Mining Threate Looms over Tiruvannamalai Hills

IF you are planning to visit Thiruvannamalai hills for Girivalam (circular path around the hill) or a trek through the forests, better hurry up. For, the hills will lose their serenity and clean air will be a thing of the past once proposed mining operations begin in the reserved forests of Kavuthi Malai and Vediappan Malai that have a rich reserve of iron ore.
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The project, if it comes through, will wreak havoc to the fragile ecosystem of the hills. Besides posing a threat to wildlife, it will affect the livelihood of farmers and cause health problems for the pilgrims doing the monthly Girivalam around the famous Arunachaleswarar temple and those visiting the Vediappan temple, says Piyush Sethia of Speak Out Salem, which is spearheading an anti-mining movement.
JWS Steel plans to tap 41.78 percent low-grade magnetite quartz ore by putting up mining facilities and beneficiation and pelletization plants. One million tonnes of iron ore will be tapped per annum after ‘clearing’ 2.20 lakh trees of 15 girths.
This apart, lakhs of other trees, including those grown under a Japanese government-funded project in the last four years, would be felled, a forest official said. The forest is home for indigenous flora and fauna and endangered species like Monitor Lizard, Pangolin, Deer and Porcupine, he added.
Since the mining involves drilling and blasting, as mentioned in the Rapid Environment Impact Assessment (REIA) report, it would cause air and water pollution too. Though the report specifies pollution abatement measures, it is impossible to prevent the iron ore dust from polluting the air in a minimum of eight-km radius, posing a threat to the Girivalam around the Thiruvannamalai hills, said an officer at the Collectorate. He added that tippers would be used to transport the pelletization materials, disrupting the tranquility of the hills.
The project would bring no jobs for the locals but would displace lakhs of farmers in the 10 villages around the two hills, said Kumar Ambayiram, an environment activist.

Report on The New Indian Express dated 1/22/2009

A Brief History Of Indian Scams

Post-independent India has had its share of financial scandals starting from 1948. Even in those innocent idealistic times, politicians and businessmen siphoned off money. Scams have been an intrinsic part of the political process } With the Harshad Mehta scandal of 1991, the dimensions of money involved expanded exponentially SBI, NHB, Grindlays, Citibank and Stanchart were all accused of having played . a part in the Rs 10,000 crore securities scandal. No more small change of a crore or two

IN the first decade of independence all kinds of wrongdoings erupted, which have naturally gone out of public memory. For example, in 1948, the then high commissioner in London, V K Krishna Menon’s name was linked to a scandal where the Indian government had placed an order for 2,000 jeeps with a London-based firm that had false credentials. While most of the money was paid upfront, just 155 jeeps landed. As we all know, Krishna Menon went on to become Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s trusted ally and the defence minister.
Does anyone remember that in 1949, Industry minister Rao Shiv Bahadur Singh, father of Arjun Singh, was jailed for three years for taking a bribe of Rs 25,000 from gemstone trader Sachendubhai Baron for renewing his diamond-mining lease? Please note, only Rs 25,000 exchanged hands.

What was seen then as the mother of all scandals happened in 1958. Finance minister T T Krishnamachari, finance secretary H M Patel, LIC chairman L S Vaidyanathan, are some of the names linked to a scandal exposed by Indira Gandhi’s husband Feroz Gandhi, involving LIC’s investment of Rs 1.25 crore in six companies set up by Haridas Mundhra. TTK resigned as a result of the affair, and Mundhra was jailed.

Businessmen were punished with some regularity those days. In 1959 Ramakrishna Dalmia, chairman, Bharat Insurance Company, was arrested for misappropriating around Rs 2.2 crore from the company and sent to jail for two years. In 1960, businessman Dharma Teja managed to get a Rs 22 crore loan from the government to start a shipping company, and then siphoned the money out of the country. He was arrested in Europe and jailed for six years. Must have been exciting times. Loss of innocence The swinging Sixties also saw its share of misdoings and blatant corruption. In 1965, Orissa chief minister Biju Patnaik (present chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s father) was forced to resign after it became known that he had favoured his privately owned company, Kalinga Tubes, in awarding a government contract. It is difficult to believe that acts like these were seen as crimes those days.

In the Seventies, Indira Gandhi and her son Sanjay’s names started popping up every now and then. There was the never-quite-explained Nagarwala scandal. Nagarwala is said to have impersonated the prime minister on the phone and got State Bank of India to give him Rs 60 lakh. Both Nagarwala and the police officer who investigated the case died in mysterious circumstances soon after. In 1974 Indira Gandhi’s name came up again in the first Maruti scandal, where her son was favoured with a licence to make passenger cars in the then highly restrictive environment. Again in 1976, in the face of falling oil prices, a $200-million contract was awarded to the Hong Kong-based Kuo Oil Co to take future deliveries at current prices. The government lost Rs13 crore. The money is supposed to have gone to Indira and Sanjay.

From the Eighties, the names Snamprogetti, and its representative Ottavio Quattrocchi started doing the rounds. In 1980 petroleum secretary H N Bahuguna, N N Kapadia, agent of many foreign companies, petroleum minister P C Sethi and K P Unnikrishnan were accused in a scandal where a consultancy contract for the Thal Vaishet project was awarded to a subsidiary of Italian Snamprogetti in violation of laid down norms. In 1981 there was the great Maharashtra cement scandal, when chief minister A R Antulay was charged with malpractices and favouritism in giving cement meant for public consumption to private builders. Coming of age The political scandals got much bigger. In 1986, there were alleged kickbacks to the Indira Gandhi government in buying two submarines from German firm HDW. The scandal that refuses to die happened the next year in 1987, when Rajiv Gandhi and others were accused of receiving Rs 64 crore in payoffs for the 155mm howitzer deal from the Swedish firm Bofors.

In 1991 L K Advani, V C Shukla, C K Jaffer Sharief, Arif Mohammed Khan, Madan Lal Khurana, Kalpnath Rai, N D Tiwari and many others were accused in the Rs 64-crore Jain hawala case. Joining the big league With the Harshad Mehta scandal of 1991, the dimensions of money involved expanded exponentially Mehta, SBI, NHB, Grindlays, Citibank . and Stanchart were all accused of having played a part in the Rs 10,000 crore securities scandal. Keeping up with inflation corruption started scaling bigger heights. No more small change of a crore or two. Remember the fodder scam? When Bihar chief minister Laloo Prasad Yadav and other state politicians and bureaucrats were alleged to have siphoned off Rs 950 crore from funds meant for the state animal husbandry department? Down south in 1996, M Gopalakrishnan, former chairman and managing director of Indian Bank, and others were accused of having sanctioned huge loans totalling Rs 1,500 crore to companies without obtaining adequate collateral security.

Then came the first telecom scandal in 1996 when former communications minister Sukh Ram was charged with accepting kickbacks from a number of telecom companies in exchange for special favours. About $1 million in small-denomination rupee notes was found in the homes of Sukh Ram. Runu Ghosh, a senior official in the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), was arrested on corruption charges, including having allegedly favoured telecom equipment manufacturer Advanced Radio Masts Ltd (ARM) in purchase contracts. In the same year owners of several large shoe companies in Mumbai were arrested on charges of having floated bogus cobbler co-operatives to get low-interest loans from the Maharashtra government.

This list is only indicative and by no means exhaustive. Bluffing gets liberalised The rapid growth of the capital market after liberalisation has led to its fair share of financial scandals. The major shake-up happened with the Harshad Mehta episode. It exposed the utter lawlessness and absence of supervision in the money markets: Funds could be transferred with impunity from banks and corporate houses into the equity markets; thousands of crores of bank funds moved in and out of brokers’ bank accounts in what was later claimed as “accepted market practice”.

At the same time there was the Initial Public Offer (IPO) bubble. Many existing companies in the Nineties decided to make huge public offerings. They inflated their prices to fund greenfield projects and completely unrelated diversifications. Windmill manufacturers wanted to set up airlines. Shoemakers wanted to set up steel plants. It was a period of utter madness. Then a whole lot of small traders, chartered accountants and businessmen, teamed up with bankers and investment bankers to float new companies and raise public funds. This caused a loss of several thousand crores of rupees and is known as the vanishing companies scandal. All this resulted in the death of primary markets for many years. The many faces of scams The Nineties was also the period of many other scams. One of them was the mushrooming of non-banking finance companies (NBFC). Most of them built houses of cards, took investors for a massive ride and then rolled over and died. Take the case of Chain Roop Bhansali’s CRB. His Rs 1,000 crore financial conglomerate comprised a mutual fund, fixed deposit collection (with hefty cash kickbacks), a merchant bank (he even lobbied head-to-head the Association of Merchant Bankers of India) and a provisional banking licence. Many of these licences required adequate scrutiny by SEBI and the RBI, and the fact that they passed muster is another reflection of those times. Bhansali managed to get favourable credit ratings and audit reports, CRB created a pyramid based on high cost financing, which finally collapsed. Bhansali, after a brief spot of trouble with the authorities, moved on to the dotcom business and the regulators were never held accountable. Millions of small investors lost their shirt. The CRB collapse caused a run on other finance companies and many cardboard empires came crashing down.

This was also the era of plantation companies. Investors were asked invest in dubious plantation schemes. “Put money in one teak tree and you will get 1000 times the returns in seven years”, they were promised. Since they were not subject to any regulations, the plantation companies could get away with wild profit projections. The advertising companies were the real gainers. High profile television campaigns, full-page advertisements and glossy brochures had the investors flocking for more. Almost all these projects have vanished.

In the early days of liberalisation even the government-promoted mutual funds were in trouble. Nobody anticipated stock market crashes. Starting with the scam-hit Canstar scheme, most mutual funds had to be bailed out by their sponsor banks, or parent institutions. Then came the big bailout of Unit Trust of India. Since UTI is set up under its own Act, it was the taxpayers who paid for the Rs 4,800 crore bailout in 1999. Just three years later, it was back buying recklessly into the Ketan Parekh-manipulated scrips and suffering big losses in the process. The record of the private mutual funds has also been patchy.

The dotcoms which became dot cons is another big story. Sadly, investors in all countries get carried away by hype and publicity. They do not have the time or the knowledge to analyse their investments. When things are going well nobody wants to know anything. Nobody questioned Satyam’s quarter-to-quarter growth and margins. Nobody wondered why the promoters were constantly disinvesting in their company. Nobody took E A S Sarma, former secretary, department of economic affairs, seriously when he was unhappy with the Satyam balance sheet, or E Sreedharan, managing director of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) when he alleged that the Andhra metro rail line alignment was altered and extended to benefit the bidder (Maytas), seriously.

But everybody has now woken up because this simply is the biggest case of individual scam in the country.

Thanks to New Indian Express 19/1/2009

A sad metamorphosis across the swamp

Human avarice is destroying the Krishna estuary’s ecosystem, reports P V Krishna Rao eco talk ? Mangroves are rich in nutrients. Leaves and fruits in the man- groves are high in nutrient value and the local residents prefer this foliage as fodder as it is thought to increase yield of milk. ? The ecosystem is home to many medicinal plants. ? Mangroves are spawning grounds for shrimps, and many types of fish. The mangroves that act as a natural defence against cyclones apart from playing a crucial role in sustaining the fragile ecosystem are fast disappearing

T he mangro s of the Krishna estuhe mangroves of the Krishna estu mangroves angroves o Kris ri rishna tu is u uary in Andhra Pradesh are fading y Andhr Pradesh ar fading Andhra radesh are fading ndhra di g away to away to become a thing of the past of the pa past. What was once a dense green fence along the the entire estuarine area presents an gloomy impression of an empty stretch of brown waste today .
Presumably, the local folk is anguished. “There used to be mangroves everywhere,” says Manemma of Polatitippa village near Machilipatnam. “They used to be right outside our houses. Now even if I walk for 10 km, I don’t find any .” More than 73 acres of mangroves were cleared in Polatitippa by the Hyderabadbased Thermal Power Tech Company, promoted by an MP, says Ch Johnson, project manager of the Coastal Environmental Rehabilitation Programme (CERP).

The matter came to light when S Jeevananda Reddy of the Forum for Sustainable Development filed a petition in the High Court, demanding that the felling of mangroves be stopped and the government take steps to restore the forest. The government said the clearance at Polatitippa had occurred within the 1,200-acre area allotted to Thermal Power Tech Company. The court has since put the felling on hold. But how long that ban stays remains to be seen.

Andhra Pradesh’s 3,674-sq-km coastal zone has two major estuaries — the Krishna and the Godavari. Mangroves cover 532 sq km, with around 13 types of flora, including Rhizophora, growing in abundance.

The Godavari mangroves have some protection, as the area is a wildlife sanctuary. But no such protection exists in the Krishna estuary, so there’s been a wholesale destruction of vegetation, and it began long ago in spite of restrictions on the cutting of mangroves. Deforestation continues despite the Coastal Regulation Zone notification that prohibits any kind of activity in ecologically sensitive areas, including fishing except by local fishermen.

The widespread exploitation of this fragile ecosystem has happened in stages. First came the use of mangrove trees for firewood. This had some effect, but the next one, aquaculture, was deadlier.

“About 900 residents of Polatitippa cleared and occupied two-and-a-half acres of the mangrove and turned it into fish ponds,” says village panchayat president Lanka Edukondalu.

“The increase in shrimp farming, port con struction and exploitation of mangroves for fuel, fodder and timber has led to large-scale clearance and destruction of this ecologically sensitive zone,” notes D Nalini, principal of Noble College, who has studied the ecology of the Krishna mangroves in mandals like Nagayalanka, Koduru and Machilipatnam.

Since 1977, all mangrove forests have become no-development zones. Extraction of wood from the mangrove forests in East Godavari district was banned in 1978.

For further protection, the Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary was set up over 236 sq km of the Coringa mangroves — also in 1978. The sanctuary was intended to protect endangered species such as saltwater crocodiles, sea turtles, and fishing cats.

The CERP has also been waging a war against the destruction of mangroves in the Krishna estuary for over a decade now and has tried to raise mangrove nurseries to min imise the destruction that’s happened over years in this area.

It is not as though the people in these areas don’t realise the importance of the mangrove. “They effectively reduce the damage caused by cyclones,” points out 27-year-old Ganesh of Polatitippa, perched on the branch of a mangrove, fishing rod in hand.

“A mangrove barrier can absorb a great deal of the destructive power of the gales that accompany a cyclonic system,’’ he says. ‘‘It’s such a powerful defence that the winds would take at least half an hour to hit Machilipatnam, which is about 10 km from the coast. That is more than enough time to evacuate thousands of people.” But this awareness has not translated into providing any protection to the mangroves. The barren fields of Polatitippa are a reality and action needs to be taken to save the mangroves from disappearing altogether.

—krishnarao@epmltd.com way forward Strong community-based groups need to be involved in mangrove conservation, in addition to strict implementation of the coastal regulatory laws. The Coastal Environment Rehabilitation Programme has led to planting of 2.5 lakh saplings in 150 acres at Palletummalapalem, KPT Palem, Malakayalanka and Polatitippa villages of Krishna district.

A strategy to deter terrorism in India

Article written in the New Indian Express by Shri. Subramaniam swamy

Understanding that the Hindu is the key target of the terrorist is crucial to implement the best strategy to deter terrorism — given that the only thing that will make terrorists back down is to put their political aims at risk, says Subramanian Swamy The ability of a terrorist- targeted nation to put political goals of the patrons of the terrorists and their benefactors at risk stands the best chance of deterring terrorism, and is the most important objective of counter- terrorism policy

I ndia is today infested with a host of terrorist insurgencies: JKLF, SIMI, ULFA, the PWG, the Maoists, the Naxalites, the Tripura TNA, the Naga terrorists, the Manipur terrorists et al. They can all be crushed quickly but for one factor: the support they get them from Pakistan and Bangladesh. Pakistan’s support is via the ISI, a wing of its army which also fakes Indian , currency to finance such activities. Pakistani involvement is not because its civil society wants it, but because of the Islamic fervour in the army that is not reconciled to the defeat of its forces in Bangladesh. The same fervour has turned the Bangladesh establishment against India, and hence with the help of the ISI, al Qaeda has through its Indonesian wing estab lished a base to help these terrorists and also to develop the HUJI, which is emerging as the human infrastructure of terrorists in India. Thus, Islam is the heart and Pakistan is the brain of terrorism in India. Challenging Islam in the realm of ideas, without diluting the debate with secular platitudes, jamming the brain of terror and destroying its human infrastructure embedded in India, is the core of a strategy to deter terrorism. This means sanitising Pakistan and truncating Bangladesh.
Prominent national security analysts have argued that in countering terrorist threats, deterrent strategies as formulated for conventional warfare have no significant role to play. The US President’s National Security Strategy document states, “Traditional concepts of deterrence will not work against a terrorist enemy Of course, I am not concerned here with “tra .” ditional concepts” but with new ideas to combat the new form of warfare — clandestine violence under the name of terrorism.

The overwhelming consensus against the efficacy of deterrence has now been challenged by two USbased scholars, Robert Trager and Desseslava Zagorcheva [in Deterring Terrorism – It can be Done, International Security Journal (Harvard-MIT, Vol.30, No.3, 2006)]. According to them, the case against the use of deterrence strategies in counterterrorist campaigns appears to rest on three pillars. First, terrorists are thought to be irrational, and therefore unresponsive to the cost-benefit calculation required in successful deterrence. Second, many terrorists are said to be so highly motivated that they are willing to die, and so not deterred by fear of punishment or of anything else. Third, even if terrorists were afraid of punishment, they cannot be deterred because they lack or have a shifting “return address” on which retaliation can be visited. Counterterrorist strategies that advocate addressing “root causes” such as by “winning hearts and minds”, economic packages and promoting human rights, are for the long run. The required cure is for the short run.

Trager and Zagorcheva argue nevertheless that even the most highly motivated terrorists can be deterred by holding at risk the political goals of their patrons and financiers. My view is that the ability of a terrorist-targeted nation to put political goals of the patrons of the terrorists and their benefactors at risk stands the best chance of deterring terrorism, and is the most important objective of counter-terrorism policy .

The structure of a counter-terrorism policy must be nation-specific and terrorist organisation-centric. There cannot be a general global strategy of deterrence against terrorism.

Traditional view of deterrence in strategic studies literature implies the scope for a bargain: both sides agree to cooperate on a state of affairs that both prefer to alternatives they face. This is called cost-benefit analysis. Deterrence, therefore, is not just about making threats; it is also about making offers. Deterrence by punishment is about finding the right combination of threat and offer.

But it appears impossible that deterrence could hold at risk something of sufficient value to terrorists such that their behavior is affected. This means if the terrorists’ motivation is high enough, then even a small probability of a successful operation and a high probability of punishment will not deter them. Further, because the interests of terrorists and the State seem so opposed, it appears impossible that the two sides could agree on a state of affairs that both prefer to that in which each does its worst against the other.

Terrorists are highly irrational by mainstream norms, but not completely A growing body of litera . ture shows that terrorist groups usually have lexicographically ordered goals and choose their strategy accordingly. States also have preferences over these same objectives.

The preference orderings of objectives of terrorists and States are diametrically opposed therefore the question of deterrence becomes crucial. Paradoxically, the high levels of motivation often make terrorists more susceptible to a deterrence strategy that targets their political goals. Highly motivated terrorists, because they hold their political goals dear are reluctant to run even low level risks that hurt their political aims. This magnifies the coercive leverage of strategies that target political ends.

The Islamic terrorists in India have only one goal: to convert the Darul Harab India of today into the Darul Islam of tomorrow. Judging by the secret writings in circulation amongst clerics in Saudi Arabia, the Muslim clerics consider as unacceptable the failure of 800 years of Islamic rule in India to convert India into a 100 per cent Muslim nation. Akhand Hindustan could not be converted more than 25 per cent. Thus, it was a passive victory of Hindus and a blow to the imagined invincibility of Islam.

Islamic theologists consider the US a meddling nation that is corrupting the social morals of Muslims; Israel represents a reversal of Islamic conquest of territory in West Asia by Jews who were hated by Prophet Mohammed; and Hindustan a challenge to the invincibility of Islam.

India has a huge population, and worse, has begun to develop quickly Thus India must be targeted by ter . rorising Hindus and making them submit. The mad mullahs are thus on a rampage, and we Hindus have to wake up to the real challenge of Mumbai 26/11 and all that preceded it.

The first lesson to be learnt for tackling terrorism is that India recognise that the Hindu is the target, and that Muslims of South Asia are being programmed to slide into suicide against Hindus.

The recent al Qaeda videotapes in Bihar, seeking recruits for terrorism against the “US-Israel-India axis”, are an indication of this. It is to undermine the Hindu psyche and create fear of civil war that terror attacks are organised. And since the Hindu is the target, Hindus must collectively respond as Hindus against the terrorist and not feel isolated, or worse be complacent because he or she is not personally affected. Therefore we have to have a collective mindset as Hindus to stand against the terrorist. In this response, Muslims and Christians of India can join the Hindus if they genuinely feel for the Hindu. That they really do so feel cannot be believed unless they ac knowledge with pride that though they may be Muslims or Christians, their ancestors are Hindus. It is not easy for them to acknowledge this ancestry even though that is the truth, because the Muslim Mullah and Christian Missionary would consider it as unacceptable according to the Koran and the Bible.

That realisation of oneness with Hindus would also dilute the religious fervour of their faith and create a mental option for their possible re-conversion and return to Hinduism. So, their religious leaders preach hatred and violence against the Kafir and the pagan, ie, the Hindu, to keep the faith of their followers.

But still, if any Muslim or Christian does so acknowledge his or her Hindu legacy, then we Hindus can accept him or her as a part of the Brihad Hindu Samaj, which constitutes Hindustan. India that is Hindustan is thus a nation of Hindus and those others whose ancestors are Hindus. Even Parsis and Jews in India have Hindu ancestors. Those who refuse to so acknowledge or those foreigners who become Indian citizens by registration can remain in India, but should not have voting rights.

The second lesson is since demoralising the Hindu and undermining the Hindu foundation of India in order to destroy Hindu civilisation is the goal of terrorists, we must never capitulate and never concede any demand of terrorists.

Terrorists are encouraged by appeasement but never satisfied by it. Therefore, no matter how many Hindus have to die, the basic policy has to be: never yield to any demand of terrorists. That necessary resolve has not been shown in our recent history Instead . ever since we conceded Pakistan in 1947 under duress, we have been mostly yielding time and time again.

In 1989, to obtain the release of Mufti Mohammed Sayeed’s daughter Rubaiya who had been kidnapped, five terrorists in Indian jails were set free by the V P Singh government. To save Rubaiya it was not necessary to surrender to terrorist demands. But the then government was capitulationist in outlook, or perhaps the then Home Minister was in cahoots with the terrorists, and hence did not explore them.

The third lesson to be learnt is that however small the terrorist incident, the nation must retaliate — not by measured and “sober” responses but by massive retaliation. Our Intelligence agencies tell me in private that we have proof of terrorist training camps in PoK and Bangladesh, and if that is so, we should bomb them by dispatching our air force. There is evidence that the FBI has presented to a district court in California of satellite photos that establish terror training camps exist near Balakot in northeast Pakistan. Indian government claims proof which has not been made public of 57 camps in Pakistani held territory and 36 camps in Bangladesh.

Many are advising Hindus to deal with the root “cause” of terrorism rather than eradicating terrorists by retaliation. And pray what is the root “cause”? According to liberals, terrorists are born or bred because of illiteracy, poverty, oppression, and discrimination. They argue that instead of eliminating them, the root cause of these four disabilities in society should be removed. Only then will terrorism disappear. Liberals seek to deaden the emotive power of the individual and render him passive. A nation-state cannot survive for long with such a mentality .

The background of some of the world’s most notorious Muslim terrorists shows that: Bin Laden, the son of a Saudi billionaire, studied engineering. His deputy Ayman al-Zawahri is an eye surgeon. The 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed graduated from an American college with an engineering degree. Flight 93 pilot Ziad Jarrah’s father is a Beirut bureaucrat who put his son through prep school. They didn’t do what they did to escape poverty .

Muslim fundamentalists have an education and an economic future, yet they still terrorise. They’re literate enough to liberally interpret their holy books, yet they still embrace jihad against Kafirs. The fourth lesson to learn is that more than the overt threat of the terrorists in India, the more sinister corrosion of our nation state occurs from within. This corrosion provides ‘a force multiplier’ to the terrorists.

Ultimately our inference must be that terrorist masterminds have political goals and a method in their madness. An effective strategy to deter terrorism is therefore to defeat those political goals and to rubbish them by counterterrorist action.

(The writer is the president of the Janata Party and a former Union minister)

Prof Stiglitz Interview – Stay away from mindless liberalisation

Prof Stiglitz asserts that the current global crisis is a lesson for those who are pushing an agenda of mindless reforms India was lucky enough to have a central bank governor in Y V Reddy. He did a very good job as a regulator protecting India from the excess. Indian economy did very well during the last few years. The question is whether it is sustainable. A good thing is that the Indian government is very much aware of sustainability and benefits of equitable share. But there are a lot of forces encouraging liberalisation in the wrong way

JOSEPH Eugene Stiglitz who had worked as Chief Economist at the World Bank and later as a chair of President’s Council of Economic Advisors during Bill Clinton’s presidency was in the Capital last week to deliver the Tenth D T Lakdawala Memorial Lecture organised by the Institute of Social Sciences.
Stiglitz had won Noble prize in 2001 along with George A Akerlof and A Michael Spence in economics for theory of markets with asymmetric information that stresses importance of selective intervention of government for a better market. In an exclusive interview to K S Narayanan of The New Indian Express, Prof Stiglitz (Columbia University) asserts that the current global economic crisis is a lesson for those who are pushing agenda of mindless liberalisation. He also lashed at the outgoing Bush presidency and multilateral forums like the IMF for precipitating the crisis.

Excerpts from the interview:

Q: Your lecture was laced with digs at Bush presidency, Wall Street and the IMF and their response to the crisis.

A: The reality is it has been tragic for many people in the United States.The magnitude of their tragedy is that people lost their homes, lost savings and dreams. People thought Wall Street understood risks and thought they were geniuses and deserved salaries worth millions of dollars. Now, they are ridiculed as gamblers, frauds. There is a great amount of disillusionment with the system.

Q: Don’t you think greed and fear rule most of the financial and capital markets?

A: The issue is not so much about what rules these markets. If these people had engaged in speculation which affected themselves it is one thing. But they put the American economy in a risk that ordinary tax payers had to pay trillions of dollars to rescue them.

Q: Is the crisis an apocalypse for the world economy?

A: No. The crisis is a moment of reflection of our economic system. There are economic systems that will survive. The real part of the economy continues to be there. The finance part of the economy is not real. We put much emphasis on them and let them tell us on how to run the economy. But they don’t even know how to run a bank.

Q: So, it is not a crisis of real economy.

A: No. It is a crisis of our understanding of what makes economy work.

Q: How far the Wall Street continues to influence US economy despite plunging the world economy into a recession?

A: After making all these mistakes we have allowed Henery Paulson, former CEO of Goldman Sachs, throw away hundreds of billions of dollars. They continue to exercise a great influence at the great cost of American people and economy.

Q: Does the crisis point to the autism of American state?

A: The Bush administration was very responsive to the needs of big business and financial markets. Hopefully, the Obama administration will become more responsive to the needs of ordinary Americans. The big issue is after spending so much money on stimulus and bailout packages whether there will be enough resources to address some of social problems facing the country and the world.

Q: Don’t you think that the crisis calls for people with a different mindset in the US administration?

A: President Barack Obama wanted to restore the confidence in financial markets and have their confidence. Historically, economic advisors have good relations with financial markets and financial markets have enjoyed people’s confidence. But they have lost the confidence now. Anybody from Wall Street will not be trusted.

Q: How far do you think US invasion of Iraq led to the crisis?

A: I think excessive interventionism of the United States is not responsible for the crisis. But the war on Iraq led to higher prices of oil and contributed to the crisis. This made the economies weaker and made it difficult to respond to the crisis.

Q: You are critical of multilateral institutions like IMF.

A: They are part of the problem. IMF did not do its job of preventing the crisis. Instead it accelerated the crisis by pushing the deregulatory philosophy.

Q: Several countries have announced stimulus packages. What about regulatory systems?

A: So far, nothing has been done. It takes time to put these regulations in place. There was little discussion at the G-20 Summit meeting in November at Washington. There will be a lot of resistance from those who made money during the crisis.

Q: What do you expect the individual countries to do?

A: The United States is the worst culprit. A whole agenda of reform on risky products, risky behaviour, etc. has to be undertaken. This could be tip of iceberg and things could be even worse.

Q: Do you think India and China can press for a change in the Global Financial Architecture?

A: There is a history of solidarity among developing countries and India is one of the leaders of the Non-Aligned Movement. That solidarity is important as to how to address the current financial crisis.

Q: How is India handling the response to global financial crisis?

A: India was lucky enough to have a central bank governor in Y V Reddy. He did a very good job as a regulator protecting India from the excess. Indian economy did very well during the last few years. The question is whether it is sustainable. A good thing is that the Indian government is very much aware of sustainability and benefits of equitable share. But there are a lot of forces encouraging liberalisation in the wrong way This crisis is a lesson for those who . are pushing that agenda.

Q: Should India open up its finance sector?

A: You should stay away from mindless liberalisation as long as you can. Some people are mistaking that India is not ready As long as India stays a small . economy, these capital flows will be destabilising.

Q: You are against tax havens.

A: Tax havens are not particularly responsible for the global crisis. But they make it very difficult to deal with the crisis.

Walled off from the wetlands

Kerala is often described as God’s Own Country, but Asha Menon finds unholy forces are threatening the existence of its rivers and backwaters — all in the name of development

f ive years ago, Celestine camped for over two weeks in Delhi with two close friends to get a road approved. “Our island (Moolampally in Kerala’s Ernakulam district) doesn’t exist for those on the mainland,” says Celestine, an ex-panchayat member. “The road was to make us visible”, a witness to progress.
They have the road now, but it’s brought no joy It has ripped the heart out of the island, . inundated paddy fields and brought down many houses including Celestine’s.

Environmentalists fear this road and other markers of progress like it will kill Kerala’s storied backwaters, which run along the cluster of islands and sustain the islanders’ many farms. Usually a road is a sign that things are getting better, but here it’s an indicator that they could get much worse in a few years.

The first thing that happens is that land is acquired. In Kerala, it’s usually paddy fields and wetlands, among the most productive and biodiverse environments. The acquired area is then filled in, and the road built on top.

Celestine’s four-lane road from Vallarpadom island, which is part of an international container terminal, cuts the wetlands off from the backwaters. As a result, the fields get waterlogged because there’s no drainage, and farm ing becomes unviable. Then the helpless farmers have little choice but to part with their lands to real estate developers who build dream homes and resorts for those who can afford it, and in the process chip away further at the ecosystem. Eventually the wetlands will disappear, says environmentalist Moosakutty who , is part of Green Earth.

Moosakutty’s fears are not baseless. Recently , a large stretch of wetland adjacent to the road was being filled up on the sly at night. The agricultural officer in Moolampally had to intervene to stop it. The filling would have gone unnoticed, except that the islanders still depend on the farms for their livelihood and the encroachment affected the flow of water into their fields. But once every farm is sold to developers, there is little incentive to be on guard. And once every farm is built upon, there’s no wetland left.

It’s a gradual, creeping destruction, bit by bit, death by a thousand cuts, almost impossible to stop unless everyone is preternaturally vigilant. In the end, you have a series of stagnant, stinking runnels that are of no use to anyone.

If the wetlands are lost, why should we worry? First, the river loses a natural sieve. For example, riverbank trees like cheru and plants like kaitha filter the dirt from the flowing water. Secondly, wetlands hold excess water, like a sponge. They release this water into the rivers in the dry season. If they’re lost, river flows decline drastically And in the rainy season, the . wetlands hold the excess water and prevent flooding. It’s an intricate natural system evolved over millennia, preserving the balance between land and water.

Walled off from the wetlands, rivers shrink to little more than a canal. The paddy fields too act as flood plains that take some of the floodwater in the wet season, and in return are fertilised by river silt. With slower currents, there’s better sedimentation. Most important of all, marine life continues to flourish, providing a diversity of fish and other food to harvest. When the wetlands are gone, all this automatically goes too.

Along with the real estate boom, tourism is an allied danger in other parts of Kerala. In Kumarakom for example, vast areas of paddy fields and the wetlands of the Vembanad Lake (India’a longest lake fed by rivers such as Achenkoil, Pampa, Meenachil, Manimala, Muvattupuzha and Periyar) are being bought by high-end resort builders.

But the farmers who lost their lands and livelihoods are not complaining. They feel they’ve hit a lottery Part of the problem is that . farming is no longer viable as the farmers were struggling under the burden of large loans. So when resort owners offered a few lakhs, nobody resisted. Now the main harvest in many places is the tourists who flock to them.

When paddy fields are lost to development, it’s not only the wetlands that go. The streams and canals that flow through them and enrich the rivers too are plugged. Often they go without a whimper, but recently a canal in Kalamassery off Kochi demanded attention. It bled red.

When dead karimeen floated to its surface, the matter was brought to the attention of the Pollution Control Board. “Somebody had filled up the paddy fields with the permission of the government and along the way, accidentally, filled up the canal that runs through it,” says M S Mythili, who investigated the incident at the Board. Someone at the municipality protested and the real estate developers were asked to “reinstate” the canal. They dumped red sand along its sides, and “accidentally” spilt it into the canal. The slurry that formed from this spill resulted in the dead fish.

Besides wetlands destruction, Kerala’s waterways have to deal with river basin reclamation. According to C K Sujith Kumar, who is doing research on the river systems in Kerala for the Blue Yonder, all the major rivers — Pampa, Periyar, Bharatapuzha, Chalakuddy and Thodupuzha are affected by reclamation, mostly thanks to soaring land prices.

At Thodupuzha, John Peruvanthanam of Paristhithi Samrakshana Samithi recalls a most dramatic encroachment. One day stones , were lowered into the river to mark the boundary of a business establishment. When environmentalists protested, the Revenue Department placed a restraining order on the business house and referred the problem to the municipality The owner approached a tribunal, which . ruled in his favour. Though John sounds bitter about the outcome, he is glad no more encroachments have taken place after their protests.

While Sujith says wetland destruction and river basin encroachment are significant threats to the rivers, he places them at the end of a cycle. It begins with catchment area destruction, then river-bed destruction due to sand mining, then wetland destruction and finally river basin encroachment. If this cycle continues without check, he says, that all the state’s rivers will turn into seasonal rivers.

Joseph Karoor of the River Protection Council sees the future and it’s bleak. “Ten years down the line there will be no rivers in Kerala. Only 44 sewage lines.”

The New Indian Express Sunday Magazine Dec 21 2008

A pit of woes

Villages around Madurai are slowly being turned into a granite pit as vested interests bend every rule and authorities connive, reports C Shivakumar in NewIndian Express 21/12/2008

n ot far from one of Tamil Nadu’s most celebrated temple towns, man is playing devil. Here in a sprawling countryside, mountains have vanished, water bodies have gone dry, archaeologi cal sites have been vandalised and paddy fields have been mined. As for the local villagers, well, not many of them exist as they are being evicted from their homes.
All for the greed of granite, which is being shipped to different parts of the world for thousands of crores of rupees.

The villages in and around Madurai are being turned inexorably into a mining pit — what’s more, it’s happening with the help of state government officials who turn a Nelson’s eye to the whole issue.

“There is a parallel administration running here,” says P V Dharmalingam, panchayat president of Keelavalavu village, some 38 km from Madurai. “The granite industry is like a mafia. These firms have cheated gullible farmers and usurped their land.” Most of the villagers have been running from pillar to post for years, seeking the compensation that was promised for their land, which was bought by one of the leading granite firms in the area. Some of the villagers have lost all hope.

“We have approached the district administration, but to no avail. We have lost hope,” says Thangaraj who, among the many villagers, says he was cheated by the firm.

Adds Dharmalingam: “We even wrote to (Chief Minister M) Karunanidhi, highlighting the plight of the farmers and villages affected by quarrying.” He then provides a copy of the formal complaint.

Piquantly enough, even state government officials live in constant fear. They refuse to answer questions about quarrying operations. Some village and state government officials admit that they were being threatened, but concede that they can’t go on record about the quarrying operations.

“We constantly face threats. Even last week, I was threatened when I was reluctant to bend the rules,” says one senior official who requested to withhold his name. “Fear is a constant in our lives.” Against this backdrop, it is a given that the rules are bent and often outrightly broken to accommodate the interests of one particular granite firm, the largest in the area.

I got a taste of it during a visit to a village.

Granite company officials tried to intimidate me and asked for my identity . I later learn that they even threatened the villagers whom I had gone to meet.

The threats and muscleman tactics are just one side of the story. The other side is the rampant illegal quarrying that goes on despite all the rules to prevent it. vast reserves Tamil Nadu has vast resources of granite of different qualities. Total reserves are about 710 million cubic metres. Kunnam Black of Tindivanam, Paradiso of Dhar mapuri, Jubrana of Pudukkottai and Kashmir White of Madurai are the prized varieties in the international market. The major players are Tamil Nadu Minerals, PRP Granites, Gem Granites, Pallava Granites, Rani Granites and Enterprising Enterprises. Tamil Nadu Minerals Limited has sold the quarrying contract in Madurai to Delby Granites Chennai, which later gave the contract to PRP Granites.

The government is said to be losing thousands of crores of rupees each year to smugglers. And they are none other than some of the firms extracting granite. A source reveals that 288 vehicles smuggling granite were seized last year. The penalty paid for this was Rs 1.06 crore. Other sources add that this is just a tiny fraction of the stuff smuggled out. The villagers agree. They describe the state government’s checkposts to prevent smuggling as mere eyewash.

The government gets Rs 24 crore as seigniorage fee, which is described as a fraction of the income it should rightly receive. Sources claim that most of the granite in Madurai district is smuggled abroad. The sources say that for every slab shipped legally, eight to 10 are illegally shipped.

This is how it goes. A car with a valid per mit for one truckload leads a convoy of several trucks to a yard in Thoothukudi. If a particular lorry is checked, the car driver simply hands over the permit for that vehicle.

If another one is seized, the smugglers have an ingenious method to get around the problem. A writ petition is filed in court stating that the vehicle named in the permit broke down and the load was therefore shifted to another lorry. It is a violation perhaps, but hardly a crime, they say .

Court records show innumerable instances of identical petitions filed by the same firm. It is also alleged that certain court officials are in cahoots with the smugglers.

Village panchayats complain that their permission is never sought for quarrying. The worst is that few villages get the royalty that is collected every year. The allocation last year under this head was Rs 16.85 crore, says an official source.

But the amount has not reached the villages. “We haven’t received a single penny,” shrugs Dharmalingam. “We don’t have a hospital and there is only one school in a dilapidated building, which is 114 years old. Where does the money go? We want a probe by central government agencies.” no permissions There are more than 150 quarries in Madurai. district. Of these, 135 are on patta land and the rest on poromboke land. The district collector’s permission is essential for mining poromboke land, while the permission of the tahsildar and rural development officer is needed for patta land.

But the quarry owners are violating all the norms. They have started quarrying even around the water bodies, in some cases releasing water from the tanks so that it doesn’t affect their operations. Complaints are useless, so many farmers do without water. Some in despair have sold their land to the granite firm. To add insult to injury, many of them have not been paid for their land. Again, there is no one to listen to their story — not the police, not the district officials.

A former district collector says the firms are building roads and water tanks and providing infrastructure to the villages. But the villagers have other tales. Many say their land has been stolen from them.

As for building roads and water tanks, the evidence clearly shows quarrying being conducted even in water tanks. Even a public path has been encroached upon, cutting off farmers from their lands.

The irony is the state government officials are more or less backing the granite firms instead of listening to the villagers’ complaints. The villagers are living on hope that the government will act to protect their livelihood and cultural heritage. And if the government fails to act the day is not far off when Madurai will be reduced to a land of pits.

The Burden of Pakistan

A destabilised, Taliban-ridden Pakistan is in no one’s interest and keeping this in mind India has to tread a tricky path that does not invite international ire or disdain for inaction Muslim terrorists have no hesitation in killing Muslims. Terrorism in Egypt precedes 9/11. In Algeria they kill fellow Muslims. One has to only look at Al- Jazeera, often used by Osama bin Laden’s aides. The language his followers use is worse than that used by Hitler about the Jews

D awn is a well known English daily published from Karachi. It was founded by M A Jinnah before Partition. It has a wide circulation. In its issue of December 13, it carried an article by Irfan Husain, a remarkable exposé of the Pakistani governmental psyche. It is also written in excellent English. Let me quote two paragraphs:
“Years ago, a western diplomat wrote that Pakistan was the only country in the world that negotiates with a gun to its own head. Our argument, long familiar to aid donors, goes something like this: If you don’t give us what we need, the government will collapse and this might result in anarchy, and a takeover by Islamic militants. Left unstated here is the global risk these elements would pose, as they would have access to Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal.

“We have been getting away with this argument for a long time, mainly because a failed, fragmented Pakistan is everybody’s worst nightmare. There are still Pakistanis around, in and out of uniform, who seriously believe India secretly would like to see the break-up of their country. They need to wake up to reality. Many Indians have written to me, saying that they are glad India was partitioned in 1947, so it now has fewer Muslims to deal with. More to the point, the last thing India wants is to share a common border with Afghanistan. The turmoil there is unlikely to end anytime soon, and our army would be far more use on that border, dealing with the militant threat.” I was India’s ambassador in Pakistan in the early 1980s. Ever since I have kept up my abiding interest in Indo-Pak relations. Pakistan is not a failed state. Its politicians have let Pakistan down. There are exceptions, but by and large, the political tribe ruling Pakistan at the moment does not inspire confidence. What is worse is its current denial mantra, which flies in the face of incontrovertible facts given by India. The terrorists who nearly succeeded in gravely wounding the great financial capital of India were trained in Pakistan, armed by elements in Pakistan and financed by those elements.

These facts are not an Indian invention. They are provided by the sole surviving terrorist, Ajmal Amir Kasab, whose father has identified him. Kasab has apparently got in touch with the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi. Will the High Commission ignore a Pakistani national’s appeal? Or will it behave in an honest and responsible manner and accept that Kasab is a Pakistani from Faridkot? This is a test case. Either Pakistan comes clean or it must face the consequences. What are these?

At the moment Pakistan has no friends in India. Does this provide comfort to the government of Pakistan? India can at any time put on the heat now that Parliament has unanimously stated Pakistan is encouraging terrorists to kill innocents in India.

We could stop trade, terminate bus and train services, stop Pakistan overflights and enforce a stricter visa regime.

We could also isolate Pakistan internationally. At the recent UN Security Council meeting even China, a permanent member, did not speak up for Pakistan.

We can do more, but a destabilised, Talibanridden Pakistan is in no one’s interest. The reported house arrest of Masood Azhar of the Jaish-e-Mohammad and Hafiz Saeed of the Lashkar-e-Taiba is not good enough. They should be in jail and the Indian criminal Dawood Ibrahim handed over to India.

No Muslim country has defended Pakistani terrorists or Pakistan harbouring them. Muslims in India have condemned the attack on Mumbai. They do, however, feel Pakistan’s folly could be their tragedy. India’s secular democracy and composite culture are vibrant enough to prevent this sinister development. But there are elements in India who think otherwise.

Mumbai has responded with courage, ex emplary promptness and unity of purpose. But the wound is too deep. The people are angry, angry with the government, particularly its intelligence agencies. Dr Karan Singh had support in the Rajya Sabha when he spoke of total intelligence failure.

I have appeared on many TV channels on this issue. I too am angry, but anger is not a substitute for policy. It is wise of the external affairs minister to rule out military action. That would be folly of the highest order.

An isolated Pakistan will suddenly find friends who will condemn Indian military action. Even hot pursuit will find no international support. What about the US? It is bombing parts of Pakistan. But we are not the US. Besides, two wrongs do not make a right. If we do decide to take even limited action, Pakistan will reciprocate in kind.

I have, like so many others, been reflecting on why a minuscule number of Muslims take to terrorism, why young girls become suicide bombers. Why has jihad entered our vocabulary, why al Qaeda has appeared on the scene, and the Taliban. These are profoundly complex issues. Martyrdom is sanctioned in Islam. All Muslim terrorists believe their place in jannat (heaven) is reserved.

The disappearance of the Soviet Union had serious repercussions in the Muslim world. Young, leftist Muslims normally attracted to socialism or communism discovered that their ideological anchor had disappeared. So they turned fanatics and terrorists. The Afghan Mujahideen were aided and armed by America. Having sowed the wind they are now reaping the whirlwind. Al Qaeda is an offshoot of the Mujahideen. Members of al Qaeda and the Taliban, departing from the text of the Quran, hate nonMuslims and take pride in killing kafirs and destroying whatever they can.

But Muslim terrorists have no hesitation in killing Muslims either. Terrorism in Egypt precedes 9/11. In Algeria they kill fellow Muslims. One has to only look at AlJazeera TV channel, which is so often used by Osama bin Laden’s senior colleagues for propaganda. The language his followers use is worse than the language used by Hitler about the Jews.

Osama is the deadly Islamic Pimpernel. He calls the shots and remains invisible. Sections of the Muslim youth — men and women — swear by him and die for him. His aim is to make terrorism “respectable”. He will not succeed but he is debasing a great religion. Pakistan is the hotbed of terrorism. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said it in so many words in Pakistan. Al Qaeda has no hesitation about murdering Benazir Bhutto and wanting the head of Pervez Musharraf.

Terrorism is the cancer of the 21st century. Islam is the fastest growing religion in America. From Mauritania in north Africa to Medan in Indonesia young Muslim girls now wear the headscarf and they do so voluntarily to emphasise their distinct identity.

Finally, Israel versus Islam is another ever-present flashpoint. President Barack Hussein Obama has already announced his support for Israel. Let us await his inaugural speech on January 20 next year. Will he or will he not take terrorism head on? ¦

என்ன செய்யலாம் இவர்களை

முழு பூசனிக்காயை சோற்றில் அடைக்கிறான் என்ற சொற்றொடரை கேள்விப்பட்டிருக்கிறேன், ஆனால் அதை இந்த இத்தாலி வசந்தசேனையின் ஆட்சியில் தான் நேரில் பார்க்க முடிகிறது. உலக நாடுகள் எல்லாம் பாகிஸ்தான் முஸ்லிம் தீவிரவாதிகள் தான் மும்பை சம்பவங்களுக்கு முழு பொறுப்பு என்பதை ஒப்புக்கொள்கிறார்கள், ஆனால் நமது மத்திய சிறுபான்மையின மந்திரியின் சிறுமதியில் மட்டும் இதை பற்றி சந்தேகங்கள் நிலவுகின்றன. அவரது கூற்றுப்படி கார்கரே எதிரிகளை ஒழிக்க வேண்டும் என்ற கடமையுணர்வால் வீரமரணம் அடையவில்லை அவரை சில சக்திகள் சதி செய்து மரணமடைய செய்திருக்கின்றன. இந்த பொன்மொழிகளை அவர் பாராளுமன்றத்தில் உதிர்த்திருக்கிறார். நமது அரசியல்வாதிகள் எவ்வளவு தாழ்ந்து இருக்கிறார்கள் என்பதற்கு புதிய உதாரணம் படைத்திருக்கிறார். இதற்கு ராஷ்ட்ரீ ய ஜனதா எம். பி தேவேந்திர யாதவ் ஆதரவு வேறு தெரிவித்து இருக்கிறார், எங்கே போய் முட்டிக்கொள்வது இவர்களது மதசார்பற்றை பார்த்து.

இதே கருத்தை டில்லி இமாமும், சில உருது பத்திரகைகளும் உதிர்த்திற்கென்றனவாம், இத்தனைக்கும் பிடிபட்ட தீவிரவாதி கஸாப் தாங்கள் தான் கார்காரேயை சுட்டதாக ஒப்புக்கொண்டிருக்கிறான். நல்ல நேரம் ஒரு தீவிரவாதி உயிரோடு பிடிப்பட்டு நடந்ததை ஒப்புக்கொண்டிருக்கிறான். அவனும் பிடிபடவில்லையெனில் இன்னும் என்னவெல்லாம் சொல்லுவார்களோ. இவர்களை பார்க்கும் பொழுது தீவிரவாதி கஸாப் எவ்வளவோ மேல் எதிரி நாட்டில் சதிவேலை செய்து நாசத்தை உண்டாக்கியிருக்கிறான், ஆனால் இவர்கள், இந்தியாவில் இருந்துகொண்டு அரசாங்கத்தின் அனைத்து சலுகைகளையும் அனுபவித்துக்கொண்டே நம்மை ஏமாற்றிக்கொண்டிருக்கிறார்கள்.

Faith Driven Motive

edia frenzy to categorise acts has damaged country’s image and given a stick to neighbouring countries Despite the terrorists’ claim that they have been ordained by Islam to kill kafirs, none of the Islamic theological schools challenged them nor did any of them declare that kafirs did not mean non-Muslims. Had they done so, the terrorists’ claim would have been punctured and Islam could not have been prefixed to terror. But, it has been the other way round. Many Islamic schools seem to believe, like the jihadis do, that Hindus are kafir

SOME Indian seculars began celebrating the arrest of Sadhvi Pragya Singh, and Lt Col Srikant Purohit as suspects in the Malegaon terror strike of September 30. It was not because the Maharashtra Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) probe was moving ahead. But for a different reason — that is, the suspects happened to be Hindus. The secular megaphones began blaring “see the Hindu terrorists caught in the act”, as if Hindu terror, if that existed, was a discovery to celebrate, not a cause to worry. Read more about this perverse mindset.
In the past, when all terrorists, suspected or indicted, were found to be Muslim, these seculars were unable to admit or reject the all-Muslim character of the terror. “Terrorists belong to no religion”, they pontificated. “Don’t call it Islamic terror”, they pleaded. “Don’t hold all Muslims responsible for the jihadis work”, they counselled. Some even empathised with the terrorists.

They said the terrorists were misguided, disgruntled Muslims youths denied due opportunities. They commended Sachar Committee type compassion, not tough laws like POTA, to handle terror. Result? The state began funding the families of terrorists. The more desperate among the seculars went so far as to say that, because of the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992 and the Gujarat riots in 2002, the terrorists did have a cause to take to bombs, almost condoning, if not rationalising, their terror. And now, with the ATS suspecting some Hindus, these seculars are relieved that the allMuslim enterprise of terror has some Hindu faces also. The prefix “Islam” firmly tagged to terror had for long desperately compelled the seculars to attempt to quick-fix the “Hindu” tag to terror, even before Malegaon. Now in Malegaon they see a chance to flag terror with the Hindu tag. But is it as simple as balancing Islamic terror by inventing a Hindu counterpart?

Islam was prefixed to terror not in India. The global discourse on terror has, over the years, identified Islam with terror. It happened not — repeat not — because the terrorists were adherents of Islam. It is because the terrorists — whether al-Qaeda elsewhere or SIMI here – themselves claim they are ordained by the Islamic faith itself to kill kafirs, that is, non-Muslims.

Despite this claim by the terrorists, none of the Islamic theological schools — not a single one — challenged them nor did any of them declare that kafirs did not mean non-Muslims. Had they done so, the terrorists’ claim would have been punctured and Islam could not have been prefixed to terror. But, it has been the other way round. Many Islamic schools seem to believe, like the jihadis do, that Hindus are kafir. Here is an instructive episode in secular India.

This happened way back in 1992. Dr Abdul Raza Bedar, an Islamic scholar, had said then that Muslims regarding Hindus as kafirs was affecting India’s integration. So, he pleaded, Hindus be dropped from the list of kafir. All hell broke loose. A massive hate campaign against Dr Bedar began, abused him as “Scoundrel”, “Rushdie Two”, “Filthy” — to quote only a few examples. Three noted Islamic schools issued fatwa saying Dr Bedar was a kafir. Seven Muslim MLAs brought the Bihar Assembly to a halt to demand that Dr Bedar be sacked as director of the Khudabaksh Library in Patna. Finally he was sacked for saying that Hindus were not kafirs! The seculars were impotent witnesses to this barbarism. The intervention of the prestigious Islamic school at Deoband to say that Dr Bedar was not wrong in declaring that Hindus were not kafirs in a bid to exonerate Dr Bedar could not save him. Drowned in the mass chorus, no one bothered about that prestigious voice.

The removal of Dr Bedar then, legitimises now, the views of the terrorists. This was in 1992 when there was no Islamist terror in India. Now the terrorists openly cite their holy text and claim that they have a religious duty to kill the kafirs — read Hindus. Yet, no Islamic school including the Deoband seminary, challenges them. Globally, terror bears the prefix of Islam because the terrorists claim, without being challenged, that their faith commands them to kill the kafir to further Islam.

Now, come to the secular effort prefix “Hindu” to Malegaon terror. The suspects do not claim they have a duty by their faith to kill non-Hindus. No Hindu religious school or head will allow any Hindu to claim that he has a religious mandate to kill non-Hindus. The LTTE, consisting of Hindus, also kills, but does not claim to be commanded by Hinduism to do so. Go further. What is the stated motive of the Hindus suspected of terror in Malegaon? The accused planned counter-terror against Islamic terror, says the ATS. So for the Malegaon suspects, it was an anti-terror act. But it is wrong. One wrong, however provocative, does not justify another. Such counter-terror too is an act against humanity, and it should be punished by law.

But the discourse cannot end without noting how the irrational secular enthusiasm to add the prefix “Hindu” to Malegaon terror has hurt Brand India. The ATS stunned the nation by telling the court one day that a Malegaon accused, Lt Colonel Purohit, had stolen RDX from the army stores and supplied it for the blast on the Samjhauta Express, for which Indian intelligence had held Pakistan responsible! But within 48 hours the ATS had to withdraw the allegation because no RDX was found used in either Samjhauta or Malegaon.

In that 48 hours between the charge and the retraction, immense damage had been done. The high-voltage charge, unmatched by the less-noticed retraction, discredited the faith-neutral, patriotic Indian army. Also, most “leaks” about the Malegaon probe by the secular Maharashtra government to the media had little basis in fact and some seculars admitted that the media had begun fictionalising the case.

See how the secular media here has supplemented the hate India efforts abroad. India is “in a state of shock” that “its first Hindu terror cell may have carried out a series of deadly bombings initially blamed on militant Muslims” reported Pakistan Daily (November 23), on Malegaon. The paper said “ A country that prides itself on purported religious and cultural toleration has been made to ask itself how this cell could operate for so long.” The Gulf Times (November 16) had earlier reported “the frightening radical Hindu plots” had “started to unravel”. The BBC went one step further. When Islamist terror hit Mumbai on November 26, with the burning Oberoi and Taj hotels as the backdrop, the BBC kept referring, not to any Islamist terror attack, but to “the many Hindu terror attacks that had taken place in recent times”. This is not the end of the catalogue.

QED: The seculars’ anxiety to prefix “Hindu” to the Malegaon terror suspects has only ended in hurting Brand India. It could not delete the prefix “Islam” to global terror.

Article on 18-12-08 New Indian Express By Gurumurthy