are landless laborers and workers though some of them have non agricultural industries like leather processing units.
These so called backward class people as generally feel rejected and dejected and whenever they find some reason to revolt they do it. Once their Saint is killed in Vienna they have valid reason to revolt.
Punjab government allowed the situation to worsen to be en cashed for the coming bye-election. Punjab policemen , who are otherwise considered very hard and public generally avoid and afraid of them , were found silently watching. Even not acting when they could easily in some pockets. May be not willing to invite the wrath of public against them also obeying their masters.
Properties worth of crores was destroyed not looted. To whom they are showing their anger. Destroying their own properties which are created by the government by using the contributed income of public in the form of taxes. Badly destroyed was the Maruti showroom at one place. All the high end models were damaged.
Whenever depressed class people get the chance to revolt, first they target the village Bania and his grain shop and loot it. They settle the score over Banias who they think loot the public silently since ages. Here the most damaged was the Maruti Showroom (definitely owned by some high caste businessman).
Agitators were from the section of youth, with no work, from the group of unemployed numbering 18 lacs in Punjab.
It is time to rethink, Gudwaras are meant for all, and in the same spirit Gurus include all the then religious saints irrespective of cast and creeds. Better upper class Jats they show equality to all as their gurus showed.
Some social orientation is needed. On the government part youth of the Punjab need work and employment. This is to be started now unless the things take ugly turn and politicians utilize the situation for their ends, with fresh wounds to be healed for the decades to come.
Caste Dividing Sikhs @ http://ibnlive.in.com/news/caste-cutting-clash-of-identities-dividing-sikhs/93465-3.html
http://newshopper.sulekha.com/blogs/post/2009/05/punjab-burnt-for-a-day.htm
Monday, May 18, 2009
** Verdict 2009
Verdict 2009: Happy and Unhappy
Undercurrents.ca
We are happy & also have reasons to be unhappy
Why we are happy:
The verdict was in clear numbers. The nation has been spared the trauma of horse-trading; it was agonizing to see constant bickering and jostling for power during the last regime. Now Governance however bad it could be is still possible. It must be a relief to operate the government without the black mail of the communist parties of India.
It also reflects on the maturity of the Indian voter that they have rejected regional parties overwhelmingly. It was quite scary the way they were threatening to tear the fabric apart. We are equally happy for AIIMS. They must be expecting with happiness a new health minister. We are happy for the minorities & “secularists” at the relief they are experiencing that NDA hasn’t come to power. We are happy that the temperate lady Ms.Jayalalitha hasn’t been given any grip on power. The nation has been spared another Tea party.
With this clear majority Mr.Man Mohan Singh may wean himself away from the title of weak prime minister. We are happy for him and congratulations on his “style”. He has made the Sikh community proud by negotiating himself to the position of the prime minister of India again.
Reasons why we are not happy:
Our primary grouse against congress government & its friends is that they have demonstrated on more then multiple occasion that it has an Anti-Hindu agenda.
Some examples: The free run it has given to evangelical forces who operate with such scant respect to Hindu religious sentiments, the persecution of people who defend Hinduism, the act of embossing national currency with a deceptive cross, the act of tampering with the “Ram Sethu”, the act of inviting Mr. Benny Hinn to Bangalore, the act of appointing Christian heads to Hindu institutions like the Kalashektra dance school & The Venkateswara university in Tirupati, the act of silently enabling the break down of Hindu rule in Nepal, the act of replacing the census chief just because he gave the right numbers on Muslim population explosion.
Their acts point to one direction, that the sentiments, aspirations of the Majority Hindus can be brushed under the carpet while at the same time excessive importance is given even to the mildest whim of the minorities.
That mindset gives us reason for apprehension. The re-election of congress government would mean a renewal of attacks on Hindu religious practices & institutions by a combination of forces. This would also mean opening the doors fully for evangelists to operate with government patron.
The Indian voter has seen the election purely from an Indian stability point of view, which is quite mature. The Indian voter either due to or in spite of his illiteracy and poverty has done which no voter in any other part of the world would do. The Indian voter has “voted” for an outsider to rule them. That is a characteristic so peculiar to the Indian sub-continent. They seem to have an affinity to things foreign. The Indian cricket team has a foreign coach; the Indian congress has a foreigner as its chief.
The congress chief is not a Hindu. Her daughter and son in law is not a Hindu. Her son may not marry a Hindu. Will any European or American nation ever vote a Non Christian and most importantly a Hindu as their party chief? Mr. Bobby Jindal had to convert to Christianity to be where he is now. It is a cause of worry that power in India is now in the hands of a person who professes a faith that is surely not Hindu friendly. We now worry that our religious instititutions would be wearied and torn down systematically. Any act of defending against such government action would be dealt as a law and order issue.
Why are we pro BJP? Is it because they have great governance? No because they fare equally good or bad as the congress in governance and administration. (With the exception of Gujarat) With BJP in power we are ensured that Hinduism is safe.
If the congress government can demonstrate that it can be a truly secular party, then we would support it totally. But they have a strong Christian agenda which is threatening to a Hindu. They would do anti-Hindu things in India what right wing Christians can only dream to do in the west.
Because unlike India there is a strong commitment to public civility in the west.
For centuries Hindus were ruled by sword and deceit. They had a brief respite from foreign rule when the great Mahatma under exceptional circumstances produced exceptional leadership qualities and won freedom from the British. Now the same Hindus are giving away their freedom by democratic means.
In spite of their rhetoric, and numbers the BJP isn’t yet a party that has a passion and hunger for power the way the congress does. Elections are not just about ideologies, but most importantly the art of gaining and retaining power. BJP seems to be on a learning curve in the art of holding and retaining power. That was also the principal point of difference between Mr. Paul Martin & Jean Chrétien of the Liberal party of Canada.
We hope that the BJP would come out with a good plan to open accounts in states they haven’t so far. However BJP is a young party. The majority of India are Hindus, and a young new Vajpayee is waiting to emerge from the millions of Hindus to take the country in the right direction.
With this verdict we don’t foresee any big changes in the day to day life of the Indian voter. Corruption shall flourish, infrastructure shall remain what it is, defense will languish, the appeasement of minorities will continue, terrorism shall be tolerated, and the poor man shall be kept in waiting…the way things were for the past 50 years.
We congratulate the majority Hindu population of India who were more open hearted then their western counterparts and welcomed Ms.Sonia, an Italian, as their party chief. It now remains to be seen how she reciprocates.
source: http://theundercurrent.ca/ind_pol_11.htm?id=8522
Undercurrents.ca
We are happy & also have reasons to be unhappy
Why we are happy:
The verdict was in clear numbers. The nation has been spared the trauma of horse-trading; it was agonizing to see constant bickering and jostling for power during the last regime. Now Governance however bad it could be is still possible. It must be a relief to operate the government without the black mail of the communist parties of India.
It also reflects on the maturity of the Indian voter that they have rejected regional parties overwhelmingly. It was quite scary the way they were threatening to tear the fabric apart. We are equally happy for AIIMS. They must be expecting with happiness a new health minister. We are happy for the minorities & “secularists” at the relief they are experiencing that NDA hasn’t come to power. We are happy that the temperate lady Ms.Jayalalitha hasn’t been given any grip on power. The nation has been spared another Tea party.
With this clear majority Mr.Man Mohan Singh may wean himself away from the title of weak prime minister. We are happy for him and congratulations on his “style”. He has made the Sikh community proud by negotiating himself to the position of the prime minister of India again.
Reasons why we are not happy:
Our primary grouse against congress government & its friends is that they have demonstrated on more then multiple occasion that it has an Anti-Hindu agenda.
Some examples: The free run it has given to evangelical forces who operate with such scant respect to Hindu religious sentiments, the persecution of people who defend Hinduism, the act of embossing national currency with a deceptive cross, the act of tampering with the “Ram Sethu”, the act of inviting Mr. Benny Hinn to Bangalore, the act of appointing Christian heads to Hindu institutions like the Kalashektra dance school & The Venkateswara university in Tirupati, the act of silently enabling the break down of Hindu rule in Nepal, the act of replacing the census chief just because he gave the right numbers on Muslim population explosion.
Their acts point to one direction, that the sentiments, aspirations of the Majority Hindus can be brushed under the carpet while at the same time excessive importance is given even to the mildest whim of the minorities.
That mindset gives us reason for apprehension. The re-election of congress government would mean a renewal of attacks on Hindu religious practices & institutions by a combination of forces. This would also mean opening the doors fully for evangelists to operate with government patron.
The Indian voter has seen the election purely from an Indian stability point of view, which is quite mature. The Indian voter either due to or in spite of his illiteracy and poverty has done which no voter in any other part of the world would do. The Indian voter has “voted” for an outsider to rule them. That is a characteristic so peculiar to the Indian sub-continent. They seem to have an affinity to things foreign. The Indian cricket team has a foreign coach; the Indian congress has a foreigner as its chief.
The congress chief is not a Hindu. Her daughter and son in law is not a Hindu. Her son may not marry a Hindu. Will any European or American nation ever vote a Non Christian and most importantly a Hindu as their party chief? Mr. Bobby Jindal had to convert to Christianity to be where he is now. It is a cause of worry that power in India is now in the hands of a person who professes a faith that is surely not Hindu friendly. We now worry that our religious instititutions would be wearied and torn down systematically. Any act of defending against such government action would be dealt as a law and order issue.
Why are we pro BJP? Is it because they have great governance? No because they fare equally good or bad as the congress in governance and administration. (With the exception of Gujarat) With BJP in power we are ensured that Hinduism is safe.
If the congress government can demonstrate that it can be a truly secular party, then we would support it totally. But they have a strong Christian agenda which is threatening to a Hindu. They would do anti-Hindu things in India what right wing Christians can only dream to do in the west.
Because unlike India there is a strong commitment to public civility in the west.
For centuries Hindus were ruled by sword and deceit. They had a brief respite from foreign rule when the great Mahatma under exceptional circumstances produced exceptional leadership qualities and won freedom from the British. Now the same Hindus are giving away their freedom by democratic means.
In spite of their rhetoric, and numbers the BJP isn’t yet a party that has a passion and hunger for power the way the congress does. Elections are not just about ideologies, but most importantly the art of gaining and retaining power. BJP seems to be on a learning curve in the art of holding and retaining power. That was also the principal point of difference between Mr. Paul Martin & Jean Chrétien of the Liberal party of Canada.
We hope that the BJP would come out with a good plan to open accounts in states they haven’t so far. However BJP is a young party. The majority of India are Hindus, and a young new Vajpayee is waiting to emerge from the millions of Hindus to take the country in the right direction.
With this verdict we don’t foresee any big changes in the day to day life of the Indian voter. Corruption shall flourish, infrastructure shall remain what it is, defense will languish, the appeasement of minorities will continue, terrorism shall be tolerated, and the poor man shall be kept in waiting…the way things were for the past 50 years.
We congratulate the majority Hindu population of India who were more open hearted then their western counterparts and welcomed Ms.Sonia, an Italian, as their party chief. It now remains to be seen how she reciprocates.
source: http://theundercurrent.ca/ind_pol_11.htm?id=8522
Thursday, April 23, 2009
** India's 'Red Corridor'
Maoists rule India's 'Red Corridor'
By Sudha Ramachandran
Asia Times - April 24
BANGALORE - Indian Maoists hijacked a train with 800 passengers in the eastern state of Jharkhand on Wednesday morning. Although the crisis was defused within five hours, when the Maoists released the train and its passengers, the incident has sparked grave concern throughout the security establishment.
The ease with which the Maoists were able to stage an operation of this magnitude - and at a time when security has been tightened for general elections - has laid bare yet again that it is the Maoists' writ, not that of the government that runs through this part of the country. The train was on its way from Barkakana in Jharkhand to Mugalsarai in the neighboring state of Uttar Pradesh when it was hijacked near Hehegarha railway station in Latehar district.
Around 200 Maoists are said to have carried out the operation. A railway station in Palamu was bombed as well. In March 2006, a train was hijacked in the same district. Passengers were set free after 12 hours. The Indian Railways have been targeted repeatedly by the Maoists.
Besides holding-up trains, they have blasted railway tracks, burned railway stations, looted weapons from railway police and abducted personnel. No passengers were hurt in Wednesday's hijacking and hostage drama. The operation, which took place on the eve of the second part of India's month-long five-phase general election, was aimed at scaring voters into staying away from polling booths.
Maoists have called for a boycott of the polls in the states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Bihar. In a bid to disrupt polling during the first phase of voting last week, they detonated landmines, raided polling booths and torched electronic voting machines.
Around 20 people were killed and scores injured on polling day alone. Analysts have sought to downplay the impact of the Maoist's poll violence. Bibhu Prasad Routray, research fellow at the Delhi-based Institute for Conflict Management has written that "Maoist violence on April 16 affected a meager 0.09% (71) of the 76,000 polling stations that were identified as vulnerable in the first phase."
He argues that Maoists suffered damage in the violence they sought to inflict on the security forces in the run-up to voting. While the Maoists have carried out spectacular attacks and did disrupt polls to some extent, they were not fully successful in effecting a boycott.
Voter turnout in the constituencies worst hit by Maoist violence was a respectable 50%.
Maoist influence runs through a stretch of territory referred to as the "Red Corridor". This extends from the Telangana region in Andhra Pradesh through Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand up to Bihar. Areas in western Orissa and eastern Uttar Pradesh are also under Maoist influence. And they have some presence in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka as well.
The area where the Maoists operate has grown dramatically in recent years. In the early 1990s the number of districts affected by varying degrees of Maoist violence stood at just 15 in four states. This rose to 55 districts in nine states by the end of 2003 and to 156 districts in 13 states in 2004. Maoists are believed to be operating now in around 200 districts (of a total of 602 districts in the country) in 17 states.
Government officials point out that these statistics and the name Red Corridor have conjured up images of Maoists being in control of a large swathe of land and posing a threat to the Indian state. An official in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region told Asia Times Online that while the Maoists do control "some area" in Dantewada district and are able to carry out big attacks in several states, in most areas of the Red Corridor they operate as a hit-and-run force. "They do not threaten the government, either at the state or the federal level and they are nowhere near sparking off a general uprising," he said, drawing attention to the diminishing public support for the Maoists and increasing resistance to their diktats.
Human-rights activists argue that while the Maoist threat might "not have Delhi on its knees, it is a fact that the problem has laid bare India's failure to deliver good governance, to respond to the plight of the poorest and most marginalized sections of its population".
Unlike jihadi violence that comes from across the border in Pakistan, Maoist violence has its roots firmly in India. Indeed, the Maoist problem has left India red-faced. Districts that fall in the Red Corridor are rich in minerals like iron ore and bauxite. But the people living there, who are largely Adivasi or tribal are desperately poor.
Exploited by forest officials, contractors, mining companies and middlemen and neglected by the state, villagers in the Red Corridor are among the worst off in the country. And it is to liberate them from their oppressors and the Indian state that the Maoists claim to be waging their armed struggle. It is true the Maoists have improved life for the Adivasis by forcing local officials to dig wells or pay better wages to the villagers. But over time, the liberators have turned oppressors themselves.
Villagers who don't obey the Maoists have been killed and Maoist violence stands in the way of development projects. The scale of Maoist operations has grown dramatically over the years.
In November 2005, more than 1,000 Maoists stormed a jail in Jehanabad in Bihar and freed about 350 of their jailed comrades. Armories and camps of the police and paramilitary forces have been raided. A week ago, they signaled capacity to stand and fight the security forces.
Around 200 Maoists stormed a state-owned bauxite mining company in the eastern state of Orissa, taking around 100 employees hostage. They battled for more than nine hours with members of India's Special Operations Group and its Central Industrial Security Force before they finally retreated. Analysts have drawn attention to increasing Maoist attacks on infrastructure.
P Ramana, research fellow at the Delhi-based Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses, has pointed out that 62 telecommunication towers were damaged by the Maoists in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Orissa in from 2005 to 2008, with 43 of these occurring in 2008.
These attacks are aimed at disrupting "communication amongst the security forces, as well as between 'police informants' - who have been provided cellular telephones - and the security forces, in order that operations against the rebels get impaired," he writes.
The Maoists have also been blowing up power lines and service towers. In May 2007, they blew up three 132 KVA high-tension towers in the Bastar region, plunging six districts into darkness for a week and disrupting normal power distribution for a fortnight. "Functioning of hospitals, communication systems and rail traffic, besides iron ore mines was badly affected," Ramana points out. In June of last year, two 220 KVA towers were blasted depriving 15,000 villages of electricity.
Maoists have displayed their military capability through their high-profile attacks on railways and other infrastructure. They have been able to inflict losses running into millions of dollars on the state they are seeking to overthrow. But simultaneously they are inflicting heavy losses on the people they claim they are going to liberate. They have worsened the daily lives of some of India's most exploited people.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KD24Df05.html
By Sudha Ramachandran
Asia Times - April 24
BANGALORE - Indian Maoists hijacked a train with 800 passengers in the eastern state of Jharkhand on Wednesday morning. Although the crisis was defused within five hours, when the Maoists released the train and its passengers, the incident has sparked grave concern throughout the security establishment.
The ease with which the Maoists were able to stage an operation of this magnitude - and at a time when security has been tightened for general elections - has laid bare yet again that it is the Maoists' writ, not that of the government that runs through this part of the country. The train was on its way from Barkakana in Jharkhand to Mugalsarai in the neighboring state of Uttar Pradesh when it was hijacked near Hehegarha railway station in Latehar district.
Around 200 Maoists are said to have carried out the operation. A railway station in Palamu was bombed as well. In March 2006, a train was hijacked in the same district. Passengers were set free after 12 hours. The Indian Railways have been targeted repeatedly by the Maoists.
Besides holding-up trains, they have blasted railway tracks, burned railway stations, looted weapons from railway police and abducted personnel. No passengers were hurt in Wednesday's hijacking and hostage drama. The operation, which took place on the eve of the second part of India's month-long five-phase general election, was aimed at scaring voters into staying away from polling booths.
Maoists have called for a boycott of the polls in the states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Bihar. In a bid to disrupt polling during the first phase of voting last week, they detonated landmines, raided polling booths and torched electronic voting machines.
Around 20 people were killed and scores injured on polling day alone. Analysts have sought to downplay the impact of the Maoist's poll violence. Bibhu Prasad Routray, research fellow at the Delhi-based Institute for Conflict Management has written that "Maoist violence on April 16 affected a meager 0.09% (71) of the 76,000 polling stations that were identified as vulnerable in the first phase."
He argues that Maoists suffered damage in the violence they sought to inflict on the security forces in the run-up to voting. While the Maoists have carried out spectacular attacks and did disrupt polls to some extent, they were not fully successful in effecting a boycott.
Voter turnout in the constituencies worst hit by Maoist violence was a respectable 50%.
Maoist influence runs through a stretch of territory referred to as the "Red Corridor". This extends from the Telangana region in Andhra Pradesh through Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand up to Bihar. Areas in western Orissa and eastern Uttar Pradesh are also under Maoist influence. And they have some presence in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka as well.
The area where the Maoists operate has grown dramatically in recent years. In the early 1990s the number of districts affected by varying degrees of Maoist violence stood at just 15 in four states. This rose to 55 districts in nine states by the end of 2003 and to 156 districts in 13 states in 2004. Maoists are believed to be operating now in around 200 districts (of a total of 602 districts in the country) in 17 states.
Government officials point out that these statistics and the name Red Corridor have conjured up images of Maoists being in control of a large swathe of land and posing a threat to the Indian state. An official in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region told Asia Times Online that while the Maoists do control "some area" in Dantewada district and are able to carry out big attacks in several states, in most areas of the Red Corridor they operate as a hit-and-run force. "They do not threaten the government, either at the state or the federal level and they are nowhere near sparking off a general uprising," he said, drawing attention to the diminishing public support for the Maoists and increasing resistance to their diktats.
Human-rights activists argue that while the Maoist threat might "not have Delhi on its knees, it is a fact that the problem has laid bare India's failure to deliver good governance, to respond to the plight of the poorest and most marginalized sections of its population".
Unlike jihadi violence that comes from across the border in Pakistan, Maoist violence has its roots firmly in India. Indeed, the Maoist problem has left India red-faced. Districts that fall in the Red Corridor are rich in minerals like iron ore and bauxite. But the people living there, who are largely Adivasi or tribal are desperately poor.
Exploited by forest officials, contractors, mining companies and middlemen and neglected by the state, villagers in the Red Corridor are among the worst off in the country. And it is to liberate them from their oppressors and the Indian state that the Maoists claim to be waging their armed struggle. It is true the Maoists have improved life for the Adivasis by forcing local officials to dig wells or pay better wages to the villagers. But over time, the liberators have turned oppressors themselves.
Villagers who don't obey the Maoists have been killed and Maoist violence stands in the way of development projects. The scale of Maoist operations has grown dramatically over the years.
In November 2005, more than 1,000 Maoists stormed a jail in Jehanabad in Bihar and freed about 350 of their jailed comrades. Armories and camps of the police and paramilitary forces have been raided. A week ago, they signaled capacity to stand and fight the security forces.
Around 200 Maoists stormed a state-owned bauxite mining company in the eastern state of Orissa, taking around 100 employees hostage. They battled for more than nine hours with members of India's Special Operations Group and its Central Industrial Security Force before they finally retreated. Analysts have drawn attention to increasing Maoist attacks on infrastructure.
P Ramana, research fellow at the Delhi-based Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses, has pointed out that 62 telecommunication towers were damaged by the Maoists in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Orissa in from 2005 to 2008, with 43 of these occurring in 2008.
These attacks are aimed at disrupting "communication amongst the security forces, as well as between 'police informants' - who have been provided cellular telephones - and the security forces, in order that operations against the rebels get impaired," he writes.
The Maoists have also been blowing up power lines and service towers. In May 2007, they blew up three 132 KVA high-tension towers in the Bastar region, plunging six districts into darkness for a week and disrupting normal power distribution for a fortnight. "Functioning of hospitals, communication systems and rail traffic, besides iron ore mines was badly affected," Ramana points out. In June of last year, two 220 KVA towers were blasted depriving 15,000 villages of electricity.
Maoists have displayed their military capability through their high-profile attacks on railways and other infrastructure. They have been able to inflict losses running into millions of dollars on the state they are seeking to overthrow. But simultaneously they are inflicting heavy losses on the people they claim they are going to liberate. They have worsened the daily lives of some of India's most exploited people.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KD24Df05.html
Monday, April 20, 2009
** Crores in Secret Banks
http://election.rediff.com/inter/2009/apr/20/loksabhapolls-in-five-years-indians-stashed-rs-688000-cr-illegally.htm
'In 5 years, Indians stashed Rs 688,000 cr illegally'
April 20, 2009
S. Gurumurthy the leading chartered accountant who is also the convener of the Swadeshi Jagran Manch, is a member of the taskforce created by the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate L K Advani to bring back the black money stashed away in various banks outside India if the National Democratic Alliance is voted back to power.
The first report by the taskforce was released a few days ago. Other than Gurumurthy, those involved in the preparation of the report was former Intelligence Bureau director Ajit Kumar Doval, Dr R Vaidyanathan from the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore, and lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani, the BJP candidate from the Mumbai North-Central constituency.
In this exclusive interview with Shobha Warrier, Gurumurthy discusses tax havens, secret bank accounts and what the taskforce's plans are.
You are part of the taskforce created to bring black money back from secret bank accounts abroad. The BJP has made it an election issue. Were you instrumental in getting Mr Advani to take up the issue?
This is a subject I have been working on since 1986. In fact, I was even arrested because I was trying to dig into the secret accounts of the Gandhi family. I have always been talking to many politicians on this subject; I had also spoken to the BJP.
At that time, it was more ideal to work on it than anything practical. It is not that India on its own can prevent global black money being generated, because there are countries which help the generation of black money by their laws, and Switzerland is the most important of them.
These countries provide secrecy, and anybody can go and deposit money incognito. Their laws prohibit the disclosure of names. Only rarely, where you can link the money to corruption or drugs, is it possible to trace the flight of capital. For that, they have treaties with different countries, including with India. But you need to know the name of the criminal and his account number to ask for the details.
It has always been a question on the minds of the Indian people and also those keen on establishing the amount of money that has gone there, but there was no proper estimate. But this has always been a topic of debate in the minds of those who are interested in the country.
Why did the BJP decide to take it up as an issue now?
It is essentially because of the turn in the Western nations' approach to secret banking due to the economic crisis in the West. The West began feeling the pinch of secret banking. They felt that the financial system is getting destabilised because of the generation of black money.
Black money in the West is not as much flight of capital as it is evasion of taxes. In India, it is both black money and flight of capital.
Were the recent developments in Germany, with its authorities asking for the secret names, the turning point?
The Germans took the step of bribing a bank official of the LGT Bank in Liechtenstein by paying $6 million. They got a secret CD containing 1,500 names of people who have stashed away money, and nearly 500, 600 of these were Germans. They acted against them, which included the head of the German postal system.
Then they told the entire world that anyone could ask for the names and if the names of those countries' nationals were there, they would part with it free of cost. All the countries made a request, but not India. So, Advaniji wrote a letter in April last year, but an evasive reply was given.
Three other things also happened. One, after Germany acted very powerfully, there was a big diplomatic row between Liechtenstein and Germany. Liechtenstein is a place from where secret trusts are created and monies are deposited into Switzerland. It is a principality.
Then, Germany took up the issue in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's 17-nation platform (Switzerland is one of them) and asked for blacklisting and sanctions against Switzerland. France also joined Germany. This happened some time in October last year.
Switzerland did not know what to do then and they began lobbying. France and Germany then took it to the G-20 preparatory meeting. They said at the G-20 meeting on April 2 that they were asking for blacklisting of and sanctions against Switzerland and all those countries that were not cooperating.
So that was why Mr Advani wanted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to raise the issue at the G20 meet?
At that time Advaniji felt as the PM was attending the April 2 meeting, he should take up this issue. But our people remained silent at the G-20 preparatory meet.
See what India did. We didn't forcefully ask the Germans to give us the particulars. When Germany and France took up the matter in the OECD, we didn't welcome it. When they took up the matter in G-20 we did not support them or join them.
So, from all this arose a big question, whether the government was at all interested in working against illicit Indian monies abroad. That is why Advaniji took up the matter. As the government did not take it up, the BJP had to take it up as an electoral issue.
The Congress said Mr Advani was lying...?
It is like this: A theft has taken place, and you are arguing about how much has been stolen. Nobody denies the theft! Nobody denies the loot!
How much black money from India must be there in the secret Swiss accounts?
A global study was conducted by an expert, Raymond W Baker, which we have quoted in the report. He published a book in 2005, Capitalism's Achilles Heel: Dirty Money And How To Renew The Free Market System.
After 2001, secret money became an issue of security. So America became worried about terror funding which takes place only through secret banking channels.
His book estimated the black money to be $11.5 trillion which is increasing at the rate of $1 trillion every year, out of which $500 billion is stolen from developing countries.
Is the report one of the reasons why the BJP decided to raise the issue?
That alone would not have helped. The change in the economic situation made the Western countries try to break banking secrecy. That was the most important point. US President Obama has proposed a law to break the secrecy.
Like I said earlier, you have to join forces at the global level as the battle needs to be fought at the global level. That is the reason why the BJP decided to take it up.
The GFI study only indicated the magnitude of the problem.
It says between 2002 and 2006, the amount of money stashed away from India would be on an average $27 billion a year and totally about $137.5 billion which is equal to Rs 688,000 crores in just five years. So, the fact of the loot can never be disputed.
What the Congress is trying to do is to dispute the maths of the issue. The fact is, whatever be the amount, it is very big.
Why do you think the Congress is not taking up the issue?
Obviously, a large part of it must be Congressmen's money, they have ruled the country for 50 years.
Why did Sonia Gandhi not speak on this subject? She is said to be a close friend of Ottavio Quattrocchi and it has been established that he had received bribe money from Bofors through secret banking systems and tax havens. The Central Bureau of Investigation successfully traced the money and kept it frozen. He was allowed to leave India first and then take the money back.
I believe the lead family of the Congress party is a suspect in the matter of foreign money and that is why the family doesn't want the banks' secrecy to be unveiled.
Their friends are the only people who have been caught so far. No other Indian has been caught except the people associated with the Gandhi family in the Bofors scandal.
What are the taskforce's plans?
First, he (Advani) wanted us to find out what the global position was. That is the first report we gave. We have said it is doable if we work on an appropriate strategy. We have to also generate a national consensus and arouse a high level of consciousness among the people about the issue.
Is that the reason why a survey was conducted in Gujarat on black money in secret bank accounts?
Yes, the BJP wants to make people to proactively think and participate in the campaign.
You are talking about huge sums of money. If at all we manage to bring it back to India, what do you say India should do with it?
Even if 25 per cent of what they are talking about comes back, India's rating will go up because it's our own money and not borrowed money. It can transform the economic personality of the nation.
The BJP manifesto says if the money comes back, it will be used for fundamental purposes like rural roads, schools, poverty alleviation and things like that. It will be used for social causes and not building airports.
Will the current global recession make people look at globalisation from a different perspective?
Capitalism will undergo a lot of changes because today's capitalism is not what Adam Smith conceived or Karl Marx opposed. Today, capitalists are not the people who handle capital; it's the professionals. It's somebody else's money that the professionals are handling. So, it is not capitalist's capitalism; it's professionals' capitalism.
Now, a further change that has taken place is, it is not actual money, but virtual money that is being used. Imaginary money has been created by brain power and that is put to use as real power. That is the crisis today.
This kind of capitalism will be gone and the original capitalism where 'I look after my wealth' will come back again. That is good for the world. This other man's money I handle which has promoted the expenditure-driven market mechanism is a product of neo-capitalism.
Banking secrecy was considered one of the virtues of capitalism. Now, they call it an evil! This is the U-turn in one year!
In one of your earlier interviews, you told rediff.com that globalisation was not sustainable.
Who is talking about globalisation today? Today, it's just not environmentally, ecologically and culturally sustainable. I have always maintained that it was not economically sustainable, because it is contrary to the very meaning and definition of economics which is associated with frugality.
It is an executive class economics different from the economy class which brings out the difference between economics and excessiveness.
Moreover, globalisation disregards the existence of countries; they talk about a global society, global rule, global citizens, global villages, etc. It was an absolutely idealistic idiosyncrasy. That is gone.
Who is talking about the WTO? I told you long ago that the WTO will not last. If you create an artificial structure, it will not stand. People in different parts of the world have their own models of living; you cannot homogenise them, make them wear the same dress, eat the same food, or see the same cinema or have the same goals. This is what West-centric globalisation attempted, and got the first taste of it in the last four, five years.
Will people start thinking in terms of swadeshi?
People will be more conscious of their surroundings, their people, their family and their society first, and not the distant world.
The distant world is good for a visit, but not for domicile.
'In 5 years, Indians stashed Rs 688,000 cr illegally'
April 20, 2009
S. Gurumurthy the leading chartered accountant who is also the convener of the Swadeshi Jagran Manch, is a member of the taskforce created by the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate L K Advani to bring back the black money stashed away in various banks outside India if the National Democratic Alliance is voted back to power.
The first report by the taskforce was released a few days ago. Other than Gurumurthy, those involved in the preparation of the report was former Intelligence Bureau director Ajit Kumar Doval, Dr R Vaidyanathan from the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore, and lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani, the BJP candidate from the Mumbai North-Central constituency.
In this exclusive interview with Shobha Warrier, Gurumurthy discusses tax havens, secret bank accounts and what the taskforce's plans are.
You are part of the taskforce created to bring black money back from secret bank accounts abroad. The BJP has made it an election issue. Were you instrumental in getting Mr Advani to take up the issue?
This is a subject I have been working on since 1986. In fact, I was even arrested because I was trying to dig into the secret accounts of the Gandhi family. I have always been talking to many politicians on this subject; I had also spoken to the BJP.
At that time, it was more ideal to work on it than anything practical. It is not that India on its own can prevent global black money being generated, because there are countries which help the generation of black money by their laws, and Switzerland is the most important of them.
These countries provide secrecy, and anybody can go and deposit money incognito. Their laws prohibit the disclosure of names. Only rarely, where you can link the money to corruption or drugs, is it possible to trace the flight of capital. For that, they have treaties with different countries, including with India. But you need to know the name of the criminal and his account number to ask for the details.
It has always been a question on the minds of the Indian people and also those keen on establishing the amount of money that has gone there, but there was no proper estimate. But this has always been a topic of debate in the minds of those who are interested in the country.
Why did the BJP decide to take it up as an issue now?
It is essentially because of the turn in the Western nations' approach to secret banking due to the economic crisis in the West. The West began feeling the pinch of secret banking. They felt that the financial system is getting destabilised because of the generation of black money.
Black money in the West is not as much flight of capital as it is evasion of taxes. In India, it is both black money and flight of capital.
Were the recent developments in Germany, with its authorities asking for the secret names, the turning point?
The Germans took the step of bribing a bank official of the LGT Bank in Liechtenstein by paying $6 million. They got a secret CD containing 1,500 names of people who have stashed away money, and nearly 500, 600 of these were Germans. They acted against them, which included the head of the German postal system.
Then they told the entire world that anyone could ask for the names and if the names of those countries' nationals were there, they would part with it free of cost. All the countries made a request, but not India. So, Advaniji wrote a letter in April last year, but an evasive reply was given.
Three other things also happened. One, after Germany acted very powerfully, there was a big diplomatic row between Liechtenstein and Germany. Liechtenstein is a place from where secret trusts are created and monies are deposited into Switzerland. It is a principality.
Then, Germany took up the issue in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's 17-nation platform (Switzerland is one of them) and asked for blacklisting and sanctions against Switzerland. France also joined Germany. This happened some time in October last year.
Switzerland did not know what to do then and they began lobbying. France and Germany then took it to the G-20 preparatory meeting. They said at the G-20 meeting on April 2 that they were asking for blacklisting of and sanctions against Switzerland and all those countries that were not cooperating.
So that was why Mr Advani wanted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to raise the issue at the G20 meet?
At that time Advaniji felt as the PM was attending the April 2 meeting, he should take up this issue. But our people remained silent at the G-20 preparatory meet.
See what India did. We didn't forcefully ask the Germans to give us the particulars. When Germany and France took up the matter in the OECD, we didn't welcome it. When they took up the matter in G-20 we did not support them or join them.
So, from all this arose a big question, whether the government was at all interested in working against illicit Indian monies abroad. That is why Advaniji took up the matter. As the government did not take it up, the BJP had to take it up as an electoral issue.
The Congress said Mr Advani was lying...?
It is like this: A theft has taken place, and you are arguing about how much has been stolen. Nobody denies the theft! Nobody denies the loot!
How much black money from India must be there in the secret Swiss accounts?
A global study was conducted by an expert, Raymond W Baker, which we have quoted in the report. He published a book in 2005, Capitalism's Achilles Heel: Dirty Money And How To Renew The Free Market System.
After 2001, secret money became an issue of security. So America became worried about terror funding which takes place only through secret banking channels.
His book estimated the black money to be $11.5 trillion which is increasing at the rate of $1 trillion every year, out of which $500 billion is stolen from developing countries.
Is the report one of the reasons why the BJP decided to raise the issue?
That alone would not have helped. The change in the economic situation made the Western countries try to break banking secrecy. That was the most important point. US President Obama has proposed a law to break the secrecy.
Like I said earlier, you have to join forces at the global level as the battle needs to be fought at the global level. That is the reason why the BJP decided to take it up.
The GFI study only indicated the magnitude of the problem.
It says between 2002 and 2006, the amount of money stashed away from India would be on an average $27 billion a year and totally about $137.5 billion which is equal to Rs 688,000 crores in just five years. So, the fact of the loot can never be disputed.
What the Congress is trying to do is to dispute the maths of the issue. The fact is, whatever be the amount, it is very big.
Why do you think the Congress is not taking up the issue?
Obviously, a large part of it must be Congressmen's money, they have ruled the country for 50 years.
Why did Sonia Gandhi not speak on this subject? She is said to be a close friend of Ottavio Quattrocchi and it has been established that he had received bribe money from Bofors through secret banking systems and tax havens. The Central Bureau of Investigation successfully traced the money and kept it frozen. He was allowed to leave India first and then take the money back.
I believe the lead family of the Congress party is a suspect in the matter of foreign money and that is why the family doesn't want the banks' secrecy to be unveiled.
Their friends are the only people who have been caught so far. No other Indian has been caught except the people associated with the Gandhi family in the Bofors scandal.
What are the taskforce's plans?
First, he (Advani) wanted us to find out what the global position was. That is the first report we gave. We have said it is doable if we work on an appropriate strategy. We have to also generate a national consensus and arouse a high level of consciousness among the people about the issue.
Is that the reason why a survey was conducted in Gujarat on black money in secret bank accounts?
Yes, the BJP wants to make people to proactively think and participate in the campaign.
You are talking about huge sums of money. If at all we manage to bring it back to India, what do you say India should do with it?
Even if 25 per cent of what they are talking about comes back, India's rating will go up because it's our own money and not borrowed money. It can transform the economic personality of the nation.
The BJP manifesto says if the money comes back, it will be used for fundamental purposes like rural roads, schools, poverty alleviation and things like that. It will be used for social causes and not building airports.
Will the current global recession make people look at globalisation from a different perspective?
Capitalism will undergo a lot of changes because today's capitalism is not what Adam Smith conceived or Karl Marx opposed. Today, capitalists are not the people who handle capital; it's the professionals. It's somebody else's money that the professionals are handling. So, it is not capitalist's capitalism; it's professionals' capitalism.
Now, a further change that has taken place is, it is not actual money, but virtual money that is being used. Imaginary money has been created by brain power and that is put to use as real power. That is the crisis today.
This kind of capitalism will be gone and the original capitalism where 'I look after my wealth' will come back again. That is good for the world. This other man's money I handle which has promoted the expenditure-driven market mechanism is a product of neo-capitalism.
Banking secrecy was considered one of the virtues of capitalism. Now, they call it an evil! This is the U-turn in one year!
In one of your earlier interviews, you told rediff.com that globalisation was not sustainable.
Who is talking about globalisation today? Today, it's just not environmentally, ecologically and culturally sustainable. I have always maintained that it was not economically sustainable, because it is contrary to the very meaning and definition of economics which is associated with frugality.
It is an executive class economics different from the economy class which brings out the difference between economics and excessiveness.
Moreover, globalisation disregards the existence of countries; they talk about a global society, global rule, global citizens, global villages, etc. It was an absolutely idealistic idiosyncrasy. That is gone.
Who is talking about the WTO? I told you long ago that the WTO will not last. If you create an artificial structure, it will not stand. People in different parts of the world have their own models of living; you cannot homogenise them, make them wear the same dress, eat the same food, or see the same cinema or have the same goals. This is what West-centric globalisation attempted, and got the first taste of it in the last four, five years.
Will people start thinking in terms of swadeshi?
People will be more conscious of their surroundings, their people, their family and their society first, and not the distant world.
The distant world is good for a visit, but not for domicile.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
** Neo-nationalism
Neo-nationalism: The last stage of globalisation?
By R. Balashankar - Organiser
April 19, 2009
China cannot stop swearing by Communism though it has adopted western capitalism in its entirety. Similarly, the G-20 proclaimed that globalisation is still the most dominant economic idea though countries are increasingly turning protectionist and state ownership, in factors of production, has never been so critical as it is today. The synchronised macroeconomic stimulus package repeated over the last few months have not stopped the world from falling deeper into recession.
Socialism for the rich brought about by the zealots of globalisation is under attack with jobless rates in developed countries being pushed to double digit. So what has happened to capitalism and what is going to be the fate of globalisation?
Ten days before the world leaders assembled to rescue capitalism, the US administration insisted on a change of guard in the bankrupt Detroit automobile industry as a precondition for the bailout package. Similar was the fate of American International Group (AIG), when its executives were forced to pay up 90 per cent of the $165 million in bonuses, as tax after the finance company was helped survive on tax-payers’ money.
This is the unit whose manipulations came perilously close to bringing the world financial system to its knees. What has not yet been adequately addressed is the sea-change in social attitudes towards amassing wealth by a few for a few and its impact on politics in the coming years. The parties in India are becoming competitively populist in their election manifesto. The votaries of third generation reform and neo-liberalism have been silenced by the parties for fear of public wrath.
Indian politicians are turning pro-poor though a cursory glance at the declaration of assets at the time of filing of nominations show that Indian politicians have become filthy rich during the period of globalisation. Only that this is the season of “free lunch”, subsidy buttered with offers of free rice, electricity and loan.
Poverty has again become fashionable in India’s political discourse. Globalisation has not been an unmixed blessing. It increased poverty while it created millions of neo-rich politicians and business class.
The G-20 heads of state meet last week in London was the second major global effort in the last six months after the September 2008 meltdown. Globalisation in its present format is a tool to perpetuate Western, especially American hegemony.
The G-20 summit did not give any hope to the developing countries that this format will change to their advantage. Apart from the plan to restructure the IMF there was not a single positive suggestion to liberalise the construct of world economic order. The rules are framed in such a way as to exploit the market and resources of the world to the economic and strategic interest of the developed countries. Our leaders, plead ceaselessly for better deal for the developing countries and reform in the structure of IMF and World Bank.
In the nineties the nationalist forces in the country opposed the WTO. We had serious doubts about the IMF, and globalisation regulations which systematically corroded the country’s economic sovereignty. The critique on capitalism is not to discourage private enterprise. Indian economic thinking has traditionally encouraged free trade and individual enterprises. Private property was at the core of our economic philosophy. The sentiments in support of the creation of a developed egalitarian society is not to suggest Socialism as a viable model.
Our economic agenda has to be uncompromisingly nation-centric and that is the value every great nation tries to promote even as it tries to cloak its real interest in the jargon of globalisation. The great recession has offset the sheen of globalisation as envisaged by the Washington Consensus which emerged out of the ashes of the Cold War and the fall of Communism. India has immensely gained as a result of the economic liberalisation and we are today the second fastest-growing economy in the world. But is this growth sustainable? Is the model of globalisation the panacea for our problems of underdevelopment and poverty? The big growth stories of the services and IT sector would suggest that globalisation has indeed changed the way India thinks and lives. We are adopting a new idiom, a new lifestyle, a new dress code and a new culture which are essentially western. We have a world view which is essentially money centric and we have replaced humanism with wealth creation. Profit justified the concept of gambling and gambling, greed and extravaganza replaced traditional business based on ethical regulations, manufacturing, agriculture and investment on value-added products.
One of the celebrated books on globalisation, The World Is Flat, by Thomas L. Friedman vividly describes the impact of globalisation on a typical Indian company office. “…you see that all the computers are running Microsoft Windows. The chips are designed by Intel. The phones are from Lucent. The air-conditioning is by Carrier, and even the bottled water is by Coke. In addition, 90 per cent of the shares in 24/7(Call Centers) are owned by US investors.
This explains why, although the United States has lost some service jobs to India in recent years, total exports from America-based companies—merchandise and services—to India have grown from $2.5 billion in 1990 to $5 billion in 2003.
So even with the outsourcing of some service jobs from the United States to India, India’s growing economy is creating a demand for many more American goods and services.” (Page 29). (Import from US to India by 2006-07 increased substantially to $ 12.6 billion.)
That is not the entire story. The jobs being outsourced are mostly such no American is willing to do or they consider them below their dignity and low paying. Indians are paid one-fifth of the salary that an American will get because India is poor and the unemployment high with people willing to do any job for a smaller pay. This way, American companies save hugely on their labour bill.
For call centres immediately after recruitment the Indians are sent to an “accent neutralisation class” to make them speak like Americans. Their lifestyle and dress code undergo similar changes. See how globalisation is changing India. Indian units of US companies file thousands of patent applications on indigenous products they develop and market as theirs. The standards are set by them.
There are reasons to believe that the present crisis in the financial market of western economy is a great opportunity for the developing world, particularly India.
Now we have the leisure to think afresh on the direction of our economic growth. The world order seems distinctly moving towards multi-polarity. This possibility was discounted for long. The wave of protectionism, the antithesis of globalisation, has become a core philosophy with the West.
As a result, US which was the main destination of international migration has begun to repel migration. Reports talk of at least six million job losses in that country in the last four months. India will soon elect its next government.
The UPA government has unfortunately created a clientele mindset in the Indian establishment, vis-à-vis the US. The Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon during his recent visit to the US was so beholden to the big power that he justified not taking up the issue of denying Indians HI-B visa with the US authorities.
His plea was that it was a “sovereign function” of the US. After the mega bailout to stimulate its economy, the US does not want its own money leaking to other economies. So the government is enforcing “Buy American” clauses and restrictions on job outsourcing on companies availing the bailout benefits.
The US administration, recently cleared a $2 billion sale of maritime jets to the Indian Navy—something that was needed to keep the troubled airplane giant Boeing’s books looking good. It is not only the Indian money, market and services that America needs. American transnational companies like Boeing, General Electric, McDonnell-Douglas and General Dynamics will soon need to renew Indian contracts. Indian government has levers to apply on all these deals.
But it will need political will. And India has to apply them because globalisation is not a one-way street.
The writer can be contacted at editor@organiserweekly.com)
http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=286&page=4
By R. Balashankar - Organiser
April 19, 2009
China cannot stop swearing by Communism though it has adopted western capitalism in its entirety. Similarly, the G-20 proclaimed that globalisation is still the most dominant economic idea though countries are increasingly turning protectionist and state ownership, in factors of production, has never been so critical as it is today. The synchronised macroeconomic stimulus package repeated over the last few months have not stopped the world from falling deeper into recession.
Socialism for the rich brought about by the zealots of globalisation is under attack with jobless rates in developed countries being pushed to double digit. So what has happened to capitalism and what is going to be the fate of globalisation?
Ten days before the world leaders assembled to rescue capitalism, the US administration insisted on a change of guard in the bankrupt Detroit automobile industry as a precondition for the bailout package. Similar was the fate of American International Group (AIG), when its executives were forced to pay up 90 per cent of the $165 million in bonuses, as tax after the finance company was helped survive on tax-payers’ money.
This is the unit whose manipulations came perilously close to bringing the world financial system to its knees. What has not yet been adequately addressed is the sea-change in social attitudes towards amassing wealth by a few for a few and its impact on politics in the coming years. The parties in India are becoming competitively populist in their election manifesto. The votaries of third generation reform and neo-liberalism have been silenced by the parties for fear of public wrath.
Indian politicians are turning pro-poor though a cursory glance at the declaration of assets at the time of filing of nominations show that Indian politicians have become filthy rich during the period of globalisation. Only that this is the season of “free lunch”, subsidy buttered with offers of free rice, electricity and loan.
Poverty has again become fashionable in India’s political discourse. Globalisation has not been an unmixed blessing. It increased poverty while it created millions of neo-rich politicians and business class.
The G-20 heads of state meet last week in London was the second major global effort in the last six months after the September 2008 meltdown. Globalisation in its present format is a tool to perpetuate Western, especially American hegemony.
The G-20 summit did not give any hope to the developing countries that this format will change to their advantage. Apart from the plan to restructure the IMF there was not a single positive suggestion to liberalise the construct of world economic order. The rules are framed in such a way as to exploit the market and resources of the world to the economic and strategic interest of the developed countries. Our leaders, plead ceaselessly for better deal for the developing countries and reform in the structure of IMF and World Bank.
In the nineties the nationalist forces in the country opposed the WTO. We had serious doubts about the IMF, and globalisation regulations which systematically corroded the country’s economic sovereignty. The critique on capitalism is not to discourage private enterprise. Indian economic thinking has traditionally encouraged free trade and individual enterprises. Private property was at the core of our economic philosophy. The sentiments in support of the creation of a developed egalitarian society is not to suggest Socialism as a viable model.
Our economic agenda has to be uncompromisingly nation-centric and that is the value every great nation tries to promote even as it tries to cloak its real interest in the jargon of globalisation. The great recession has offset the sheen of globalisation as envisaged by the Washington Consensus which emerged out of the ashes of the Cold War and the fall of Communism. India has immensely gained as a result of the economic liberalisation and we are today the second fastest-growing economy in the world. But is this growth sustainable? Is the model of globalisation the panacea for our problems of underdevelopment and poverty? The big growth stories of the services and IT sector would suggest that globalisation has indeed changed the way India thinks and lives. We are adopting a new idiom, a new lifestyle, a new dress code and a new culture which are essentially western. We have a world view which is essentially money centric and we have replaced humanism with wealth creation. Profit justified the concept of gambling and gambling, greed and extravaganza replaced traditional business based on ethical regulations, manufacturing, agriculture and investment on value-added products.
One of the celebrated books on globalisation, The World Is Flat, by Thomas L. Friedman vividly describes the impact of globalisation on a typical Indian company office. “…you see that all the computers are running Microsoft Windows. The chips are designed by Intel. The phones are from Lucent. The air-conditioning is by Carrier, and even the bottled water is by Coke. In addition, 90 per cent of the shares in 24/7(Call Centers) are owned by US investors.
This explains why, although the United States has lost some service jobs to India in recent years, total exports from America-based companies—merchandise and services—to India have grown from $2.5 billion in 1990 to $5 billion in 2003.
So even with the outsourcing of some service jobs from the United States to India, India’s growing economy is creating a demand for many more American goods and services.” (Page 29). (Import from US to India by 2006-07 increased substantially to $ 12.6 billion.)
That is not the entire story. The jobs being outsourced are mostly such no American is willing to do or they consider them below their dignity and low paying. Indians are paid one-fifth of the salary that an American will get because India is poor and the unemployment high with people willing to do any job for a smaller pay. This way, American companies save hugely on their labour bill.
For call centres immediately after recruitment the Indians are sent to an “accent neutralisation class” to make them speak like Americans. Their lifestyle and dress code undergo similar changes. See how globalisation is changing India. Indian units of US companies file thousands of patent applications on indigenous products they develop and market as theirs. The standards are set by them.
There are reasons to believe that the present crisis in the financial market of western economy is a great opportunity for the developing world, particularly India.
Now we have the leisure to think afresh on the direction of our economic growth. The world order seems distinctly moving towards multi-polarity. This possibility was discounted for long. The wave of protectionism, the antithesis of globalisation, has become a core philosophy with the West.
As a result, US which was the main destination of international migration has begun to repel migration. Reports talk of at least six million job losses in that country in the last four months. India will soon elect its next government.
The UPA government has unfortunately created a clientele mindset in the Indian establishment, vis-à-vis the US. The Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon during his recent visit to the US was so beholden to the big power that he justified not taking up the issue of denying Indians HI-B visa with the US authorities.
His plea was that it was a “sovereign function” of the US. After the mega bailout to stimulate its economy, the US does not want its own money leaking to other economies. So the government is enforcing “Buy American” clauses and restrictions on job outsourcing on companies availing the bailout benefits.
The US administration, recently cleared a $2 billion sale of maritime jets to the Indian Navy—something that was needed to keep the troubled airplane giant Boeing’s books looking good. It is not only the Indian money, market and services that America needs. American transnational companies like Boeing, General Electric, McDonnell-Douglas and General Dynamics will soon need to renew Indian contracts. Indian government has levers to apply on all these deals.
But it will need political will. And India has to apply them because globalisation is not a one-way street.
The writer can be contacted at editor@organiserweekly.com)
http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=286&page=4
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