Double-lane roads, airport for Pakyong Sub-division in the offing


by AMAN THAPA
sikkim express


PAKYONG, August 20: Here’s something for the people of Pakyong Sub-division to cheer.
Wait for a few years and the region will have good road to travel along with the green field airport ready for its inauguration.

According to sources, the road from Ranipool to Pakyong Airport will be double lane, for which a detailed project report has been prepared by the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways at an estimated cost of Rs 320 crores which also includes compensation of land, houses, flyovers, bridges and road. However, this project, sources inform is yet to be sanctioned.

Besides, the DPR of 26-km road connecting Pakyong, Mamring, Tareythang and Rorathang has been prepared by the consultants, which will be funded by the North Eastern Council.

It is also informed that the up-gradation of19-km stretch from Pakyong to Machong is under progress. The up-gradation works includes back-cutting, broadening, drainage, protection wall and carpeting. It is carried out by the Sangrila Trade Network, Singtam. The total cost of the works is Rs 1275.92 lakhs.

Similar up-gradation works is also under progress from Machong to Rolep. This 16-km road has been undertaken by the Apex Project Investment Limited Singtam. Both the upgradation works has been funded by Non-Lapsable Common Pool of Resources (NLCPR). Also there are other roads connecting Pakyong to villages like Basilakha, Rai Gaon, Kartokare, which are under progress.

However, rains have hindered the road progress in al the areas. Due to this, most of the projects like the construction of JNV School at Rai Gaon Pakyong has also been hampered, it is informed.

Customers of a Bank Allowed to Withdraw Cash Five Times in a Month Free of Charge from other Banks’ ATMs

Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) has reported that banks have been permitted by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to allow free cash withdrawal at their ATMs by customers from other banks upto five times in a month free of charge. Banks are generally complying with the guidelines issued by RBI in this regards from time to time.

No incident regarding non-conforming of RBI’s directions had come to the notice of the Government.

This information was provided by the Minister of State for Finance, Shri Namo Narain Meena in reply to an Unstarred Question in Lok Sabha today.

DSM/SKK

Higher Rate of Interest under Senior Citizens Saving Scheme

The Senior Citizens Savings Scheme, 2004 (SCSS), was designed to meet the need of a regular flow of income for the senior citizens and retired persons with security of investment, liquidity of funds and operation convenience. Keeping in view of the above, higher rate of interest at 9 percent per annum is offered to all senior citizens under this scheme. Persons who are 60 years of age and above can make a deposit under the scheme. Those retired persons who are 55 years of age and above but below 65 years are also eligible to invest their retirement benefits subject to maximum deposit limit of Rs.15 lakh under the scheme.

Facility of loan or overdraft against the deposit would necessitate pledging of the deposit under this scheme. As a consequence, the subscriber of a pledged account will not be able to withdraw the interest amount periodically defeating the very purpose of the scheme.

This information was provided by the Minister of State for Finance, Shri Namo Narain Meena in reply to an Unstarred Question in Lok Sabha today.

Rs. 700 crores for double laning of NH 31A: Ministry


GANGTOK, August 19: The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways have approved Rs. 700 crores for improvement of existing NH 31A from Sevoke in West Bengal to Ranipool in Sikkim (80 kms) to double lane standards.

This was stated by the Minister of State of Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, RPN Singh in the Rajya Sabha yesterday in response to a question filed by lone Rajya Sabha member from Sikkim, OT Lepcha.
Lepcha had asked on the steps taken by the Centre for upgradation, widening and carpeting of NH 31A.

In his reply, Singh said that the Centre has approved a sum of Rs. 700 crores for double laning of the 80 kms stretch of NH 31A from Sevoke to Ranipool. The project is targeted for completion in March 2012 under Special Accelerated Road Development Programme for Northeast, he said.

“So far, widening to two lane in a length of about 50 kms has been approved at an estimated cost of Rs. 264 crores”,

source;sikkim express

Siliguri hub gasps for IT breath


The Software Technology Parks of India unit at Matigara where the sole IT unit of the region is operational. (Kundan Yolmo)
Siliguri, Aug. 19: The prospect of Siliguri’s development as an IT hub seems to be bleak as the company that had set up the first call centre here has left town wrapping up its infrastructure.

Despite incentives announced by the state government, no IT company has expressed interest to set up its unit in Siliguri or any other district of north Bengal in the past one year or so.

In the past few years, Siliguri was identified as a tier-II city of the state that had the potential of being developed as an IT hub, particularly because of the presence of a good English-speaking youth population.

However, in the past few years, despite efforts by local MLA and state urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya and trade bodies like the Confederation of Indian Industry, not much has developed — except two under-construction buildings at Paribahan Nagar in Matigara, where spaces will be provided to IT companies.

Acclaris, which runs a knowledge process outsourcing centre at the Software Technology Parks of India unit in Matigara, is the only operational unit in Siliguri now.

“Uninterrupted connectivity, regularity of the workforce, round-the-clock transport facility and food facilities are some of the basic criteria that are necessary to run a BPO. All these are unfortunately absent in Siliguri,” said an official of Xploretech, a Calcutta-based company which had opened the first call centre here in 2008 but was forced to close it down six-seven months ago.
Officials at the Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority, who have tied up with Infinity Infotech to raise an IT Park in Matigara, said they had not received any new proposal. “Two buildings are under construction by the Rungta Group and Webel in Matigara which would be completed soon. Work on an IT park to be constructed with the company will commence soon,” a senior official said.

Kushal Rungta, associated with the Rungta Group, said the building would be complete in another year. “We will provide space to IT companies but right now, there is no proposal with us from any firm which is interested to set up a unit in Siliguri,” he said over the phone from Calcutta. “Basically, there has to be a change in mindset and plan to function from tier-II cities among the firms to ensure growth of Siliguri as an IT hub.” The Rungta Group will develop 1.50 lakh sqft area, expecting to generate around 1,500-2,000 employment per shift .

State IT minister Debesh Das, however, is still confident that Siliguri can be developed into an IT hub. “We need to carry out an aggressive promotion at the national level to project Siliguri. The state government is taking necessary initiative in this regard,” he said. “To hone the skills of local youths, we have set up finishing schools in Calcutta and Durgapur and plan to raise another in Siliguri. This will help the region attract more companies.”

source: the telegraph

KALIMPONG: Aachuley’ Lepcha Community Radio

source:Barun Roy

FROM LEPCHA AACHULAY MAGAZINE

99% of the indigenous Lepcha tribes live in remote villages where the basic human facilities are non-existent.The literary rate of the Lepcha tribes is the lowest among the various communities in this region. Without proper education, they are living in the 19th Century today. Marginalization of the original indigenous Lepcha tribes in West Bengal has a telling effect on their socio- economic and political conditions. No wonder anthropologists, linguists and scholars are repeatedly saying that the original indiegenous Lepcha tribes are a vanishing tribal race.

Bollywood and western musical and cultural craze have not spare the Lepcha community either. Beautiful and meaningful folksongs, folk music and traditional cultural heritage seem unfashionable to many today. India is known throughout the world for her varieties of ancient, rich and unique languages, literature, culture, traditions, customs etc. People of the world marvel at her. It is very important that the Lepcha tribes do not falter in their thoughts and action and must endeavour to conserve their very rich and ancient cultural heritage in Mayel Lyang.

Useful and important Government information is hard to come by in this region, especially in the remote villages where the Lepcha tribes reside. Take the example of ‘Census of India 2011’. Most people in the remote villages are not aware of the importance of Indian Census 2011 and how each individual or the head of family at least could be immense help to the Goverment of India in compiling the most important and correct census in order to plan the future development works.
There are hundreds of problems for the Lepcha community in this region. Each problem has its own solution. Through the community radio, we fimly believe, it will not only help to communicate among the Lepcha tribes better and solves problems, it certainly can help us to preserve, conserve, maintain and develop the very rich, ancient and unique Lepcha language, literature and cultural heritage for posterity. A Lepcha Community Radio Station is a must for the original indigenous Lepcha tribes in Kalimpong, the heartland of the Lepchas.

The long awaited cherished dream, hope and aspiration of the original indigenous Lepcha tribes of the Darjeeling District, West Bengal of a quality radio communications in their own language, is going to be materialized and fulfilled soon. ‘Panos Institute South Asia’ is here to help the Lepcha community of West Bengal to establish their own community radio in Kalimpong.

Dr Sanjay Barbora, the Regional Manager, Panos Institute South Asia with his staff on the invitation of Ms Laden Lepcha, a forward looking young Lepcha lady, arrived Kalimpong on 25 January 2010 and met Ren Lyangsong Tamsang, the President, Indigenous Lepcha Tribal Association and his executive committee members. It was unanimously decided that the work to establish a much needed Lepcha community radio in Kalimpong should start in earnest. True to his word, Dr Sanjay Barbora returned to Kalimpong to conduct a ‘Radio Training Workshop’ from 2 to 7 May 2010 in Kalimpong with the following experts in radio communications:

1.Sanjay Venniyoor – Who used to be with Prasar Bharati and is now with Deutche Welle. He is a part of the Community Radio Forum of India.
2.Mr Hemand Babu. He works with NOMAD and has been a Community Radio practitioner and trainer.
3.Mr Karun Thapa. He hails from Kathmandu and is a media cosultant and Community Radio practitioner.
4.Mr Arupjyoti Das. He also represents Panos South Asia.
5.Mr Nayan Bhuyan. A Journalist from Assam.
The following Lepcha enthusiasts were successfully given traning in the community radio:

•Mr Suksing Kongchyen Lepcha
•Mr Nimsing Lepcha
•Miss Lazem Lepcha
•Miss Tsheringkit Lepcha
•Mr Ongden Lepcha
•Mr John Lepcha
•Mr Nima Lepcha
•Mr Rumden Lepcha
•Mr Kuldip Lepcha
•Mr Noyel Lepcha
•Mr Lawong Lepcha
A Committee consisting of the following have been elected to run the Lepcha Community Radio on 15 June 2010:

•President -Ren Lyangsong Tamsang Lepcha
•Secretary- Renyoo Laden Lepcha
•Treasurer- Ren Tasothing Lepcha
1.Ren Thupden Lepcha – Executive Member
2.Ren Dorjee T. Lepcha – Executive Member
3.Ren Azuk Tamsang – Executive Member
4.Ren Yusuf Simick Lepcha – Executive Member
5.Ren Pemba Lepcha – Executive Member
6.Renyoo Jyomit Lepcha – Executive Member
It was felt that ‘fund’ is needed to run the Lepcha Community Radio Station efficiently and therefore, it was unanimously decided by the newly formed committee to raise Rs 50,00000.00 (Rupees fifty lakhs). It was also decided that the interest earned from the capital investment will only be used wisely to run, maintain and pay the staff of the newly established Lepcha Community Radio Station.

All the Lepchas and those well wishers of the Lepcha tribal community are requested to come forward to help and assist the Executive Committee Members, ‘Aachuley’Lepcha Community Radio in Kalimpong.

Finally the Indigenous Lepcha Tribal Association, Headquarters Kalimpong, the apex body of the Lepchas of West Bengal, is very grateful to the ’Panos Institute South Asia’ and its Regional Manager, Dr Sanjay Barbora and his colleagues for coming forward to help eastablish the much needed Lepcha Community Radio Station in Kalimpong. The name of the Radio station will be ‘Aachuley, Lepcha Community Radio’.

It is hoped that the ‘Aachuley’ Lepcha Community Radio Station will be fully operative by May 2011.

Urban lessons from Brazil

India has valuable lessons to learn from Brazil's urban failures as much as from its innovations. A recent report, published by the United Nations Population Fund and the International Institute for Environment Development, concludes that Brazil's urban policies over the last four decades failed because they were too slow to respond to changes and address inequalities. Successful planning measures adopted in cities such as Curitiba and Porto Alegre remained isolated exceptions. The growth of Brazilian cities coincided with a decline in agricultural production. There was an exodus from rural areas. Instead of paying attention to the housing needs of the migrants and other workers, policymakers left them at the mercy of market forces. Numerous underserviced and crime-ridden slums sprang up in the peripheries of the cities. Corrective efforts were too little, too late. As a result, these cities now face severe inequalities, tensions, and ecological deterioration. This is a warning to Indian cities with inept housing policies. The urgent need is for a bold plan that reserves sufficient land and built units for those who cannot access formal housing markets.

Brazil's experiment with regional planning is also of relevance to India. From the 1970s, the South American country relied on incentives to encourage growth in 130 small cities so as to relieve pressures on larger cities. This did not work as planned. India has tried similar policies from the mid-1970s with the same lack of success. Brazil's experience demonstrates that unless infrastructure, including schools and hospitals, are developed, growth cannot be directed to second- and third-tier cities. The City Statute enacted in Brazil in 2001 is a unique legal instrument appreciated worldwide for its potential benefits. Among other things, it helps municipalities democratise urban management through public hearings and participatory budgeting. Indian urban local bodies must adopt similar instruments. However, they should guard against their misuse, as evidenced in Brazil. Municipalities are empowered to negotiate with public groups and create Special Zones of Social Interest. This is meant to protect low-income areas from real estate speculation but in practice these powers have often been subverted by influential high-income groups. Urbanisation offers tangible benefits but to realise them, planning must keep pace with growth and be equitable.

Editorial of"Hindu"

Reviving true kashmiriyat

by Malini Parthasarathy

In this era of post-nationalism, it is possible to preserve the distinct Kashmiri cultural identity in an autonomous political framework that is not at odds with the idea of it being part of a larger Indian Union.

While bleakly pessimistic readings of the escalating violence in the Kashmir Valley are already declaring that India's more than 60-year painstaking quest to retain the picturesque State within its Union has collapsed, there are strong signs that the situation can be easily pulled back from the brink. What is called for is not just deft political management but some transparent introspection that can be shared loud and clear between New Delhi, Srinagar and the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

It will have to be a conversation that is audible to the outside world, so that it has authenticity and thereby credibility. But most important, the dialogue must reach into history, examine the commitments that have been made especially in recent years and ensure that the faith of ordinary people in the capacity of politics and in the political system is substantively renewed.

The fast moving events in the Valley with the death count of innocent youths rising every day since June 11 in the increasingly violent standoff between civilian protesters and the security forces, served as a wake-up call for New Delhi. The Srinagar stone-pelting campaign brought back the unsavoury memories of the movement for azadi as the slogans shouted on the Srinagar streets were mainly for India to “go back”.

It was a rude jolt to the United Progressive Alliance's self assured and even complacent perception that the peace process initiated in 2006 by the Manmohan Singh administration was in place. The reconciliatory process was clearly in shreds and the situation had spun out of control. Officials and politicians in Srinagar and New Delhi were evidently overwhelmed by the vehemence and intensity of the anger that was spilling out on to the streets.

Some of that realisation appeared to reflect in the Prime Minister's rueful recalling of the steps that his government had taken since 2004, in his meeting with the all-party delegation from Jammu and Kashmir on August 10. Noting that his government had invested heavily in the peace process, having been given the space by the “brave rejection” of militancy by the people, Dr. Singh signalled his recognition of the inevitability of a dialogue with Pakistan on the historical dispute over Kashmir's status. He also admitted that what was needed was “a political solution that addresses the alienation and emotional needs of the people” which could only be achieved through “a sustained internal and external dialogue.”

The Prime Minister sought to remind his audience that his government had set up a number of round tables and working groups in order to bring about a durable peace. Yet in his recounting of the past, he did not offer an explanation of the sudden ebbing of momentum in that very process as a result of the gap between these professed intentions and what had actually transpired in the last three years after the last roundtable concluded in April 2007. There is no doubt that the fatal blow to the Manmohan Singh initiative on Kashmir was the abandonment of the working group process after 2007. After showcasing the Roundtable meetings and working group process as the “way forward” in addressing the alienation of the Valley, for New Delhi to have dropped that entire process was a disconcerting signal.

At the end of the third roundtable conference in April 2007, the Prime Minister had proposed that as a sequel to the constitution of the working groups, a “standing committee of the roundtable conference” be set up “to meet as and when necessary to take stock of the implementation of the recommendations of the working groups.” He had also left it to the Chief Minister to finalise the membership of the standing committee. At that point it was a Congress-PDP coalition that was at the helm with Ghulam Nabi Azad, the Congress candidate as the Chief Minister. Yet inexplicably, the concept of a standing committee to oversee the implementation of the working group recommendations never took shape.

It has been argued that because of the change of regime in Srinagar and the various agitations such as Amarnath and Shopian, the stakes that New Delhi had invested in the peace process could not be successfully sustained. But to have left the Kashmir peace process, an issue of critical national importance, to the vagaries of partisan party politics is an unacceptable lapse of judgment. As a result, critical political and strategic space has unnecessarily been conceded to the separatists.

Yet it is not at all too late for New Delhi to regain the initiative. First, the South Asian regional dynamics have radically changed as a result of the post-9/11 context. The 1990s were dominated by the aftermath of the break-up of the Soviet Union, when campaigns for self-determination and cultural nationalist assertions received worldwide attention and empathy. But vastly different political currents are driving the 21st century, with the global powers led by the United States and including China, for their own strategic reasons having little stake in encouraging fragmentary and breakaway impulses, founded on ethno-nationalism.

Recognising these changed dynamics, the former Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, offered his four-point formula which in essence suggested rendering boundaries irrelevant by allowing a substantive unification of the two Kashmirs, a proposal that New Delhi felt had potential. The key point to recognise in approaching the Kashmir issue is that in this era of post-nationalism, it is possible to preserve the distinct Kashmiri cultural identity in an autonomous political framework that is not at odds with the idea of it being part of a larger Indian Union.

New Delhi's bureaucracy, traditionally suspicious of any formulations that would loosen Srinagar's ties with New Delhi, has failed to grasp the enormous creative potential in engagement with interlocutors such as Mirwaiz Moulvi Farooq, a visionary who is fiercely anti-fundamentalist but seeks to protect Kashmir's unique political identity. In a recent interview in the August issue of the new Srinagar periodical Conveyor, Mirwaiz explained that he believed that the Kashmiris were “in a situation where things have changed, it is not 1947 and the realities are entirely different in 2010.” He also said “we have to move beyond history now and look at options where we can create opportunities of addressing the problem.” Significantly he added “Self determination should not be viewed as a limited or closed thing … we have to look at the broader concept of things.”

The potential in Mirwaiz's views must be explored as also the ideas of the Mehbooba Mufti-led People's Democratic Party, the Congress party's erstwhile coalition partner, which envisage cross-border power-sharing arrangements between the people on both sides of the Line of Control to be able to “gain an uncontrolled access to our own resources and the bounties of nature that are shared by our region as a whole”. In the PDP proposal for self-rule is also a careful acknowledgment that the present national boundaries of India and Pakistan must be preserved.

The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, has the historic responsibility of ensuring that the much delayed constitutional, political and economic processes that enable a radically autonomous status for the State under Article 370, are set in motion. In June 2000, it was his father Farooq Abdullah, then the Chief Minister, who got the J&K State Assembly to adopt a path breaking resolution based on its State Autonomy Committee (SAC) Report proposing that “matters in the Union List not connected with … Defence, External Affairs and Communications … should be excluded from their application of the State”.

It is time for India to uphold the unique circumstances of Kashmir's accession to India and accept the inevitability of loosening its ties to the Union. One positive signal would be to agree to the SAC proposal that the word “temporary” which couches the provision on Article 370 be replaced with the word “special”, thereby protecting the State's special status from the frequent political assaults on it, especially from Hindu nationalists.

The second important aspect of the task ahead is to assure the support of both the Centre and the State government for the project to revive genuine kashmiriyat, the historically unique ethos of the Kashmir valley that is in essence syncretic, harmonious and independent of both the national constructs of India and Pakistan. Respecting kashmiriyat is not by any stretch of imagination anti-Indian. Kashmiriyat is as much a part of the sub-continental heritage as is the rich Dravidian culture of Tamil Nadu.

Kashmiriyat is a proud assertion of a unique Kashmiri cultural identity that is unabashedly pluralist in its moorings, inclusive in its orientation that embraces both Muslims and Pandits. It is as far removed from the hard-line Islamists who seek to hijack this sentiment and turn it into a movement for self-determination, as it is from the Hindu nationalists who demand Kashmir's complete integration with the Indian Union.

The way forward is to revive the true spirit of kashmiriyat. It is a test of India's political ingenuity to find ways and means of upholding it without necessarily compromising the larger issue of national boundaries.

source: hindu

Swollen Teesta triggers alert

FROM THE TELEGRAPH


Siliguri, Aug. 18: An alert has been sounded in Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar districts following the rise in the water level of the Teesta after heavy rain lashed the region for 24 hours. In Siliguri, panic struck after earth from the base of the last pillar of the Mahananda Bridge was washed away.

About 200 affected families have taken shelter on the embankment of the Teesta after water inundated Saradapally, Vivekanandapally and Sukantapally on the right bank of the river in Jalpaiguri town.

Following the landslip near the bridge in Siliguri that connects both ends of the town near Airview More, the foundation of the concrete pillar, usually covered with earth and the cemented stairs leading to the embankment stood exposed. The mark left by the receding water on the pillar bears testimony to the fact that the river had spilled over into its banks last night.

The earth below a portion of the temple — just where the bridge ends and the road starts — had also been washed away.
Gangotri Datta, the mayor of the Siliguri Municipal Corporation, visited the spot today. “A bulldozer has been engaged on an emergency basis to cover the area with soil to prevent further erosion and to save the temple. Stones put inside wired cages have been placed to prevent the river from hitting the pillar and further eroding the base,” she said.

According to India Meteorological Department, Siliguri recorded 118.8mm of rainfall in the past 24 hours. The rainfall caused by a vigorous southwest monsoon since yesterday evening is likely to continue for at least another 24 hours.

“Rain or thundershower will occur at most places in Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar districts of Sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim and at many places in Malda, North and South Dinajpurs in next 24 hours,” IMD sources said.

The rainfall, which was above 100mm in several places (see chart), particularly in the catchment areas of the Teesta, has increased the water levels in most rivers, prompting the North Bengal Flood Control Commission to sound a secondary (red) alert for the unprotected areas on both banks of the Teesta. The area under alert stretches from Domohoni on the outskirts of Jalpaiguri to Bangladesh border at Mekhliganj in Cooch Behar district.

Primary (yellow) alert has also been sounded for the protected areas on both the banks, NBFCC sources said.

The repair on NH55 and NH31, two key highways in north Bengal, also got affected because of the rain.

“We are finding it extremely tough to carry out the repair on NH55 and have to stop the work as debris are coming down continuously from Paglajhora and nearby areas because of the rain,” said Dhruba Chakraborty, the superintending engineer of the state PWD (NH Division IX). “On NH31, through which small vehicles are moving towards the Dooars, we have temporarily stopped all work, also because of the rainfall.”

CM urges students to grow into responsible citizens


NAMCHI, August 18: Chief Minister, Pawan Chamling has called upon the student community to become real builders of the nation by adopting the right attitude and a positive frame of mind.

Speaking at the 15th Annual Day function of the Namchi Government College at Kamrang here today, Mr. Chamling said that students could play a definitive role in nation building and urged them to take maximum benefits of the education opportunities provided by the State Government. “You can contribute to nation building by becoming responsible citizens first,” he said. He also urged the teachers to take their responsibilities seriously towards the students and shape them into educated, responsible and sensible citizens of the world. Here he also said that the main aim of the government was to prepare highly skilled human resource.

On the various demands of the college administration and the area MLA, the Chief Minister assured to fulfill almost all the demands, especially the demands of regularization of adhoc lecturers and increase in their salaries. Regarding other finance related demands, the Chief Minister informed that he will place it in the coming budget session.

The Chief Minister on the occasion also announced a project to solve the drinking water problem of Namchi. With the estimated cost of Rs. 100 crores, this project will solve the problem of drinking water in Namchi for next 50 years, said Mr. Chamling. He also urged the students of Namchi College and the surroundings to start a water security movement to aware the entire people of Sikkim.. Talking upon the arrears of the government employees, Chief Minister announced that the arrears of the teachers will delivered by September this year.

The Chief Minister was also felicitated by the College on the occasion for his efforts in bringing quality education and all round development in the State

source; sikkim express

DARJELLING: Delhi model option


BY ARCHIS MOHAN

New Delhi, Aug. 18: The Centre, in what could be a trial balloon, is looking at the option of granting Union territory status on the lines of the Delhi model to the Darjeeling hills after the expiry of the proposed interim authority’s tenure.

The term of the interim authority, according to the Union government’s proposal, ends on December 31, 2011.

The Centre is looking beyond that for a more permanent solution to the statehood problem, particularly with the Bimal Gurung-led Gorkha Janmukti Morcha unwilling to extend the life of the proposed authority to December 2012.

The Centre feels there is little possibility of the Bengal government agreeing to Morcha demands for additional territory — the party wants the Dooars and Terai besides the Darjeeling hills — or statehood.

Even the Centre has reservations about the two demands considering the strategic location of the region.

Under the circumstances, granting Union territory (UT) status to the hills is being seen as a face saver for the stakeholders with all sides compromising a little on their stand on additional territory, say officials in New Delhi.
The proposed plan, based largely on the National Capital Territory model of Delhi, will offer an elected Assembly with sizeable legislative powers to the hills. At present, only two of the seven UTs — NCT of Delhi and Puducherry — have elected Legislative Assemblies.

The Darjeeling hills will become a centrally administered UT with the Bengal governor playing the role of the lieutenant governor for the set-up. This is similar to the Punjab governor who also acts as an administrator for the UT of Chandigarh.

And just like Delhi, the new UT’s Legislative Assembly may not be empowered to legislate on crucial subjects under the state list.

The Delhi Assembly cannot legislate on state list’s entries 1, 2 and 18 that relate to maintenance of public order, police and land. These powers rest with the Union government through the lieutenant governor. Thus important agencies like the Delhi Development Authority, Delhi Police, New Delhi Municipal Council and Municipal Corporation of Delhi are out of the Delhi government’s jurisdiction.

On the flip side, an UT status would also mean that the Bengal cadre officials will no longer run the administration. They will be replaced by AGMUT cadre officers who run administrations in the existing seven UTs along with the states of Goa, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh.

Officials have asked the Morcha leaders to read the Delhi Administration Act of 1966 that governed Delhi till it was granted partial statehood in 1991 as the interim authority will be based on that act.

However, for the moment, the Centre’s plan needs to cross several hurdles including convincing the new government at Writers’ Building post April-May.

source; telegraph

Agriculture College eyes local herbs for benefits of locals



GANGTOK, August 17: Lemongrass and Java Citronella, found in abundance in the hills, are set to become the harbingers of economic prosperity for the North Eastern States, particularly Sikkim while contributing to environmental protection as well.

The aromatic oil extracted from the two herbs may fetch handsome financial dividends to the farmers. Besides, they also have an immense potential of conserving the water and the soil.

The College of Agricultural Engineering and Post Harvest Technology at Ranipool is actively involved in ensuring value addition to scented and aromatic plants of the North Eastern States including Sikkim under the National Agricultural Innovation Project. The Rs. 4 crores project of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research also covers the herbs like Patchouli and scented Orchids.

The Vice-Chancellor of the Central Agriculture University Imphal, to which the College is affiliated, Dr SN Puri said to media yesterday that the college has tied up with the farmers around the campus for growing Lemon grass and Java Citronella in about two acres of their extra land. He said that an oil extractor having a capacity of producing four litres of oil from four quintals of Lemon grass or Java Citronella worth around Rs. 1600 in an hour has been installed at the College for the convenience of these farmers.

Dr. Puri added that these oils have a great demand in the cosmetic industry and the Citrola oil, a produce of the secondary processing of the Java Citronella, is sold at even higher price in the market. The by-products of the two herbs too are widely used for manufacturing incense sticks, he said.

The Central Agriculture University Vice Chancellor informed that as the partners of the project, the ICAR Tadong is working on Patchouli while the National Centre for Orchids Research, Pakyong is working on scented orchids. He said that the College of Agricultural Engineering and Post Harvest Technology will provide its processing and marketing support to the farmers growing these herbs free of cost for a period of two years as to make them self-reliant.

Dr. Puri said that given the soil-conservation properties of both Lemon Grass and Java Citronella, the college will be happy to grow them in some land-slide or sinking zones in the State on an experimental basis, provided the State government agrees to it.

source;sikkim express

GST Council not to Disturb or Alter Primacy of Legislature in the area of Taxation:

Shri Mukherjee calls Upon the State Finance Ministers to make all efforts to meet the timelines of Introduction of GST by april 2011

FM’s Address at meeting with Empowered Committee of state Finance Ministers
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

17:4 IST
The Union Finance Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee had a meeting with the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers to finalize the draft Constitutional Amendments on Goods and Services Tax, here today. Addressing the meeting, the Finance Minister emphasized that the primacy of the Legislature in the area of taxation is supreme and inalienable and that the proposed draft on GST did not seek to disturb or alter this in any manner. Highlighting the importance of the GST Council, Shri Mukherjee said that the collective wisdom of the Council would be a valuable resource in benchmarking rates, exemptions, thresholds and other key parameters for both the Centre and the States. Even if its decisions are not binding, they would be useful as guiding principles which could be ignored or violated only in very grave or exceptional circumstances. Regarding States’ concerns about the subsumation of taxes such as entry tax and entertainment tax levied and collected by local bodies, the Finance Minister assured that the Joint Working Group set up to draft the Constitutional Amendments will take care of these issues while preparing the third revised draft.

Following is the text of Finance Minister’s speech delivered at the meeting:

“Let me begin by extending a warm welcome to all of you to this meeting convened to give a shape and form to the Goods and Services Tax. Although the list of things required to be done for the introduction of GST is long, the priority for now is the finalization of draft Constitutional amendments so that the Amendment Bill may be introduced in Parliament during the ongoing monsoon session. This is critical for meeting the April 2011 deadline.

During our last meeting on the 21st of July, 2010 I had shared with you the first draft of the Constitutional Amendment required for the introduction of GST which was prepared by the officials based on discussions in the Joint Working Group. I have been informed that the Empowered Committee held intense discussions on this draft in its meeting on the 4th of August, 2010. Similarly, the second revised draft has been discussed at length in the meeting of the Empowered Committee held this morning. My team has apprised me of the views expressed by the States in these meetings. I am aware, therefore, of the apprehensions that most of you have voiced regarding the proposed amendments.

Based on feedback I received, it seems that your deepest concern has been the perceived sacrifice of fiscal autonomy owing to two provisions in this draft – one, the role of the GST Council and two, the so-called ‘veto’ power assigned to the Union Finance Minister as the Chairperson of the Council. The concerns about the role of the GST Council stem from the fact that it was called upon to “determine” the rates of tax, exemptions and threshold limits etc. and its decisions were to be “binding” on both Governments. It was the perception of some of you that the proposal has the effect of granting primacy to the Council over the Legislature. I would like to emphasize that in a Parliamentary democracy such as ours this can never be the case. Article 265 of the Constitution clearly states that “no tax can be levied or collected except by authority of law.” Thus, the primacy of the Legislature in the area of taxation is supreme and inalienable and the proposed draft did not seek to disturb or alter this in any manner.

As for the sharing of power between the Centre and the States in the functioning of the GST Council, it has been our primary concern not to lose sight of the fact that Indian economy still suffers from acute regional imbalances where the revenue-raising potential of all the States are not similar. It was perhaps in recognition of this fact that our Constitution makers erected a federal structure that leans in favour of the Centre at least in the area of fiscal relations. It was in this background that the scheme of functioning of the GST Council in the proposed draft envisaged a slightly larger role for the Centre vis-a-vis the States.

The “binding” nature of GST Council decisions has also drawn comment from the perspective of loss of autonomy. Although the loss of autonomy was clearly bilateral and mutual, the problem we are faced with is a difficult one. On the one hand, we wish to put in place a system where adherence to the commonly accepted structure of rates, exemption etc. would be the norm, yet we do not wish to be fettered in our actions. Recognising this dichotomy, it has been proposed in the revised draft that the decisions of the GST Council would be “recommendations” to the Union and the States. Since these decisions would be taken by “consensus”, it is for us to respect them and develop a healthy convention of abiding by them, as is the case with several other Constitutionally mandated bodies.

You would agree that in order to operate a dual GST of the type proposed by the Empowered Committee, there is a fundamental need for a forum where the Centre and all the States can discuss and jointly decide upon critical parameters. The GST Council is precisely such a forum. The collective wisdom of the Council would be a valuable resource in benchmarking rates, exemptions, thresholds and other key parameters for both the Centre and the States. Even if its decisions are not binding, they would be useful as guiding principles which we would choose to ignore or violate only in very grave or exceptional circumstances. In this context, I am grateful that in this morning’s deliberations, most of you appreciated the changes made in the second revised draft.

I have been informed about your views on establishing the GST Dispute Settlement Authority. It is our considered view that in the amendment, there should be a provision for setting up an independent and autonomous forum to resolve disputes which may arise due to rate variations which may violate the harmonized structure of GST. With your rich experience in the introduction and implementation of VAT, a moment’s reflection would convince you of the need for such a mechanism. I recognize that this is uncharted territory for all of us. But that should not make us oblivious of its genuine need.

Apart from these substantive issues, some of the States have expressed concerns about the subsumation of taxes such as entry tax and entertainment or amusement tax levied and collected by local bodies. I am sure, the Joint Working Group set up to draft the Constitutional Amendments will be able to take care of most of these issues when they prepare the third revised draft.

I learn that during this morning’s discussions, some State Finance Ministers expressed reservations on the introduction of GST by April 2011 and advised a further postponement. Here, I will like to stress the urgency of bringing to culmination an effort which started four years ago. As I had mentioned in my last meeting with you, we must make all efforts to meet the timelines we have set for ourselves. It must be appreciated that the Constitutional Amendment is only an enabling provision. It does not prohibit us from continuing our dialogue on rates, exemptions and other issues related to GST. Both the activities can go on parallely. The wisdom lies in moving ahead with the Constitutional Amendment without any further delay as a preparatory step for the introduction of GST. I have great faith in the collective wisdom of the Empowered Committee and am confident that as we move parallely on Constitutional Amendment, development of IT infrastructure and finalization of architecture of rates, exemptions and thresholds, we will be able to honour the commitment we have made to the nation.

I would also like to take this opportunity to inform you that the Empowered Group on IT Infrastructure has already started the work to put in place a common portal for GST and it has also been decided that the proposed Special Purpose Vehicle for IT would be incubated in the National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL). This would fast-track the development of IT infrastructure.


CENTRAL SALES TAX (CST)


Now we come to the issue of CST compensation. You may kindly recall that the policy intent for the introduction of GST was announced by the Union Finance Minister in his Budget Speech in February 2006. As a step forward, the Union Cabinet approved the roadmap for the phase out of CST in February 2007 on the basis of the agreement reached between Government of India and Empowered Committee of the Finance Ministers of the States. The Union Government agreed to reduce the CST, which comes under the Union List, from 4% in March 2007 to 0% by April 2010. It was also agreed that States will increase the basic VAT rate from 4% in 2007 to 5% in 2008 and further to 6% by April 2010 and introduce VAT on Tobacco, Textiles and Sugar. Last year, i.e. 2009-10, even though the States had not introduced VAT on textiles nor increased the basic VAT rate from 4% to 5% as had been agreed upon between the Centre and the States in 2007, I agreed to pay the full compensation as per the old formula. Although it is expected to cost the Government of India around Rs.14,900/- crore in 2009-10, I agreed to this in the interest of an early movement towards the GST regime. Unfortunately, for various reasons, we were not able to introduce GST from April, 2010. However, I did not give up hope and as a result of the hard work put in by the Empowered Committee, a broad consensus emerged on the introduction of GST by 1st April 2011. In this background, I agreed to pay the compensation for one extra year i.e. 2010-11. On 5th August 2010, we have received a communication from the Empowered Committee requesting for compensation for CST on the basis of the existing formula as also to ensure that no double deduction on account of Form D is made.

At this stage, I will only like to highlight the main difference between the last year and the current year which is, while the States had not increased the basic VAT rate from 4% to 5% last year, the EC has taken a decision to do so from the current year. It is only fair that the additional revenue accruing to the States on account of this increase in basic VAT rate from 4% to 5% may also be taken into consideration while reckoning the compensation of CST due from the Centre to the States, as had been agreed to by the EC in 2007. I have asked my officers to call an early meeting of Joint Working Group and complete the consultation process.

As regards pending CST compensation claims, I understand that most of the additional amount due on account of the decision to fully compensate the States has been released to all States. It is further noticed that most of these releases for 2009-10 are provisional, in the absence of the AG certified figures. I would urge all States to submit the AG certificates at the earliest and make the full claim. It is further noticed that some of the States have still not made the full claims for 2009-10. They may also like to do so.”

DSM/BY/GN-282/10

China deploys new CCS-5 missiles on borders with India


The Indian Express
Tue, Aug 17


China has moved new advanced longer range CSS-5 missiles close to the borders with India and developed contingency plans to shift airborne forces at short notice to the region, according to Pentagon.

Despite increased political and economic relationship between India and China, the Pentagon in a report to the US Congress said, tensions remain along the Sino-India borders with rising instances of border violation and aggressive border patrolling by Chinese soldiers.

However, a senior Defense Department official told reporters that the US has not observed any anomalous increase in military capabilities along the Sino-India border.
Noting that China continues to maintain its position on what its territorial claim is, the official said, the two
capitals – Beijing and New Delhi – have been able to manage this dispute, in a way, using confidence-building measures and diplomatic mechanisms to be able to maintain relative stability in that border area.

“But it’s something that China continues to watch; but I wouldn’t say that there’s anything in this report that demonstrates a spike or an anomalous increase in military capabilities along the border.

“It’s something that China’s paying very careful attention to. It’s obviously something that India is paying careful attention to as well,” the Senior Defense Department official said.

In its annual report, the US Defence department said, to improve regional deterrence, the PLA has replaced older liquid-fueled, nuclear capable CCS-3 intermediate range missiles with more advanced and survivable fueled CSS-5 MRBMs.

“China is currently engaged in massive road and rail infrastructure development along the Sino-India border primarily to facilitate economic development in western China: improved roads also support PLA operations,” the Pentagon said.

The report presented to the Congress said despite increased political and economic relations over the years between China and India, tensions remain along their shared 4,057 km border, most notably over Arunachal Pradesh, which China asserts as part of Tibet and therefore of China, and over the Aksai Chin region at the western end of the Tibetan Plateau.

“Both countries, in 2009, stepped up efforts to assert their claims. China tried to block a USD 2.9 billion loan to India from the Asian Development Bank, claiming part of the loan would have been used for water projects in Arunachal Pradesh. This represented the first time China sought to influence this dispute through a multilateral institution,” the Pentagon said.

The report said: “The then governor of Arunachal Pradesh announced that India would deploy more troops and fighter jets to the area. An Indian academic also noted that, in 2008, the Indian Army had recorded 270 border violations and nearly 2,300 cases of ‘aggressive border patrolling’ by Chinese soldiers”.

China refers to its intervention in the Korean War (1950-1953) as the “War to Resist the United States and Aid Korea.” Similarly, authoritative texts refer to border conflicts against India (1962), the Soviet Union (1969), and Vietnam (1979) as “Self-Defense Counter Attacks,” the Pentagon report said.

The Pentagon said Beijing remains concerned with persistent disputes along China’s shared border with India and the strategic ramifications of India’s rising economic, political, and military power.

Destroying nature will ruin economies, cultures

by John Vidal

The frozen remains of two Woolly Mammoths, long extinct elephants in the Ice Age uncovered from the Siberian permafrost at the Taiwan National Democracy Memorial Hall, in Taipei, Taiwan. Scientists estimate that 150-200 species of plant, insect, bird and mammal become extinct every 24 hours.

UN biodiversity chief to push for more ambitious targets. Damage to natural world ‘reaching tipping point’.

Countries face a collapse of their economies and loss of culture if they do not protect the environment better, the world’s leading champion of nature has warned.

“What we are seeing today is a total disaster,” said Ahmed Djoghlaf, the secretary-general of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. “No country has met its targets to protect nature. We are losing biodiversity at an unprecedented rate. If current levels [of destruction] go on we will reach a tipping point very soon. The future of the planet now depends on governments taking action in the next few years.” Industrialisation, population growth, the spread of cities and farms, and climate change are all now threatening the fundamentals of life itself, said Djoghlaf, in London before a UN meeting in which governments are expected to sign up to a more ambitious deal to protect nature.

“Many plans were developed in the 1990s to protect biodiversity but they are still sitting on the shelves of ministries. Countries were legally obliged to act, but only 140 have even submitted plans and only 16 have revised their plans since 1993. Governments must now put their houses in order,” he said.

According to the UN Environment Programme, the Earth is in the middle of a mass extinction of life. Scientists estimate that 150-200 species of plant, insect, bird and mammal become extinct every 24 hours. This is nearly 1,000 times the “natural” or “background” rate and, claim many biologists, is greater than anything the world has experienced since the dinosaurs vanished nearly 65m years ago. Around 15% of mammal species and 11 per cent of bird species are classified as threatened with extinction.

Djoghlaf warned Britain and other countries not to cut nature protection amid the recession. In a reference to expected 40 per cent cuts in Britain’s Department of the Environment spending, he said, “You may well save a few pounds now but you will lose billions later. Biodiversity is your natural asset. The more you lose it, the more you lose your cultural assets too.” Djoghlaf said, 300 million people who depended on forests and the more than 1 billion who lived off sea fishing were in immediate danger. “Cut your forests down, or over-fish, and these people will not survive. Destroying biodiversity only increases economic insecurity. The more you lose it, the more you lose the chance to grow.” He added, “The loss of biodiversity compounds poverty. Biodiversity is fundamental to social life, education and aesthetics. It’s a human right to live in a healthy environment.” Djoghlaf criticised countries for separating action on climate change from protecting biodiversity. “The loss of biodiversity exacerbates climate change. But it is handled by the poorest ministries in government, it has not been mainstreamed or prioritised by governments. Climate change cannot be solved without action on biodiversity, and vice versa.” The UN chief said that children were losing contact with nature. “In Algeria, children are growing up who have never seen olive trees. How can you protect nature if you do not know it?” A UN report on the impact of biodiversity loss, out in October, is expected to say that the economic case for global action to stop species destruction is even more powerful than the argument for tackling climate change. It will say that saving biodiversity is cost-effective and the benefits from saving “natural goods and services”, such as pollination, medicines, fertile soils, clean air and water, are between 10 and 100 times the cost of saving the habitats and species that provide them.

Copyright: Guardian News & Media 2010

SDF business cell meeting

SE Report

GANGTOK, August 16: A meeting of the All Sikkim Business Cell, a frontal unit of Sikkim Democratic Front was held today at Gangtok under the chairmanship of the cell vice-president Tulshi Prasad Pradhan.

The cell general secretary Satish Chandra Rai highlighted the objectives of the All Sikkim Business Cell and the policies and principles of the ruling front.
The meeting decided to establish the cell’s branch for East district on August 29. Similar branches will be opened up at West and South districts.

The U.S. Withdrawal and Limited Options in Iraq

By George Friedman
“This report is republished with the permission of STRATFOR:

It is August 2010, which is the month when the last U.S. combat troops are scheduled to leave Iraq. It is therefore time to take stock of the situation in Iraq, which has changed places with Afghanistan as the forgotten war. This is all the more important since 50,000 troops will remain in Iraq, and while they may not be considered combat troops, a great deal of combat power remains embedded with them. So we are far from the end of the war in Iraq. The question is whether the departure of the last combat units is a significant milestone and, if it is, what it signifies.

The United States invaded Iraq in 2003 with three goals: The first was the destruction of the Iraqi army, the second was the destruction of the Baathist regime and the third was the replacement of that regime with a stable, pro-American government in Baghdad. The first two goals were achieved within weeks. Seven years later, however, Iraq still does not yet have a stable government, let alone a pro-American government. The lack of that government is what puts the current strategy in jeopardy.

The fundamental flaw of the invasion of Iraq was not in its execution but in the political expectations that were put in place. As the Americans knew, the Shiite community was anti-Baathist but heavily influenced by Iranian intelligence. The decision to destroy the Baathists put the Sunnis, who were the backbone of Saddam’s regime, in a desperate position. Facing a hostile American army and an equally hostile Shiite community backed by Iran, the Sunnis faced disaster. Taking support from where they could get it — from the foreign jihadists that were entering Iraq — they launched an insurgency against both the Americans and the Shia.

The Sunnis simply had nothing to lose. In their view, they faced permanent subjugation at best and annihilation at worst. The United States had the option of creating a Shiite-based government but realized that this government would ultimately be under Iranian control. The political miscalculation placed the United States simultaneously into a war with the Sunnis and a near-war situation with many of the Shia, while the Shia and Sunnis waged a civil war among themselves and the Sunnis occasionally fought the Kurds as well. From late 2003 until 2007, the United States was not so much in a state of war in Iraq as it was in a state of chaos.

The new strategy of Gen. David Petraeus emerged from the realization that the United States could not pacify Iraq and be at war with everyone. After a 2006 defeat in the midterm elections, it was expected that U.S. President George W. Bush would order the withdrawal of forces from Iraq. Instead, he announced the surge. The surge was really not much of a surge, but it created psychological surprise — not only were the Americans not leaving, but more were on the way. Anyone who was calculating a position based on the assumption of a U.S. withdrawal had to recalculate.

The Americans understood that the key was reversing the position of the Sunni insurgents. So long as they remained at war with the Americans and Shia, there was no possibility of controlling the situation. Moreover, only the Sunnis could cut the legs out from under the foreign jihadists operating in the Sunni community. These jihadists were challenging the traditional leadership of the Sunni community, so turning this community against the jihadists was not difficult. The Sunnis also were terrified that the United States would withdraw, leaving them at the mercy of the Shia. These considerations, along with substantial sums of money given to Sunni tribal elders, caused the Sunnis to do an about-face. This put the Shia on the defensive, since the Sunni alignment with the Americans enabled the Americans to strike at the Shiite militias.

Petraeus stabilized the situation, but he did not win the war. The war could only be considered won when there was a stable government in Baghdad that actually had the ability to govern Iraq. A government could be formed with people sitting in meetings and talking, but that did not mean that their decisions would have any significance. For that there had to be an Iraqi army to enforce the will of the government and protect the country from its neighbors — particularly Iran (from the American point of view). There also had to be a police force to enforce whatever laws might be made. And from the American perspective, this government did not have to be pro-American (that had long ago disappeared as a viable goal), but it could not be dominated by Iran.

Iraq is not ready to deal with the enforcement of the will of the government because it has no government. Once it has a government, it will be a long time before its military and police forces will be able to enforce its will throughout the country. And it will be much longer before it can block Iranian power by itself. As it stands now, there is no government, so the rest doesn’t much matter.

The geopolitical problem the Americans face is that, with the United States gone, Iran would be the most powerful conventional power in the Persian Gulf. The historical balance of power had been between Iraq and Iran. The American invasion destroyed the Iraqi army and government, and the United States was unable to re-create either. Part of this had to do with the fact that the Iranians did not want the Americans to succeed.

For Iran, a strong Iraq is the geopolitical nightmare. Iran once fought a war with Iraq that cost Iran a million casualties (imagine the United States having more than 4 million casualties), and the foundation of Iranian national strategy is to prevent a repeat of that war by making certain that Iraq becomes a puppet to Iran or, failing that, that it remains weak and divided. At this point, the Iranians do not have the ability to impose a government on Iraq. However, they do have the ability to prevent the formation of a government or to destabilize one that is formed. Iranian intelligence has sufficient allies and resources in Iraq to guarantee the failure of any stabilization attempt that doesn’t please Tehran.

There are many who are baffled by Iranian confidence and defiance in the face of American pressure on the nuclear issue. This is the reason for that confidence: Should the United States attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, or even if the United States does not attack, Iran holds the key to the success of the American strategy in Iraq. Everything done since 2006 fails if the United States must maintain tens of thousands of troops in Iraq in perpetuity. Should the United States leave, Iran has the capability of forcing a new order not only on Iraq but also on the rest of the Persian Gulf. Should the United States stay, Iran has the ability to prevent the stabilization of Iraq, or even to escalate violence to the point that the Americans are drawn back into combat. The Iranians understand the weakness of America’s position in Iraq, and they are confident that they can use that to influence American policy elsewhere.

American and Iraqi officials have publicly said that the reason an Iraqi government has not been formed is Iranian interference. To put it more clearly, there are any number of Shiite politicians who are close to Tehran and, for a range of reasons, will take their orders from there. There are not enough of these politicians to create a government, but there are enough to block a government from being formed. Therefore, no government is being formed.

With 50,000 U.S. troops still in Iraq, the United States does not yet face a crisis. The current withdrawal milestone is not the measure of the success of the strategy. The threat of a crisis will arise if the United States continues its withdrawal to the point where the Shia feel free to launch a sustained and escalating attack on the Sunnis, possibly supported by Iranian forces, volunteers or covert advisers. At that point, the Iraqi government must be in place, be united and command sufficient forces to control the country and deter Iranian plans.

The problem is, as we have seen, that in order to achieve that government there must be Iranian concurrence, and Iran has no reason to want to allow that to happen. Iran has very little to lose by, and a great deal to gain from, continuing the stability the Petraeus strategy provided. The American problem is that a genuine withdrawal from Iraq requires a shift in Iranian policy, and the United States has little to offer Iran to change the policy.

From the Iranian point of view, they have the Americans in a difficult position. On the one hand, the Americans are trumpeting the success of the Petraeus plan in Iraq and trying to repeat the success in Afghanistan. On the other hand, the secret is that the Petraeus plan has not yet succeeded in Iraq. Certainly, it ended the major fighting involving the Americans and settled down Sunni-Shiite tensions. But it has not taken Iraq anywhere near the end state the original strategy envisioned. Iraq has neither a government nor a functional army — and what is blocking it is Tehran.

One impulse of the Americans is to settle with the Iranians militarily. However, Iran is a mountainous country of 70 million, and an invasion is simply not in the cards. Airstrikes are always possible, but as the United States learned over North Vietnam — or from the Battle of Britain or in the bombing of Germany and Japan before the use of nuclear weapons — air campaigns alone don’t usually force nations to capitulate or change their policies. Serbia did give up Kosovo after a three-month air campaign, but we suspect Iran would be a tougher case. In any event, the United States has no appetite for another war while the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are still under way, let alone a war against Iran in order to extricate itself from Iraq. The impulse to use force against Iran was resisted by President Bush and is now being resisted by President Barack Obama. And even if the Israelis attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities, Iran could still wreak havoc in Iraq.

Two strategies follow from this. The first is that the United States will reduce U.S. forces in Iraq somewhat but will not complete the withdrawal until a more distant date (the current Status of Forces Agreement requires all American troops to be withdrawn by the end of 2011). The problems with this strategy are that Iran is not going anywhere, destabilizing Iraq is not costing it much and protecting itself from an Iraqi resurgence is Iran’s highest foreign-policy priority. That means that the decision really isn’t whether the United States will delay its withdrawal but whether the United States will permanently base forces in Iraq — and how vulnerable those forces might be to an upsurge in violence, which is an option that Iran retains.

Another choice for the United States, as we have discussed previously, is to enter into negotiations with Iran. This is a distasteful choice from the American point of view, but surely not more distasteful than negotiating with Stalin or Mao. At the same time, the Iranians’ price would be high. At the very least, they would want the “Finlandization” of Iraq, similar to the situation where the Soviets had a degree of control over Finland’s government. And it is far from clear that such a situation in Iraq would be sufficient for the Iranians.

The United States cannot withdraw completely without some arrangement, because that would leave Iran in an extremely powerful position in the region. The Iranian strategy seems to be to make the United States sufficiently uncomfortable to see withdrawal as attractive but not to be so threatening as to deter the withdrawal. As clever as that strategy is, however, it does not hide the fact that Iran would dominate the Persian Gulf region after the withdrawal. Thus, the United States has nothing but unpleasant choices in Iraq. It can stay in perpetuity and remain vulnerable to violence. It can withdraw and hand the region over to Iran. It can go to war with yet another Islamic country. Or it can negotiate with a government that it despises — and which despises it right back.

Given all that has been said about the success of the Petraeus strategy, it must be observed that while it broke the cycle of violence and carved out a fragile stability in Iraq, it has not achieved, nor can it alone achieve, the political solution that would end the war. Nor has it precluded a return of violence at some point. The Petraeus strategy has not solved the fundamental reality that has always been the shadow over Iraq: Iran. But that was beyond Petraeus’ task and, for now, beyond American capabilities. That is why the Iranians can afford to be so confident


“This report is republished with the permission of STRATFOR: www.STRATFOR.com

Residential Certificates will provide all benefits to old settlers: Chamling


Sikkim Express | www.sikkimexpress.com



GANGTOK, August 16: Chief Minister Pawan Chamling said on his Independence Day address here at Pajlor Stadium yesterday that proposed Residential Certificates will provide all benefits to those Sikkimese persons who had been residing in Sikkim before 1975.

The Chief Minister also defended the State government’s decision to distribute Pink Cards to Sikkim subject certificate holders.

The Pink Cards will further strengthen the Sikkim subject certificates and prevents the misuse of the certificates, said Chamling in his address during the State level 64th Independence Day celebrations. He urged the people not to get influenced by baseless rumours floating around on the Pink Card issue.

Addressing the 38,800 odd government employees in the State, the Chief Minister said that the employees should respect their responsibilities and make contributions to take Sikkim to greater heights of development.

“One will earn respect and get remembered for their duties and not posts”, said Chamling.

Highlighting the developmental programmes of the State government, the Chief Minister said that the SDF government is attempting to blend Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Nehru’s concept of development to achieve the desired results of a prosperous State.

“The State government looks forward to all-round participation of the people from all sections of the society to meet the developmental goals. We are also trying to bridge the urban-rural gap through Panchayati Raj Institution and local self-governance”, said Chamling.

The Chief Minister also announced that Block Administrative Centres (BAC) will be established at Chumbong, Chakung and Chongrang in West District and Nandugaon in South Sikkim. He also announced that State Bank Sikkim branches will be set up in all the BACs and the Panchayats will be empowered to issue trade licenses and appoint account clerks.

Chamling also announced allotment of discretionary funds to the Panchayats and Nagar Panchayats, covering 1000 hectares of land under irrigation by 2013 and establishing sub-regional offices of agriculture, horticulture and allied sectors to develop Sikkim as a total organic State by 2015.

The Chief Minister also released books on rhododendrons of Sikkim, Sikkim Organic Mission, Total Literacy Mission and road map of urbanization published by the concerned departments. He also launched the Chief Minister’s Rural Universal Financial Inclusion project. Four women each from the four Districts were handed the biometric token cards of the project on the occasion.

The ITBP, SSB, SAP, IRB, Sikkim Police, Home Guards, NCC, scouts and guides, road safety platoon, army pipe band and police brass and pipe band present a march past on the occasion.

Students of various schools teamed up to present attractive mass drills and traditional dances.

The SSB was adjudged as the over-all best platoon with Tashi Namgyal Senior Secondary School as the best NCC troop followed by Ranipool Senior Secondary School in the second place. The Madras Regiment Army pipe band received the best band award.

Garlic controls blood pressure’


An international team has found that garlic extract can help treat high blood pressure.

Suffering from hypertension? Try out garlic as an adjunct to conventional drugs, for a new study claims that it controls blood pressure levels.

An international team, led by Dr Karin Ried at the University of Adelaide, has found garlic extract can help treat high blood pressure, the ‘Maturitas’ scientific journal reported in its latest edition.

However, raw or cooked garlic, and garlic powder are not as effective in treating high blood pressure as aged garlic extract, says the study.

In a 12-week trial, involving 50 people, the team found that those with systolic blood pressure above 140 who took aged garlic extract capsules experienced an average systolic blood pressure 10.2 mm Hg lower than the control group, who took a placebo.

“This reduction is clinically significant, as a drop in systolic blood pressure by 5 mm Hg reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease by 8 to 20 per cent.

“Garlic is thought to have an antihypertensive effect because it stimulates production of certain chemical substances called nitric oxide (NO) and hydrogen sulphide (H2S), which helps relax blood vessels,” Dr Ried said.

He added: “High blood pressure is an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease. About 30 per cent of adults in Australia are hypertensive, yet only half those numbers are on BP medication and 60 per cent of those who are receiving treatment are inadequately controlled.

“This shows there is plenty of scope to explore the use of garlic as an effective treatment option for people suffering hypertension.”

A New India in the Making: PM

by Ashok Handoo**




“We are building a new India in which every citizen would have a stake,” announced the Prime Minister from the ramparts of the historic Red Fort. An India which would be prosperous, in which all citizens would live a life of honour and dignity, in peace and goodwill where problems would be solved through democratic means and basic rights of the people protected. The occasion was the 64th Independence Day of India- a proud moment for all Indians.

Indeed, the country is on the march towards this goal. A lot has been achieved through various programmes like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act which assures 100 days of employment in a year in rural areas, the Right to Education, the Right to Information, 50 percent reservation for women in local bodies, protection and welfare of minorities, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes etc., through scholarships and special programmes. These have made a difference in peoples lives. India today stands among the fastest growing economies of the world. Despite a drought like situation last year we faced the global economic slow down brilliantly.

But we are still far, far away from what we intend to achieve. As Dr. Manmohan Singh put it “we are faced with serious challenges.” These need to be resolved. We cannot allow our society to get divided in the name of religion, state, caste or language, which generally happens.

The Prime Minister underlined the fact that after the Green Revolution about 40 years ago, through the efforts of agricultural scientist Norman Borlaug who commands a special place in the history of Indian agriculture, we have not witnessed any big technological breakthrough in Agriculture. It is time that we acquire technologies to address the needs of dry land farming, climate change, falling levels of ground water and deteriorating quality of soil. Dr. Manmohan Singh announced that the Borlaug Institute of South Asia is being established in India. It will facilitate availability of new and improved seeds and new technology to the farmers in India and other South Asian countries.

We have yet to achieve the 4 percent growth rate in agriculture. That calls for special attention to the farm sector. Support price for wheat was enhanced to Rs. 1100 per quintal from Rs. 630, last year. Paddy price too was almost doubled to Rs. 1000, to make farming remunerative for the farmers. But it has a side effect too-prices in the open market also increase. So, a fine balance is needed.

The Prime Minister admitted that inflation has caused difficulties to the people, especially when the prices of commodities of day to day use rise. But he emphasized that every possible effort was being made to tackle this problem. Steps to minimize the burden on poor in particular, were being taken. Dr. Manmohan Singh was confident of succeeding in these efforts.

The process of building a new India with our progressive social agenda and inclusive growth is well in the making. Dr. Singh said that today almost every child in our country has access to primary education and we now need to focus on secondary and higher education and improve the quality at every level. He announced a Bill would soon be brought to the Parliament for constitution of two separate councils in higher education and health, to accelerate reforms in these sectors. The children, he said, need to be taught the importance of cleanliness and hygiene in schools “from the very beginning under a campaign for a clean India.”

He also spoke about the involvement of private sector in building physical infrastructure, like roads, ports and airports. “The resources required to create good physical infrastructure are difficult for government alone to mobilize,” Dr. Singh said. This policy has started bearing fruit. Recently, a new world class terminal of the Delhi Airport was dedicated to the nation.

Obviously, peace is paramount for carrying forward these efforts. It was in this backdrop that the Prime Minister made fervent appeal to people in Kashmir, the North-East and also the Naxals, to adopt peaceful, democratic methods in voicing their grievances and come to the negotiating table to discuss the issues. Violence does well to no one. Ultimately issues have to be resolved through negotiations. The sooner it is done the better it is.

It was with conviction that the Prime Minister said, “Our future is bright. The day our dreams will come true is not far off.”

The words could as well turn out prophetic. But that requires a conscious effort on the part of all Indians to join hands, sink differences, resolve issues through peaceful means, keep the nations interests uppermost in their minds, bid farewell to corruption and behave in a truly secular and democratic way. If we are able to do that, realization of our dream is only a matter of time. (PIB Features)

Banking on India Post


India's search for viable methods of creating a financially inclusive economy has a ubiquitous, albeit underutilised, ally — India Post. The world's largest postal network has over 1.55 lakh post offices, 89.76 per cent of which are in rural areas. On an average, a post office serves 7,175 people and covers an area of 21.21 sq. km, giving it a natural advantage to take financial services closer to the unbanked. A recent expert committee report makes a strong case for harnessing the Post Office Savings Bank (POSB) for achieving financial inclusion, as the reach of post offices is twice as extensive as that of all commercial banks put together. The time-tested credibility of POSBs, started in 1882, and the wide customer base of 206 million savings accounts, which held Rs. 56,369.77 crore as on March 31, 2009, make out a strong case for full-fledged banking operations for India Post. Against this backdrop, the XI Five Year Plan's proposal to set up a Post Bank of India merits serious consideration.

Key policy changes are in order, however. India Post now carries out its banking and insurance operations as an agency function of the Ministry of Finance. This raises issues relating to operational autonomy. To overcome this limitation, the expert committee's suggestion that India Post should engage with the Finance Ministry to “re-examine and expand its presently limited agency function” is an important starting point. The possible start of full-fledged banking operations, including lending, will also necessitate post office banks to be governed by the country's banking laws. For now, however, India Post is striving to be in sync with the times. Its recent step to facilitate remittances by NRIs is one indicator. Such efforts need to be taken further to make financial inclusion meaningful. As the expert committee points out, the advantage of India Post taking to banking operations is that it can bring a multiplicity of stakeholders on a common platform, for instance, central and State governments, microfinance institutions and technology providers, and serve the financially excluded. The tying up of user-accounts for rural job schemes is a welcome start, and can be expanded to include cash transfer schemes that benefit the poor. The committee's suggestion that post offices open low-cost accounts and provide micro-loans strengthens the case for post offices doubling as banks. The most important determinant of how well India Post rises to its potential to emerge as a lead player in financial inclusion, however, will be the quality of services it renders to its customers.

editorial-Hindu

Reflections on Respect

BY Gopalkrishna Gandhi
Former Governor of West Bengal Gopalkrishna Gandhi.

The text of a talk titled ‘Respect,’
delivered at the Madras High Court on August 5, 2010, under the aegis of Juris/Legal Exl '83, formed by the alumni of the Madras Law College 1980-1983 batch.

It is not usual for the title or theme of a lecture to be made up of just one word. But then one word can say more than a whole sentence or even a paragraph. Vanakkam, for instance.

And one word, like one look of disdain, can contain a whole Niagara of abuse. I respect this gathering far too much to give an example of such a word.

So ‘respect’ it is, plain ‘respect’.

It is plain, this thing called ‘respect’. Evident, manifest, unmistakable, it is either there or not there. You cannot have gradations of it. You cannot have Respect Category I, Respect Category II, or Respect Vibhushan, Respect Bhushan, Respect Shri. Respect is Respect.

Respect does not come from reasoning or analysis. One does not take a measure of a person’s honesty in metres, one does not weigh probity in grams. The cup of observation that holds respect has to be filled to the brim, not less. If less, the cup may be said to hold acknowledgment, appreciation, recognition, and even regard. But not respect.

Respect comes instinctively, not from judging or evaluating. It comes from feeling. The feeling, wordless, image-less, comes first followed, on reflection, by the thought, ‘Here is one I respect.’ Very often, at that moment, the moment of naming, of conscious codification, respect can weaken for then other conditioned thoughts come in such as ‘Could I be making a mistake? What if the person does something that makes me re-consider…’ and so on.

That risk apart, respect is a feeling, pure and uncontaminated, unadulterated by thoughts of a utilitarian or mundane kind.

How and why did I come to think of this word or this one-word theme over a host of other more likely and serious-sounding subjects for this lecture?

For no reason other than that while contemplating a credible and a relevant subject for the lecture, I asked myself: What do I feel for the auspices and the aegis of the evening, for those who have invited me, those who are to hear me, for those who comprise the legal profession in India, and the great edifice of the Indian judiciary? And I heard, clear as a bell, in my cranium, the answer to my self-posed question ‘what do I feel?...’ in that one word: ‘Respect’.

The human mind is home to an imp. In fact, a cheeky little imp. For it is ever judging, harshly, searingly, and often unprintably, persons and things that cross its path, especially those as are lofty of appearance or exalted of manner. And so, no sooner had I settled on the subject (and even mailed Shri Jayesh Dolia about it) that the imp, a creature of conditioned thinking and habitual carping, got to work.

“‘Respect?’,” the imp said to me. “Do you not know that lawyers are not exactly society’s favourite community, that they are known for a cleverness that is artful at its best and wily at its worst – beguiling, bombastic, canny, calculating, crafty, devious, digressive, deceptive, and duplicitous?”

“Enough,” I retorted, “enough of your adjectives, two in the alphabet ‘b’, three in ‘c’ , four in ‘d’; I will not let you proceed further.”

But would it listen? Imps, like all pre-positioned thought, are difficult to control.

“Lawyers,” it continued, “use the scissors of cleverness rather than the lance of intelligence, the spanner of device rather than the wheel of argument; dodgings, subterfuges and tricks of the trade are their staple; they do not just make money, they rake it in, and you are going to speak to them about ‘respect’?”

The imp then prayed, “With due respect, please speak at a gathering of lawyers on something other than ‘respect’.”

I do not like listening to imps.

I therefore told ‘my’ imp that, like others of its kind, it has sprung from that gnome called mischief, and is a hobgoblin; in fact, a goblin. And that I take my instructions from other inhabitants of the thinking mind, those that have not sprung from mischief.

I then reminded myself of my own personal respect for lawyers, now no more, like H.M. Seervai, M.C. Chagla (later Justice Chagla), N.A. Palkhivala, Govind Swaminadhan and several contemporary lawyers as well, all of who stand for that rare attribute, veracity. And I reminded myself, too, that Abraham Lincoln and Mohandas Gandhi belonged to that very profession and what is more, were influenced by it in their transactions beyond and outside of court rooms. This is because they commanded respect not despite having been lawyers but, to a not inconsiderable extent, because they knew the value, the uses and the abuses of the legal method.

My choice of theme, therefore, has arisen from an interest in the subject of respect per se, its origins, status and its likely future.

To my mind, the recipients of public respect have been broadly of three kinds: First, those whose status or authority commands respect. The examples of this first category would be kings, judges, popes, bishops, mathadhipatis, generals, ‘captains’ of industry. Second, those who get entitled to respect by ties of family or of social assemblage, helped by considerations of age and wisdom, such as elders in the family or community. Third, and most significant, those whose lives and deeds, not their nativity, not their office or seniority, have generated a wide and deep respect for them. I do not need to give any examples, right? They are known to each of us.

Respect for the first category of the status-endowed is a matter of social hierarchy, respect for the second category, a matter of social convention, and respect for the last, a matter of social consensus.

Today, respect for those in high office, that is to say, respect for men and women with status, is in some difficulty. There was a time not all that long ago when disrespect for those in positions of status was unusual. Today respect for that category has strong competition from its opposite number.

The public is no fool. It judges. Like the imp in my mind it excoriates. From tea-stall owners, vegetable vendors, auto and taxi drivers to fellow-commuters on a train, metro, or bus, all evaluate high-office holders. They can rip a man’s hide off with no more than a phrase, a half-phrase, or sometimes, by one single gesture.

In Kerala, this can be done with a movement of fingers in a Kathakali-like dismissive contempt. In Tamil Nadu a person can be consigned to obloquy by a single despairing invocation: Sivane! In Gujarat it can be a forehead tap signifying ‘what to do, it is our fate to endure him’. In West Bengal it can be a withering torrent of dialectical decimation.

But those wanting to find those deserving and worthy of respect ought not to lose heart. If the public can demolish, it is because it knows when and how to respect. Many holders of high office are elected to them. The process of election is now used skilfully by the electorate as a political exercise, that may or may not be connected with a moral evaluation. Persons can be elected because they are smart, because they ‘deliver’, or simply because they are better than the available alternative, not necessarily because they command respect. But mostly, electoral dynamics are independent of respect. Several, not all, and not even many, but yet several among those contesting elections, whether winning or losing them, enter the fray because they command resources, not because they command respect. They command loyalty, they command obedience, they command admiration, they command fear. And because after commanding all these, they still want to command respect, they get their followers to commandeer it. People, simple people, are able to perceive the intrinsic quiddity or thingness of a person almost by instinct, just as they are able to tell a good potato from one that has gone fungoid. And so, at the end of the day, all candidates, successful or not, finish up with respect for voters, those who voted for them and those who did not.

Of course persons are often elected because it is not they but their party that is being voted for. And one has to say that in almost all our political parties, for historical or ideological reasons, there is something that in some if not all, generates respect. And it has to be said here with pride and in fact with joy that elections and candidates apart, the public continues to hold the institution of Parliament and our legislatures in respect, a respect that was outraged when Parliament House was attacked by terrorists and also each time legislators break codes of behaviour inside the House and let their tempers get the better of their judgment.

It is not as if status-holders of the elected kind cannot command respect. Several persons are elected because they command respect, of course. And many are so elected. I know of several such, across the political spectrum. But one cannot say their numbers are growing. Not unoften respect for such persons in high office is unconnected to electoral endorsement. C. Rajagopalachari never contested or won an election in independent India, but public respect for him was strong, whether he was in office or out of it (which was most of the time). The same was true of his exact contemporary, ‘Periyar’ E.V. Ramaswamy, whose ‘office’ was none other than affectionate esteem. Stalwarts of our freedom struggle like Nehru, Patel and Azad and towering personalities like Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and Babasaheb Ambedkar apart, post-Independence Chief Ministers like Gopinath Bordoloi of Assam, T. Prakasam, K. Kamaraj, E.M.S. Namboodiripad, Gobind Ballabh Pant, C.N. Annadurai, and Jyoti Basu are among those whose incumbencies in elective office had little to do with the intrinsic respect they commanded across political divides and across the country. It is immaterial that Jayaprakash Narayan did not hold elective office. He held a respect which the spontaneous title – Loknayak – symbolised.

The commanding of respect by those in high station who are not elected but selected by processes of appointment and elevation to such office, especially those offices which are entered upon with oaths sworn or affirmed, is not an unmixed affair either. Take the judiciary in this context. The public has no direct role in its composition or in its periodical re-composition. Nor does it seem particularly interested in acquiring such a role either. All it would want is a general satisfaction that this process is fair. And yet, distant though it is from the judiciary’s genesis or cyclical morphosis, the public has reserved a healthy respect for it. This is not to say that among affected litigants variegated views on individual judges are not to be found; there are those. This is also not to say that the public has indemnified the judiciary from the prisms of evaluation either; it has not. Lawyers, magistrates and judges arise from the same stock of humanity as any other person. They cannot but have their due share of the same human characteristics as the rest. But just as in certain offices or roles that a person performs in the course of daily living he or she acts with greater circumspection than in others, the body social in its judicial offices and roles rises above the usual and the normal and becomes all that it is meant and expected to be. This also means of course, that quite apart from the intrinsicality of the judiciary’s work and the contents of a lawyer’s activity, there is an expectation of them in their engagements with what may be called ‘ordinary’ life.

The respect enjoyed by an institution like the legislature or the judiciary suffers if the incumbents of those bodies do not treat those very bodies with respect. Respect begets respect. This would mean that even as the obstructing of the business of the House by legislators shakes public confidence in them as responsible legislators, the boycott of courts by lawyers hurts the institution’s reputation. Not any less so, does the rare individual trespass by a sitting judge. The trespass does not have to be gross. Even a red-light signal being cut by a red-light bearing car in which a judge is travelling can shake the public’s respect in the erring dignitary’s instructions to his chauffeur, and in the dignitary’s work-ethic and life-ethic.

Having said this, it cannot be denied that as a collective entity and as an institution, the Indian judiciary, rather more than other limbs of the republic, has retained the respect of the people of India. Constitutional bodies like the Election Commission of India and the Comptroller and Auditor General are also held in similar esteem, though once again, the people play no direct role in their appointments. This says something about those institutions and also about ‘respect’.

Respect is retractable. It is extended on trust, and maintained in verification. When it comes to elective offices, the system of periodic elections serves as an instrument of respect-revalidation or respect-retraction, faith-reiteration or faith-reversal, trust-reaffirmation or trust-revocation.

But when it comes to institutions like the judiciary, respect for it as an institution or for individual incumbents in judicial office is unaccompanied by the dynamics of periodic re-affirmation or of retraction except when, eroded by palpable misconduct, respect for the institution is sought to be vouchsafed by off-loading the errant individual through the constitutionally-devised processes of impeachment.

The effect of this cocooning or cloistering is that respect for the judiciary (and for judicial and other commissions) becomes dependent on what may be termed as the willing reposing of trust. This comes (or goes) like this: Nothing in creation is flawless, except perhaps forgiveness by the person entitled to forgive. (Forgiveness is different, we should note, from pardon). But the judiciary’s mandate is not to distribute forgiveness, it is about determining culpability and where required, convicting and sentencing the culpable. Nothing in creation is infallible, not even forgiveness. In the dispensing of justice in accordance with a differentiated code of defining and evaluating liability, this institution too can err. But natural fallibility in our courts and commissions is regulated through systems of appeal and revision. So there are safeguards. Nothing in creation is constant or uniform either, except the speed of light in vacuo or the speed of sound at sea-level. So the judiciary and constitutional bodies and commissions are a terraced palate, where fallibility is a fact as is dis-uniformity.

There can therefore be doubts, natural and normal doubts, about the flawlessness, infallibility and constancy of their functioning. But the institutions concerned are too vital, too valuable, to be held in any ambiguity as regards respect. Respect for them needs to have and be seen to have something more than the willing reposing of trust by the people of India. It needs buttressing in the unceasing vigilance of its inner monitors. I believe that this will be best done if the concern within our courts shifts from questions pertaining to the prestige it enjoins to questions pertaining to the respect it enjoys. Prestige follows respect, not the other way around. Status follows stature, not the other way around. What might happen if respect for the judiciary, even for judicial commissions of enquiry, gets substantially eroded, is too disturbing a prospect to contemplate. I have the confidence that the custodians of the respect of our judiciary and of judicial or constitutional commissions will never permit that to happen.

If respect for status is a mixed affair, respect for seniority or chronological respect, is now becoming routinised. I am not an atavistic believer in ancestor-worship. But I do lament the not-so-gradual disappearance of certain rites of respect for seniors and for elders, like the touching of grand-parental if not parental feet on departure or return home, or on anniversaries. This becomes particularly so when one finds that the reverential touching of feet as such has not gone out of vogue, but has only undergone metastatis, the recipients of prostrations being unembarrassed political gurus and unabashed godmen and godwomen. And when one finds that the extended namaskaram or pranam of old has got fancy modern equivalents, quite abject or even servile in themselves. I refer to the new young genuflecting before an uncertain future in terms of liberal life-styles and work-styles that they have unquestioningly adopted.

This reflects something more than the generational shedding and replacing of cultural mores, or just the growing self-centredness of the younger generation. It reflects a false streak of self-assurance that goes beyond aplomb to a kind of don’t care nerve, which thinks of itself as the human equivalent of Bt Cotton or Bt Brinjal which India has to take to, but must, alas, co-exist in a period of transition with insufficient, inefficient and, generally, passé traditions. It would not be wrong to fix the responsibility for this on the nucleation of the Indian joint family. But that would give us only a part of the explanation. The erosion of respect for social or community institutions and leaders comes, I think, from the social coefficients of economic liberalisation and globalization. Today ‘management’ has its gurus, the board room its gods.

The last category of respect-receivers in India, men and women of stature of different status in a great many disciplines and fields, continues to be large and growing. I would in fact go to the extent of saying that true worth and the repute flowing from it, are increasingly looked out for and when discerned, are greatly and immediately respected. Yes, comparisons with a bygone age are invariably made and a personage whose oil portrait may hang high on a public wall towers over and all but dwarfs his or her successor-in-office. But stature as opposed to status, reputation as distinct from rank, credibility as something that is different from credentials are to be encountered everywhere in our country and, what is more to the point in this talk, are shown the highest respect by regular, ordinary people. It is a different matter that in the quotidian world status sways, rank rules, and credentials count. But there is that margent of life in our midst where mundane needs of self-protection and self-advancement take pause and where we, the people of India, feel and say, “That person there, we respect him for we can trust him.”

Respect is often linked to admiration for skill. There is respect for a great musician, a dancer or sculptor, an actor or a sportsman because that person has honed a great skill to near-perfection. And thank God, we have such skilled persons among us in great numbers. There is one unfortunate accompaniment to skill-based stature, however, that can rob it of its appeal. And that is the price tag that goes with high-calibre skill. Be it in sports – cricket in particular – or in music, or in the visual arts, the interplay of money with standards threatens respect for those persons endowed with skills and, in fact, with the place of skills in society. Today, the young may know how much an IPL cricketer is paid than how many runs he has scored or wickets he has put under his belt. The admiration for them remains, there is no dip in the applause, no grudging of praise. But respect gets dismayed when confronted with the ring of money.

The obtaining or retaining of respect cannot be one’s aim or goal. If it becomes that there is no chance of it ever coming one’s way. It is not respect but that which occasions respect that should concern sensitive souls. And then again not because one might then come to enjoy respect, but because things that occasion respect such as veracity, trustworthiness and a clear conscience are what make life worth living.

Which is why respect is not necessarily directed at persons alone. It can be felt for and shown to processes like hand-weaving, the ‘lost wax’ technology of panchaloha casting, scultping on stone, traditions like those of the temple oduvaar, movements like Sarvodaya in its time and prime and Chipko in ours including certain protests and heterodoxies .

Taking a pause in stillness, and reflection, let alone contemplation, has become a rarity. If that were not the case, we would find unexpected aquifers of respect in our parched times such as when one sees a modestly paid woman raking garbage – created by you and me – into bins and from bins onto trucks. Or when one sees a woman washing her tiny vaasal-padi and then on that small surface, despite cares and anxieties, ill-health and a demanding day ahead of her, drawing an amazing kolam. Perhaps the Euclidean balance of dots and loops, lines and curves on that little drawing give her the inner balance life denies her.

As I close, I must acknowledge the Law of Opposites. And must therefore say a word about disrespect. How this is growing, is simply unbelievable. The level of public discourse has sunk to an unprecedented low, with vilification flowing seamlessly like a taanam being rendered by Semmangudi Srinivasier. Our Honourable Chief Minister Kalaignar Karunanidhi recently reminded us of the mutual respect that Rajaji and Periyar had for each other, as did he himself for Kamaraj, despite irreconcilable political differences. Even in the professions, the Services, those in commerce as between ‘blood-brothers’, disrespect reigns. This points to more than a rise in discourtesy. It points to an erosion of trust.

At the heart of respect lies trust.

The trust that says this person will be true to his calling or to her genius, will not deceive, will not betray, and will to the best of his or her ability do what is right rather than what is expedient (though those two are not necessarily antithetical), seeking neither applause, nor gain.

The trust that says this person will not play false, because he or she is actual not acting, real, bona fide and because this person, be he a governor or a grocer, a judge or a jockey, a councillor or a carpenter, an atomic scientist or an auto-driver, is trustworthy or, in Thesauran informal equivalents, ‘honest-to-goodness, kosher, pukka, legit’, in simple Tamil a sari aal who can therefore be trusted, ‘nambalaam’.

Respect is above prestige, higher than esteem, beyond regard and ahead of admiration. It is not the subject of politeness, civility or courtesy. In the phrase ‘paying one’s respects’, the concept has got routinised into a form of idle ceremony. But where it is earned and not extended, where it is offered from one’s instinctive appreciation and not from calculation or analysis, where it is given without expectation or conditionalities, it is something sublime. The only thing flawless in the world, I said, is forgiveness. The only thing priceless, I believe, is nambikkai. And nambikkai is at the core of respect. It is, as I said, either there, or not there. It cannot be insinuated into anyone or anything. It has, simply, to be.

A society in which respect has sunk has to be a society with low self-esteem. And that is the worst condition to be in.

Nambikkai, belief, credibility, trust and trustworthiness are under threat. We must value them the more for their being under threat, for not to do so would be to lose the challenge of receiving and the fulfilment of giving respect.

With respect, I thank you.