Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Revisiting the criminalization of politics (Part II)

An update on Bastardization of the public office and criminalization of Indian Politics. Read earlier updates on general elections and the political tactics around the same:
http://newspaper-posts.blogspot.com/2009/03/criminalization-of-politics-revisiting.html
http://newspaper-posts.blogspot.com/2009/03/general-elections-great-indian-tamasha.html
http://newspaper-posts.blogspot.com/2009/03/elections-and-populist-gravy-train.html
http://newspaper-posts.blogspot.com/2009/03/urban-rural-divide-and-electoral-anti.html


I had in an earlier post covered the fact that despite pressure from the media and citizenry, political parties have gone out and fielded candidates with criminal and other dubious backgrounds. This is an extension of the first two blogs on the same topic http://newspaper-posts.blogspot.com/2009/03/general-elections-great-indian-tamasha.html, http://newspaper-posts.blogspot.com/2009/03/criminalization-of-politics-revisiting.html. The practise of fielding candidates tainted with a criminal record continues unabated. The following is the list released by National Election Watch, an initiative by Association of Democratic Reforms, a NGO from Ahmedabad.

Of 730 candidates declared by INC, BJP, SP, BSP, CPI and CPM for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, 278 candidates had filled their affidavits for the 2004 election and out of the 278, 63 have criminal records aganist them. 39 of them have serious charges like Murder, Robbery, ATtempt to Robbery, Theft and Kidnapping against them. The candidates with serious charges against them include 14 from BJP, 13 from BSP, 5 each from INC and SP and 2 from CPI(M).

Reference: http://www.adrindia.org/home/index.asp

Join http://groups.google.com/group/national-election-watch?hl=en to support the movement and spread the message around.

Delhi: The ecological disaster to be.


Visits to many European countries and their capitals sometimes mandatorily include a walk down the river side or lake shores. The river/lake ecosystem is carefully maintained and managed not only from an ecological point of view but also from a tourism point of view. The same cannot be said of Delhi and Yamuna. Crossing the Yamuna over to East Delhi, means a foul nauseating stench along with a sorry side of a dying river system. The growth, population and administration failures have killed a once flourishing eco system.
And if that was not enough, the Common Wealth Games 2010 will ensure that the final nail on the Yamuna coffin is pressed down in a haste. There is a hyperactivity along the floodplains of Yamuna as shopping malls, residential and commercial complexes and now a 47.3 hectare $40 million CWG village do quick and irreversible damage to the fertile alluvial plains of Yamuna.

In as far as CWG is concerned, the inability of the government to plan and execute the games infrastructure on time, has induced a knee jerk reaction. The quickest and easiest development alternatives are being invested upon largely ignoring and discounting the long term economic and environmental perils of the actions. The 10 day CWG will showcase the strides that India has made in the recent times and will spawn a wanton destruction of the environment.
Yamuna is already one of the most polluted rivers in the world and the Delhi stretch is particularly a disaster for the river eco-system. The Governments, ministries and departments have "action plans" to their credit. The first one being a Rs.10000 crore farce which did little and achieved a zilch. A second (better and bigger) plan is on the anvil. This one is for Rs.20000 crores and there is little or no doubt to the discerning thought that this money will serve more to increasing bank balances of the influential and responsible members of the system than doing anything on Yamuna.
Also, the unrestricted growth of the city has pressured the river system and attempts to clean it have been hampered by high population density of the city, unplanned city development, dumping of sewage and solid waste into the river, inadequate government monitoring and mismanagement of projects (like the Rs.10000 crore Yamuna Action Plan Fiasco). Delhi pumps out 3296 million litres of sewage to Yamuna per day. The systematic encroachments (by housing and comercial complexes) and building of walls and bunds on the flood plains have led to drying up of lakes and ponds in East Delhi. The Ground water levels are falling by 1 to 3 metres per year in many parts of Delhi. This large scale devastation of the Yamuna river system will impact water security of Delhi in Long term and will alter the character of the river.
Amidst all this, a glimmer of hope have been efforts of the Jal Biradari (National Water Brotherhood), who are raising a grass roots campaign which involves people in terms of creating awareness, educating masses to stop polluting the river, stopping encroachments, rainwater harvesting, better management of water resources and raising the citizen activism bit around the Yamuna issue. However, unlike the political awakening that followed 26/11 Mumbai, a trigger is what may be required to get the threshold citizen activism on the same.
Source Sites:

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

The virtues of new found citizen activism

In many earlier posts, i have mentioned this new movement in the educated citizenry across the country, which i choose to call Citizen Activism. It is not a new phenomenon and has been around for a while. Hindi movies have churned scores and hundreds of movies based on citizen activism essentailly, the efforts of one man/group of people to awaken a nation. The movie that immediately comes to my mind is Rang De Basanti. Not that Media and new reporters and columnists have never been a part of "awakening". In their distinct capacities all these agents of change have justified their role in a citizen awakening. It could be against injustice, corruption, reservations, red tapism, Goonda-ism, economic in-equality, so on and so forth... individuals in their might and right have taken a stand at times for the greater good of their communities, their futures, their families, states or the nation as a whole.


However the trauma post 26/11 served as a tipping out for a country neglected, a country besieged, as people publicly started lashing out at establishments and influential leaders in the country for having under delivered on all counts. 26/11 massified the movement. It wasn't as if one had not seen public outrages before, but the audience was limited and the action was specific to an institution/individual.


1. It started with the anti Mandal commission protests in 1990s, where students challenged the ministry and V P Singh led coalition on the execution of the reservation of seats for SC/STs and OBCs in professional courses. There after the AIIMS -
2. Jessica Lal's murder was the first instance of public outrage and media pressure leading to high court ruling out the judgement of a lower court.(acquiting the murderer, Manu Sharma, the son of a wealthy and influential politician). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Lal

The candle marches and other peaceful protests established this movement towards a more awakened and educated India. The tone was sorrowful and yet definitive. Just how many terrorist strikes were needed and how many innocent killed before the government and the bureaucracy would wake up to fulfill their duty of protecting the nations and citizens. The movement cost the Maharashtra CM and Home Ministers their seats. It was the first time, Citizen activism and media were getting their act together and the partnership effected the rise of this new phenomenon Citizen Activism.

Even as India goes to vote this time around, the activist media is proving its worth by educating the citizens about their voting rights and priviledges and the political drama unfolding and the criminal antecedents of a lot of the Lok Sabha candidates fielded by popular political parties.


1.I appreciate the attempts made by TATA TEA JAAGO RE campaigns in national media. http://www.jaagore.com/
2.Times of India's "No Criminals" LEAD INDIA' 09 campaign also focusses on much of the same message. http://www.lead.timesofindia.com/. Every other publication house is stoking the nationalist ideals within the citizens in its own way.
3.There are forums like National election Watch, a google based group that is actively disseminating information regarding criminals who are in the fray of seats for this years Lok Sabha elections. http://groups.google.com/group/national-election-watch?hl=en.
4.An Ahmedabad based NGO, http://www.adrindia.org/home/index.asp is actively educating the citizenry on elections, manifestos, candidates and criminals in politics.

5.On the humorous and sarcastic bit , there is this campaign from Radio Mirchi, called Bleed India, which is a satiric take on the virtues(or bane) of not voting!

But that is not just it, in terms of Citizen activism. Sample These:
1. Aamir Khan is actively advertising for Switch off, a volutary movement of switching of all electrical appliances for an hour on a given day, 28th March, 2009. http://www.earthhour.in/
2. Sachin Tendulkar dedicated his test century at Hamilton against new Zealand to tiger preservation.
3. Perizaad Zorabian, is a part of "Save the Glaciers" group educating people about Global warming and the likes.
4. Preity Zinta, adopted 34 orphans on her birthday.

The good thing about any person (forget Aamir, Sachin or Preity's status) voluntaring for a cause is that he raises interest and awakening in the vicinity around him. As is said, a single candle cannot light up the whole room, but does it own little bit in fighting darkness. Citizen Activism is passing that light, that beacon of hope and awareness from one person to another and presisting till the stated goals are achieved.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Delhi's Commonwealth Tamasha

There are less than 18 months to October 2010, when Delhi will be hosting the Commonwealth games. It will be a world stage where India will exhibit its own progress and panache much like China did it in the 2008 Olympics and Sydney did it in 2006 Commonwealth. However, the road to Commonwealth has been bumpy, patchy and with a reason, non existant. In an earlier post, i had covered the state of (un)readiness of Delhi to host an event so large in magnitude and scale. http://newspaper-posts.blogspot.com/2009/03/delhi-running-out-of-time-on.html

Lately, Australian Commonwealth Games Association, has issued a threat to pull out of the Delhi CWG if its security concerns are not met. The security assessment a month before the games would be critical in terms of Australian contingent proceeding with their participation. It comes on the back of the attack on Sri Lankan Team in Pakistan. Earlier, the centre government had sanctioned Rs.78.26 crore for security arrangements (after the Sri Lankan team episode in Pakistan).

While security is the top most in the list of priorities, Infrastructure addition to the city has also been a concern. A few interesting notes about the same:

1. The longest flyover in Delhi, which will connect the 5 kms stretch from Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium to the Games Village bypassing Sarai Kale Khan and Nizamuddin West will be built at a cost of Rs.5 billion! This will facilitate movement of 10000 atheletes from the games village to the main stadium. This project is expected to be finished in 24 months!
Please note, the 24 month project starting date (March 2009) onwards would mean that the fly over will not be fully available ort may be partially available for the task it is being built for!

2. Earlier this flyover was supposed to be a tunnel road which was rebuffed by the Archeological Survey of India fearing danger to Humayun's tomb!
So much for town planning and preparation for Games

3. While MCD tries to expedite the projects at hand, it is now eating some of its own medicine as it faces resistenace from the environment department of Delhi Government. The widening of the the road to Karni Singh Shooting range has hit the breaker (after being stuck for 6 months anyway) because widening of the road would require felling 400 trees, which is not permitted.
So a "one- way" solution is being thought about.
Did the MCD involve other stake holders in the goverment when they had first envisaged the locations of the games? The answer seems to be no!

4. In a report to the chief justice K.G.Balakrishnan, town planner and former chairman of Delhi Urban Arts Commission, Charles Correa has advocated that the badminton and the squash stadiums be moved away from Siri Fort Indoor Stadium to elsewhere for the purpose of preserving the the green in the area. MCD is now looking at other options with a Rs.1.5 billion kitty for Squash and Badminton stadiums!
Alternate options had never been prepared. Old Sites were being counted upon. With the development tactic backfiring on issues such as environment it will be interesting to see how MCD generates options for the CWG

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Pakistan on edge

The power struggle between Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz sharif threatens to paralyze the government in Islamabad and distract the army from its fight against Taliban militants operating along the Afghan border. (Pakistani army has always fancied distractions that reduce its Focus from US aided war on Taliban. Earlier, the distraction was a belligerent India and now the distractions are the polticial forces within.)

So then, it was Zardari who started it all by dismissing Shahbaz Sharif's Punjab government (Shahbaz being Nawaz's brother) over convictions dating back to an earlier chapter in Pakistan's political history. Coupled with a mess of reinstatement of (Musharraf Sacked) chief justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Muhammed Chaudhury, which has piqued lawyers and judicial authorities and a no show at being able to keep Taliban at bay, Zaradari's inconsistency and inability has been attacked by Nawaz Sharif. Not only has he violated the state imposed house arrest, he also has a few brownies from the Long march to Islamabad. Ceeding to pressures all around him Asif Zaradari has now thrown the towel in.Iftikhar Chowdhury restoration to the chief justice position has re-instated Nawaz Sharif's stature as a viable alternative to Asif Ali Zardari. This also has de-escalated a political flashpoint that was looming large on Islamabad.

With no control of Army and Intelligence, Asif Ali Zardarai seems to have now lost the high moral grounds of presidency after he had to reinstate Iftikhar Chowdhury. The public sentiment for him is worse than that of Musharraf in his time. The US is clearly according the army chief Gen Ashfaq Kiyani more importance than Zaradri and his PM, Gilani.

For everything after all, it seems that Asif Ali Zardari's step down time is near.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

The disarray in Pakistani Leadership

Pakistan's Men of Power: Top Left Gen Ashfaq Kiyani (holds the key to Army and ISI); Top Right Yusuf Gilani ( Prime Minister); Bottom Left Asif Ali Zardari (The president) and Bottom Right Nawaz Sharif (Former PM and eminent Leader)


The formation of a democratic government led by President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, was seen as the beginning of better times after 9 years of dictatorial rule by Musharraf. The move to Democracy appears to have become one of regression. The state of Pakistan has markedly deteriorated in the last year or so. On hind sight, the choice of Zardari to represent Pakistan has been a wrong one.

Zardari's inabilities have been manifold.
1. Surrendering a large swathe of federal provinces to Taliban and Sharia law is his biggest undoing.

2. Inabilities to cope up with Terrorist attacks in Pakistan, India and elsewhere (featuring the attack on Sri Lankan Cricket team) have earned condemnation in all international forums.

3.The charges of promoting followers, family and friends in government contracts and deals will probably attract investigations in the next regime.

4.The world has also taken note of the removal of charges on nuclear proliferator and renegade scientist Abdul Qadir Khan.

5.Banning former Prime minister Nawaz Sharrif and his brother Shahbaz Sharrif from contesting in elections and holding office will in hind might prove to be the undoing of Zardari.

6.As the political leader of his state, Zardari has not given an impression of control on internal matters and has often vacillated under pressure from various stake holders.

7.The failure to reinstate chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhury has seen outbursts from the members in the judiciary.

8.The move to censor Geo TV from certain parts of Pakistan implies subversion of free speech. Geo TV has been extensively covering anti government protests.

In the face of so many problems and a loose intent to address them, US has initiated a move towards addressing issues through army chief Ashfaq Kiyani is a significant one. US is now trying to engage and influence one who has some control over the army and intelligence. The all powerful Jack of cards (Kiyani) is more handy than the inept King and Ace ( Zardari and Gilani). The jack has now started triumphing the king and the ace. Kiyani has asked Zardari to clean up the 'Mess'. Well, it looks as he some one atleast has a measure of control in Pakistan.

Article Chronology:

http://newspaper-posts.blogspot.com/2009/03/is-pakistan-dividing-again.html

http://newspaper-posts.blogspot.com/2009/02/why-wont-pakistan-make-it-as-nation_17.html
http://newspaper-posts.blogspot.com/2009/02/did-obama-force-zardaris-hand.html
http://newspaper-posts.blogspot.com/2009/02/why-wont-pakistan-make-it-as-nation.html
http://newspaper-posts.blogspot.com/2008/12/why-wont-pakistan-make-it-as-nation_20.html
http://newspaper-posts.blogspot.com/2008/12/why-wont-pakistan-make-it-as-nation_18.html
http://newspaper-posts.blogspot.com/2008/12/why-wont-pakistan-make-it-as-nation.html
http://newspaper-posts.blogspot.com/2008/12/next-terror-attack-on-us-will-originate.html
http://newspaper-posts.blogspot.com/2008/11/us-suspects-kashmir-based-group-behind.html

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Elections and the Populist Gravy train

Barrack Obama may not find supporters of his "stimulus act" to the American economy. But he has serious serious competition in India. Sample the populist measures unvieled by different state governments for the people of their states:

1. Uttar Pradesh: After Dalit reservation, it is time for Upper caste and Muslim quota by Mayawati. Then there are one time settlements of power bill arrears in villages and a relaxation of stamp duty on property registrations from 10% to 7%. Most of the properties bought will be by mayawati anyways.
No one talks of the death of a hard working PWD engineer who was lynched by Mayawati's henchmen.
2. Tamil Nadu: Free health insurance to poor, Rice at 1kg/kilo, free colour TV sets to all households.
3. Maharashtra: More floor space for religious temples, special grants for education institutions of minorities. Mandatory employement of sons of soil (marathi manus) in industries of the state.
4. Andhra: Rs.1 lkah loan waiver for SC/ST/BC and minorities. 9 communities to BCs list.
5. Madhya Pradesh: Wheat @ Rs.2 Kg/Kilo. Farm loans @3%. Rs. 50000 loan waiver for farmers.
6. Rajasthan: 6% DA to state employees, an annual outlay of Rs.17322 crores for development.
7. West Bengal: Rice at Rs.2 Kg/Kilo, 20% pay hike for teachers, Rs.5106 crore fiscal stimulus package.
8. Bihar: Rs.16300 crore for development of 36,500 kms roads, Rs.236 crore steel plant at Bettiah, Schemes worth Rs. 10000 crores in 20 districts
9. Karnataka: Rs.130 crores for Mutts and temples.

In an earlier post, i had mentioned the cost of elections to exchequer and party spends to be around Rs.6000 crores. The figures announced in populist policies is an estimable one. All this a cost to the exchequer and to the taxes that the citizens pay for 543 corrupt / illiterate / inefficient/ unrelentingly shameless representative of the state. ALl this is a bribe to the electorate for which the electorate foots the bill. What recession, Mr. Obama?

General Elections: The great Indian tamasha

The leaders of our democracy continually disgrace the office and the trust that they carry by the citizens of the country. Criminalization of Politics is rampant and with the majority seats being the major electoral agendas, parties both national and regional choose candidates who are from dubious backgrounds to lead constituencies, state and the country. With the new citizen activism taking wings, 2009 looks to be beginning of an anti criminalization movement in the country. One must give kudos to the social and political thinkers, awareness generation groups and the press for supporting this new movement. A new ad campaign doing rounds of the satellite networks is the "i will vote against.." which exhorts citizens to vote against all that is ill in this country for the future generations.

Impervious to this mood however (strangely) are political parties, who seem to be eternally haggling about seat sharing and opportunistic alliances. BJP led NDA has run into problems with JD(U) and Shiv Sena. Apart from that a long time partner BJD (Naveen Pattnaik led Orissa party) has already ditched BJP to join the third front. Congress and UPA have its own list of woes with SP (AN uneasy alliance that has broken down), NCP, TMC and RJD all on seat sharing basis. The gainer of all this is the third front or the left with its ragmatag loose coalition of marginal and state majors. So far, a national agenda is yet to be firmly highlighted by Congress and BJP who seem to be more busy in terms of getting its partners right.

In an earlier post i had already mentioned about how the initial Lok Sabha candidates list by BJP, INC and SP are tainted with individuals from dubios and criminal cases riding behind them. http://newspaper-posts.blogspot.com/2009/03/criminalization-of-politics-revisiting.html. Of the 543 representatives of the country in May 2004, 125 had charges against them, many with serious offences.Of the 125, 96 had serious charges with potential sentences of two years or more. A quarter of them had done more than 3 terms in the Lok Sabha.

It is worth a note how BJP and Congress dominate the party list, fielding close to 50% of the total tainted list. The first party lists for the general election this year have started to flow out and out of the 18 out of 71 candidates on whom the background checks were have emerged tainted. The percentages of candidates with Criminal past is definitely not abating. If anything the trend is getting more and more established.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

The urban rural divide and electoral anti incumbency.

Historically,the anti incumbency factor has delivered some telling blows to governments, upsetting poll surveys, analysts and conventional thinking. The best example of this is perhaps the fall of BJP led NDA in 2004 general elections. That was when the GDP Growth was starting to get at 8% levels, the economy was resurgent and "India Shinning" was the phrase to sum up India. 2009 is markedly different.The GDP growth has fallen to 5.3% in October - December quarter of 2008 from the 8.9% levels in the same period in 2007. Agricultural GDP is at2.2% growth (low from 6.9% YOY), Manufacturting had a sub zero GDP growth rate. Economies around the world are faltering, there is a global meltdown of the banking systems and governments around the world are trying their best to rekindle economic growth. How is all this going to affect the incumbency of Congress and its UPA alliance?

On one side, the manufacturing slump means fewer jobs for migrants from rural states to once booming cities, job growth is slowing and many small businesses and hawkers are suffering. Infrastructure addition has not been as per the promises made by the government, their are real time "terror" issues.es sector, which relies heavily on foriegn markets have gone from bad to worse in the current economic meltdown.

But if the indicators are to be factored in, Rural India is doing well. Sample this:
1. 15 million new cellphone connections were sold in january 2009, up from 10 million in December and all this growth is rural based.
2. Hero Honda's sales of motorcycles which focus on rural areasrose 24% in February.
3. FMCG sector has been doing better than average business in the small towns and rural areas.
4. Agriculture has been witnessing bumper crops and high prices, a boon for the agri economy.
5. Rural wages are high, assisted by the Rural Employment Generation Scheme. Several states have revised minimum wages upward benefitting workers.
6. For the millions working in government organizations, the 6th Pay commission has increased salaries and they are doing well sitting on arrears paid.
7. A good monsoon has bouyed up the agri sector and though rainfull is painfully deficient in some states leading to farmer suicides, the overall mood is optimistic.

All factors put together, Rural India seesm to be doing better and with 70% of the population being rural, the ruling coalition has reasons to believe that it has done reasonable well in terms of building a platform to ask for a re-election. Thus the Congress led UPA is not badly placed in terms of riding against anti incumbency with the rural surge.

Friday, March 6, 2009

Criminalization of Politics: Revisiting the same paradigm in 2009 Elections

With election commission declaring a 5 stage electoral process for the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, the political tempo has set a pace with seat sharing bargains between the principal parties (Congress/BJP) with other regional parties. ToI's first round poll results have indicated no definiote majority and in effect, it would be these political parties which would prove to be the kind makers in the face of a hung parliament.

What is disturbing to the citizens of the state is the number of candidates with criminal pasts being fielded by political parties all over. These are same political parties which roil and shout and critic each others criminals antecedents. In two different reports by ADR (Association of Democratic Reforms), a Ahmedabad NGO has exposed the criminal background of lok sabha candidates fielded by Congress, BJP and SP. This is only basis the 50000 criminal records since 2003 (and not earlier!)


Basis the limited database that the NGO was working around, it can be clearly seen that INC has fielded 4 candidates in UP with criminal background, while BJP has fielded 8 in the LOk Sabha Fray who have criminal backgrounds. BSP has fielded 6 criminals in the Lok Sabha candidates. Many of these candidates have serious charges against them.

WIth lack of a political will, does clean politics stand a chance in this nation: the largest democracy in the world.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Is Pakistan dividing again

Over the last 5 months, i have written about 8 posts on Pakistan emphasizing that the current turn of events are only stages of what could be the end of the nation state of Pakistan.
This post is a reproduction of an article by Shaun Gregory, former British high commissioner to Pakistan.

There is a school of thought which has long argued that the creation of Pakistan in 1947 was a geographical, ethnic, cultural, economic, and political artifice sewn and held together only by the weak thread of a questionable religious homogeneity, and that consequently the project of Pakistan would eventually be torn apart by its own contradictions.

History may well record that the abject surrender of Swat in a phoney ‘peace deal’ marked an important stepping stone on the path to Pakistan’s destruction. 

While the weak and hapless Zardari/Gilani government continues to waste precious political capital on PPP infighting and avoidable confrontation with Nawaz Sharif, to the west of the Indus river dynamics are unfolding which have placed Pakistan’s integrity once more in question.

Since 2001, the Pakistan Army and ISI have been playing a dangerous game in providing sanctuary to the Afghan Taliban in the Pashtun areas of Northern Balochistan and in the FATA, in the expectation that Mullah Omar would orchestrate a comeback in Afghanistan, displace the Karzai regime or any of its western-backed successors, force NATO from the region, and reverse India’s growing influence in Afghanistan.

 In early 2009, this strategy appears to be working. The Afghan Taliban are influential across all but the most northerly areas of Afghanistan and a peace deal of some sort with Mullah Omar is predicted this year or next. 

Pakistan has, however, entered a Faustian pact with Mullah Omar and the Quetta Shura, and the darker implications of that bargain have only now begun to dawn on Pakistan’s ruling elite. 

As the Afghan Taliban have regained power and momentum from sanctuaries in Pakistan, they have also created and driven the context for the emergence and evolution of virulent forms of Pakistani militancy and terrorism, both in Pakistan’s Pashtun areas and across Pakistan. 

These dynamics have been reinforced by the Pakistan army/ISI’s continued embrace of Punjabi terrorists, and by the military focus of the US-led war on terror which has fuelled radicalisation on both sides of the Durand Line. 

In this context tribal armies in the FATA have mutated into new forms of radical extremist groups such as Baitullah Mehsud’s TTP and Fazlullah’s TNSM. Al-Qaida has re-emerged and re-established something of its global reach, foreign fighters from as far as Algeria, European diasporas, western China and the Philippines have once again poured into the region, and the huge expansion of largely Saudi and locally-funded madrassas has ensured a continual supply of young Afghans and Pakistanis ready to die for the militant cause. 

The Pakistan army and ISI have presided over this rising tide of terrorism and religious extremism in the expectation that they could achieve their aims in Afghanistan through the Afghan Taliban while keeping control of Pakistani militancy and terrorism on their own side of the border. 

In the wake of the bombing of the Marriott hotel in Islamabad in September 2008, and of the escalation of terrorist violence in Pakistan’s cities which preceded it, that calculation has proven disastrously wrong. 

Given the perilous situation in which the Pakistani state now finds itself, the question of why the Pakistan army/ISI has still not thrown its lot in with the US and NATO and unleashed the full force of the Army and the ISI against the Afghan Taliban, the tribal militants, and al-Qaida, requires an answer. 

Only two arguments make any sense: either the Pakistan Army-ISI is unwilling to do so or it is unable to do so. If the former, then that can only be because the Army-ISI still believes it can contain the militancy and terrorism within Pakistan. 

If this is the case, then one wonders why the Army-ISI continues to think that and how many more Marriotts on the push side, and what western incentives on the pull side will it take before the Army and ISI make a decisive break with past policy? 

More gravely for Pakistan, for its neighbours, and for the West, the other possibility is that the Pakistan Army and ISI may genuinely have reached the practical limits of their ability to control militancy and terrorism. 

Pakistan has committed up to 120,000 troops to the FATA region and since September 2008 has not been able to make a substantive impact in Bajaur and Mohmand Agencies. 


Mullah Omar and the Quetta Shura is understood, through a decentralised command structure and with the support of al-Qaida, to broadly control the tribal militants in Pakistan, such as the TTP and TNSM, which pose the most direct threat to the state of Pakistan. 

Mullah Omar and the Pakistan Army-ISI are, thus, locked in a fearful stalemate: Mullah Omar checks the power of Pakistan’s militants and holds them back from escalating violence against the Pakistani state, and in return the Pakistan Army-ISI continues the support and protection of Mullah Omar and the Quetta Shura and pays lip-service to western demands for tough action against the Afghan Taliban. 

Either way, the Pashtun areas of Pakistan are beyond the reach of the Pakistani state and it is difficult to see that they can be recovered. 

The situation in Swat, thus, stands as an expression of a larger crisis of state legitimacy which for all practical purposes will likely see another piece of Pakistan break away. 

Delhi: Running out of time on Commonwealth

A sequel to my earlier post : A system in Rot, http://newspaper-posts.blogspot.com/2009/03/system-in-rot.html, this blog post takes the lack of seriousness of governance and Bureaucracy to the next level: How is it going to affect the 2010 Commonwealth games in Delhi?

China's Beijing Olympic dazzle left the world glittered in its awe and won it some great acclaim world over. In 2006, Melbourne hosted the Commonwealth Games and rasied the bar ever so much. In 2010, the Commonwealth games move into India and Delhi. Its less than 18 months here on to the games and Delhi looks not even to have started the preparedness to the Commonwealth. A parliamentary report tabled at the Rajya Sabha has slammed Delhi Government's preparedness on the Commonwealth and yet the Delhi sport minister, Manohar Singh Gill has side stepped the concern, likening the preparation for Commonwealth to a great Indian wedding, where everything comes together just on time before the opening ceremony. For the government that was elected on its progress agenda, Shiela Dixit and her men, are in adenial to face realities that they face. Worse, adhocism and procastrination in terms of infrastructure development leading to this event may dent India's image significantly in the world communities but no one seems to be bothered about it really. All that is in the air, is the election and its doesnot seem like there will be any awareness and action on this till about June 2009, which will only leave 15 months to the Opening ceremony.

The Games Village, the facilities around, the roads and transport, the security, the airports,the  water and power supply, nothing seems to be in place for this spectacle. In absence of any serious call to action, the image that India may project in front of the 71 participating nations may not be a very flattering one. According to press reports, the Commonwealth boxing championships have already been pushed back from December 2009 and the vice president of the international swimming federation has already slammed the organisers for the poor facilities.

The ministers answers, the CAG report on delays in project completion, ruefully point to the deliberate lack of seriousness in efforts to develop infrastructure. If this be the case in Delhi, which is the capital of this country, imagine what be it in far off places (India being a geographical and economically diverse country!). Corruption, schedule overruns, rampant mis-use of public funds, lack of foresight in policy decisions and ballooning funds are going to sink the ship, even before it takes to the high seas. A damning statistic over here: out of 519 infrastructure projects scheduled by the central government, 258 are running behind schedule (50%) and the cost overruns are 13.4% (from 344119 crores to 390230 crores). 

It is time to step up the gas, and probably at this time, it is worth inviting private participation of infrastructure companies to speeden things up for a change.


Sunday, March 1, 2009

A system in rot

In one of my earliest blog posts in September 2008, i had debated the state of Indian roads with the Mint editor Raju Narisetti.
http://newspaper-posts.blogspot.com/2008/08/of-infrsatructure-and-capital.html
http://newspaper-posts.blogspot.com/2008/09/of-infrastructure-and-capital.html

The debate on accountability for the bad state of infrastructure has been re kindled by the CAG report which was reported by TOI:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Delhi/55_of_roads_okayed_by_MCD_substandard_CAG/articleshow/4203120.cms
The report brings forth the following points
  1. MCD accepts substandard road work from contractors insteda of opting for minimum quality standards. Third party checks on 20 roads built between 2003 and 2008 reported 55% of the roads below standard.
    42 roads have been damaged during the warranty period and there have been no repairs made on to them. This was while the warranty covered all costs of repairs.

  2. 5 newly built roads made at a cost of Rs.3.18 crores were accpeted by the MCD where as third party checks by the CAG have found them to be substandard.

  3. Of 304 RWAs (resident welfare associations) surveyed 77% have reported bad roads in their colonies and 71% have said that the roads in their colonies have not been repaired even once in the last 5 years.

  4. Of the total allocation of monies for road development, MCD has routinely diverted the money to purchase of vehicles, computers, hiring of vehicles and office work constructions.

  5. Contractors delay the road work routinely, and though they should be fined for it, none of they are ever penalised courtesy MCD.

  6. On an average 87% of the total project contractual work amounts are duly paid up to the contractors, with out any completion of work.

  7. Monies collected from other agencies for road development lies sorely under utilised.

  8. MCD has been commissioning quality checks without mandatory quality checks 53% of the times.

  9. A third of MCD assets such as drainage, sewage, roads and subways are in a state of neglect.

These are just about gaping wide craters in the system, sucking up the taxpayers money and distributing it to a few pockets in the MCD and the Government machinery. While fraudsters and scamsters are tried, penalised and punished, the MCD - Government nexus which is probably a shade worse in fraud, scmas and misuse of public money go about becoming more powerful and more irresponsible and more corrupt in their ways. One would have to give the kudos to CAG to bring such facts on the table. But one needs a more wilful, accountable and "aware" governance to fight se evils of the system.