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VOL. 16 ISSUE 07 PAGES 52 FEBRUARY 2015 MAAGHA (JAYA) PRICE ` 30 www.aseema.net.in
Gasping for Power The endless traumas of our power sector
Uncovering the Myths of Liberalization Interview with Prof.B.P.Sharma
IN THIS ISSUE
Ghar Vapasi Why is it not A sin to come home?
SAARC Energy Agreement 6
What needs to be done to make it work?
Dangers of Factories ‘Make in India’: Is it a Boon or a Bane?
Hollywood’s Hinduism Movie Makers Study Hinduism to Discover More
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Inviting foreign firms to set up plants inside India is a great idea to create jobs, but such plans often come with inherent troubles. As the factories grow and expand, they pollute water and force rural residents to abandon their lands and look for jobs in urban neighborhoods.
Uncovering the Myths of Liberalization
Poppy
9 More Poppy Crops Mean Stronger Taliban
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Interview with Prof. Bhagwati Prakash Sharma on how India can become self-reliant
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Busting the Hype
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What is happening behind the closed doors of software offices?
Child Killers
Taliban attack on Peshawar School wakes up Pakistan from deep slumber
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IN THIS ISSUE
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Transcending Boundaries Volume: 16
Issue: 07 February 2015 Maagha (Jaya)
Published & Printed by NARAYAN SEVIRE for and on behalf of the owners JNANA BHARATHI PRAKASHANA, Mangalore aseemamagazine@gmail.com / 0824-2497091
Politics of Veto Indian Dream for a Permanent Seat in UN Security Council
West and Slavery The devil can cite Scriptures for his purpose
Rape and Islamic State Islamic State Militants Defend Raping of Women As Legitimate
Rate cut at last! Industry, bankers delighted
Gasping for Power The endless traumas of our power sector
Valley Votes J&K Elections: A Challenge or an Opportunity?
Climate thriller without Kalashnikov
29 31 34 36 38 41 44
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Ghar Vapasi
Why is it not A sin to come home? Christianity stopped killing in the name of God only some 250 years ago; Islam is still at it, with ISIS or Boko Haram being examples of inhuman brutalities in the name of Allah. Why would they do this? Do they really believe that it is God’s command? • Maria Wirth
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he topic of conversion has become centre stage in India – not because millions have been converted from their Hindu faith to Christianity and Islam in recent years, but because some 50 Muslim families came back to Hindu Dharma. ‘How dare Hindus do what only Christians and Muslims are entitled to?’ seems to be the motto. Strangely, not only representatives of the dogmatic religions and western mainstream media, including the New York Times, are outraged, but even Indians with Hindu names. Why would they bat for religions that require blind
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faith, and not for their own Dharma that is based on deep philosophy? The reason may be that many Indians are ignorant, when it comes to religion. They neither know their own tradition, as they have been to convent schools or grown up in westernized families, nor do they know the insidious effect of dogmatic religions as they never were insiders. Since I grew up as a Christian, I may see clearer why the dogmatic religions depend on conversion and indoctrination to gain followers. The reason is simple: Suppose a community on some island is completely unconnected to the modern world, they will never become Christians or
Muslims because they would need to be told a story about God sending his only son to earth 2000 years ago, etc. and then they would need to believe it blindly and get baptized. Yet if these islanders had wondered about the truth, they might have come to similar conclusions like Sanatana Dharma, as it doesn’t depend on some event in history. It only requires dedicated, deep enquiry into “That What Truly Is – Now And Always”. Everyone, who learns about Christianity and Islam, will right away discover illogicality: both religions claim that they are the only true religion and all human beings have to follow it, and both also claim that the
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Creator of this universe has endorsed this claim. Now such claim would be of great consequence, if it were true. However, none of the contenders for the “only truth” provides any proof. To cover this up, they put forth an ingenious idea: “You will know that it is the truth when you are dead. After you die you will be rewarded with heaven for believing what we tell you.” “And what if it is not true?” may someone have asked. “What!! You doubt the word of God? You deserve to be put to death!” was the harsh answer given by both religious ideologies over many centuries. So apart from dangling the carrot regarding the other world, they also used the stick in this world. The threat: “If you don’t believe what we tell you, you will be killed”, was not only the hissing of a snake. It was a deadly bite. Christianity stopped killing in the name of God only some 250 years ago and Islam is still at it, with ISIS or Boko Haram being examples of inhuman brutalities in the name of Allah. Why would they do this? Do they really believe that it is God’s command? I don’t know. But I guess that ultimately it is about power and big money and not about “saving souls”, as claimed. The strategy to claim divine approval for the demands of a small group had mind boggling results. After some 2000 years for Christianity and 1400 years for Islam, 2 billion human beings consider themselves as Christians and 1,5 billion as Muslims. Imagine, Christianity started with a small group in Palestine and later in Rome, and Islam started with a small group in Mecca and later in Medina. These huge numbers are no doubt extraordinary. However, it was paid for with a heavy price by countless individuals who felt not convinced by the dogmas and behavior of the clergy, but had to conform if they held their lives dear. Further, societies under the sway of Christianity and Islam were neither free, nor happy. One’s own conscience needed to be suspended in favour of the reli-
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Christianity stopped killing those who dissent with the dogmas of the Church, but “conversion” of heathen is still considered the sacred duty of every good Christian. Muslims, too, have to bring the whole world to worship only Allah and obviously, the agenda is still unfinished.
gious doctrine. I learnt it in catechism class as a child: ”If there is conflict between one’s conscience and what the Church says, one has to follow the Church.” This demand is serious and shows that not all is well with those religions. Is conscience, supported by sound reason, not our moral barometer? Is freedom of conscience not guaranteed in the Declaration of Human Rights? Is it not dangerous to demand suspension in favour of an ideology that may promote, apart from good, also unethical behavior? Should such ideologies that demand blind allegiance not be intensely scrutinized in the interest of humanity? ISIS terrorists are a case in point. Have those youngsters no conscience? Or has it been silenced by the Quranic injunction to wage Jihad for Allah? They brush away any human feeling and justify their worst, violent instincts. Do they really believe they will be rewarded with paradise for slaughtering other human beings in whom the same one life and love is throbbing? There are other features of the dogmatic religions that don’t stand up to scrutiny: For example the claim that the creator – God or Allah – is watching us from ‘somewhere’. He (alleged to be
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male) is not our essence according to the dogmatic religions. To claim, as Indian traditions do, that the cause/ creator is permeating the whole universe, and we are in our innermost being one with That, is considered heresy. Several Christian and Muslim mystics were killed for expressing their experience of being one with the Whole. Another doubtful claim is that human beings have only one life, and on the basis of this one life, eternity will be decided – either heaven or hell. Simply by reasoning, this seems unlikely. Then there are many cases (over 3000 are documented in the archive of the University of Virginia, USA.) where persons remembered their past life and gave details about their previous life that nobody could know. Moreover, the law of karma makes much more sense when it is stretched over many lives. Another point is the attitude towards animals and nature. Man is considered as the crown of creation and the rest is there for his service. It is clearly a harmful attitude and the west is in the process of changing it. Butchering animals on a daily basis by the millions can’t be the ‘right’ of man. It demeans him. Vegetarianism is, at least in theory, seen as a solution to many problems. Extremely harmful is also another attitude: Arrogance towards those, who don’t belong to one’s religion, as they are damned by the Highest himself. “Don’t think about truth” is told to children and adults. “Man can never know the truth. God had to reveal it and he has revealed it only in the Bible”, claims Christianity or “only in Quran”, claims Islam. And they assure their flock: “You belong to the chosen ones. You are very lucky”. Unfortunately, this claim caters to
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a weakness in human beings. Who doesn’t like to feel superior to others, and more so, when it is divinely ordained? Further, to belong to a big group of like-minded people gives a sense of strength. The only requirement is ‘blind faith’ in return. It may
seem a small price, but it is huge. It undermines one’s integrity and humanness. Christianity stopped killing those who dissent with the dogmas of the Church, but “conversion” of heathen is still considered the sacred duty of every good Christian. Muslims, too, have to bring the whole world to worship only Allah and obviously, the agenda is still unfinished. “Conversion” his necessarily an element of coercion – allurement, deception or threat – because believing unverifiable claims as absolute truth does not come naturally. Both religions didn’t grow to those huge numbers by convincing arguments, as there are no convincing arguments. They grew by conversion and by indoctrination of small children born to those who
were converted. Every sane, liberal person should welcome a ban on conversions by coercion. Westerners are gradually getting out from the grip of forced Christianity. Theirs was a joyless religion and many are tired of it. They don’t believe anymore that only one way leads to truth; they consider rebirth as possible and become vegetarians. They are influenced by Indian thought and those who visited India are almost envious of the joyful, sacred atmosphere of spiritual India. Just attending for example Ganga Arti or Ramayana Parayanam induces automatically a feeling of awe, wonder and joy. “We are all Hindus now” was the title of an article in Newsweek a few years ago that summarized the preference among many Americans for Indian insights that are based on reason and intuition, instead of blindly believing in Christian dogmas. This does not mean that those Americans stop praying to Jesus or won’t sing Christmas carols, but they don’t swallow the whole belief system anymore. They use their conscience and intelligence, and refuse to believe incredible dogmas, like that heathen go to hell. This means, they are more like Hindus. Westerners become more Hindu and persons with Hindu names shout on Indian TV that Indians that were converted must continue to wear their straightjacket and must not be allowed to come back to their eternal, joyful Dharma. Further, these same persons have no objection that Christians and Muslims continue their conversion agenda by dubious means and plenty of money. The strangest thing: these people claim to be liberal, secular and progressive. Can someone please make them see light? (Opinion expressed in this article is a personal viewpoint of the author)
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Hollywood’s Hinduism Movie Makers Study Hinduism to Discover More
Interstellar was among the latest Hollywood movies to use principles of Hinduism
• Raju Shanbhag
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induism, an ocean of knowledge and philosophical theory, jells well with people from all walks of life, from kings and emperors to business leaders and modern day sports stars, and entertainment celebrities. Hollywood, with all its glamour and glitter, may not seem like a place to practice the philosophies of Hinduism, the oldest religion of the world. But the Hollywood is known for merging everything under the sun with mainstream entertainment. Some Hollywood movies have displayed the principles of Hinduism, knowingly or unknowingly. One of the earliest such movie is Audrey Rose, which was released in 1977. The film stars Anthony Hopkins as Elliot Hoover, a man who believes
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It is a known fact that the Western world has been fascinated by yoga, the physical and mental exercise founded by Hindu saints centuries ago. But there have been many movies made by Hollywood on Hinduism as well. Each of them show different facets of the religion, most importantly the existence of soul in every living being and the thought about Moksha. his daughter was reincarnated as another girl, Ivy, born only minutes after the violent death of his child, Audrey Rose. The story like took shape after Hop-
kins visited India, where studied on the Hindu principle of samsara. “They believe that death is not the end,” he explains to Ivy’s incredulous parents. “This is just one act in a vast cosmic drama.” Frank De Felitta, who investigated reincarnation after witnessing his sixyear-old son play ragtime tunes on the piano--an instrument his son had never learned, wrote the screenplay for Audrey Rose and the novel upon which the film is based. Brother Bear is a 2003 animation film from Disney. In this spiritually ambitious animated feature film, originally aimed to teach tolerance for those who are different, transmigration of souls takes center stage. Shot mostly in the area along the northwest coast of prehistoric North America, the the movie revolves around three brothers: brave older brother Sitka, spirited middle brother Denahi
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Western Actors Loving the East O
ver the past many years, many Hollywood actors and Western celebrities have turned to Hinduism. Pretty Woman heart-throb, and once judged the sexiest man in the world, Richard Gere is perhaps the most famous actor who converted to Buddhism. Raised as a Methodist, Gere’s interest in Buddhism began in his early twenties. He first studied Zen Buddhism under Kyozan Joshu Sasaki. After studying Zen for five or six years, Gere traveled to Nepal in 1978 with the Brazilian painter, Sylvia Martins. There he sought out the company of many Tibetan monks and lamas. He then met the 14th Dalai Lama in India and became a practicing Buddhist of the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism before becoming an active supporter of Dalai Lama. Another Hollywood celebrity who found Buddhism the way to inner peace is Orlando Bloom. The handsome young actor known for his roles in movies series like Pirates of the Caribbean and Lord of the Rings was raised in the
and the troublesome younger brother Kenai. Dead Again is a 1991 psychological thriller in which reincarnation is the main theme. It combines two stories that run parallel to each other but in different times. The film came in black and white, recounting the tragic romance of German composer Roman Strauss and his pianist wife Margaret, played by Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson. The film is a wellmade thriller in the tradition of Hitchcock. It portrays the interlocked karmas of the lead characters. Little Buddha, released in 1993, is a rare Western film dwelling almost entirely on samsara. The movie actually weaves together two narratives. It talks about the tale of Siddhartha, the Hindu prince who grows up to become the Buddha. It is in this movie the cycle of life, death and rebirth is profoundly put on show. Defending Your Life, released in 1991, has the main character telling about Moksha, a state of being away from the cycle of life and death. moksha, liberation from rebirth and death, is truly the real joy of being. There are other movies, such as The Sixth Sense and Ghost, which assert
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Church of England but in 2004, he became a full member of Soka Gakkai International, a Nichiren Buddhist-based lay association. Along with 60 others, his formal conversion occurred at SGI’s headquarters at Taplow Court Mansion in Maidenhead, England. Pretty Woman actress and one of the highest earning female stars in Hollywood, Julia Roberts, converted to Hinduism. Roberts, who grew up with a Catholic mother and Baptist father, reportedly became interested in Hinduism after seeing a picture of the deity Hanuman and the Hindu guru Neem Karoli Baba. She said that her all family members went to a temple to “chant and pray and celebrate.” She often claimed “I’m definitely a practicing Hindu.” Though Roberts practiced yoga long before her embrace of Hinduism, her interest in the religion grew larger when she came to Haryana in September 2009 to shoot Eat, Pray, Love in an ‘ashram’ or hermitage.
to be taking it to another plane altogether. Interstellar, a 2014 film that proposes the idea of a universal superconsciousness that transcends time and space, and in which all human life is connected, takes it central idea from the Vedic texts. The Matrix, screened in 1999, takes its idea of surreal universe The Matrix used the concept of Maya to great effect from Maya, a core the Hindu theme of balance, espe- principle of Hindu philosophy of life. cially with regard to karma and retri- The Buddhist principle of mind-overbution. Bruce Joel Rubin, who wrote matter is also abundantly used in the the screenplay for Ghost, says he was movie. Star Wars proposes the cosinspired by a trip to India and study- mic scale and theme of a transcening Buddhism in Nepal. dental “force” that confers superhu“My supposition in the movie,” he man powers on those who can align says “is that there is a larger universe with it, which opened up mainstream that we inhabit--that we exist before American culture to Indian esoteriwe are born, that we exist after we’re cism more than that of any other Holborn and that life is a particular pas- lywood movies. sageway, and how you engage that Needless to say, Hinduism is among life is very meaningful.” the most complex, but profound reliWhile the Hollywood movies of 90s gions in the world. Hollywood has saw Hinduism as a way of life, the touched only a few layers of it, and current day Hollywood movies seem used it commercially.
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About nine Afghan provinces are expecting a bountiful poppy crop this year. The worry is these poppy fields are Taliban’s bread and butter. Money earned through poppy trade is used to fund terrorism
More Poppy Crops Mean Stronger Taliban • Gaurav Dixit
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latest survey from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has found poppy cultivation in Afghanistan hitting an all-time high. Last year, poppy was cultivated in 224,000 hectares, a 7% increase from the previous year, surpassing the previous high of 209,000 hectares in 2013. While are Afghans looking at their poppy fields bulging with crops, international community is wondering what this increased cash on the hands of Taliban would lead to. The survey identified a clear link between insecurity and the rise in the opium cultivation. All the nine Afghan
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provinces where poppy cultivation is booming are volatile and increasingly insecure. As the Chief of Special Inspector General of Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), John Spoko, says it is an open secrete that the narcotics trade not only poisons the Afghan’s financial system and undermines its state’s legitimacy but also strengthens the arms of Taliban. Drug money combined with ideology fuels terrorism. All these factors are interlinked and determine the success or failure of the movement. The Taliban insurgency is posing a direct threat to the national security of Afghanistan. Destroying poppy fields
will cut off the credit line for Taliban and, as a result, can bring an end to terrorism.
The Opium Economy The Taliban movement in Afghanistan has never been short of sources of fund its insurgency. They also receive donations from charities and individuals from Gulf States. In addition, Hawala networks, extortion, protection money and kidnapping contribute some part of cash they need to carry on with their cause. However, income from narcotics production and trafficking make up a large part of Taliban funding.
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In 2000-2001, the Taliban declared poppy cultivation illegal. Counternarcotics expert Vanda Felbab-Brown says this was an attempt to appease the international community, to buy recognition as a legitimate government, boost opium prices, and possibly consolidate its control over Afghanistan’s drug trade. Since their defeat in 2001, soon after the September 11 attack on the U.S., Taliban went back to poppy fields and started levying a ‘tax’ on opium farmers. Taliban lends money to farmers willing to cultivate poppy, pays salary to employees at labs who turn the crop into heroin and then takes care of transporting and trafficking. The highest poppy cultivating provinces in Afghanistan in recent years- Helmand, Kandahar, Farah, Nimroz and Uruzgan - are Taliban strongholds. Needless to say: they are the most violent and insecure places. Here, Taliban backed financiers provide money to the farmers to grow Poppy plants and, in turn, collect the harvest. Gretchen Peter’s paper titled ‘How Opium Profits Taliban’ points out to how the Taliban in rural areas collect opium in exchange for commodities. They maintain warehouses where opium is loaded and unloaded. Such warehouses, again, play an important role in hoarding and stockpiling opium depending on the global demand for heroin. They curtail supply if the demand slumps, but resume once the prices start soaring. Taliban not only collect tax on crop, but also collect fee for protecting farmers from anti narcotics eradication programme. In the border districts of Pakistan and Iran, Taliban also impose tax on labs that process opium. Many Tali-
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ban fighters operate processing units themselves, collecting huge profit from the heroin processing units. Traffickers on porous boundaries of Afghanistan and neighboring countries need armed escort services from Taliban. In many areas, corrupt government officials, i n t e l l i g e n ce agents facilitate drugs convoys. Ever yone has their own share of benefits, as drug traf f icking is the most important and cash rich activity. The Taliban often give opium in exchange for satellite phone, vans and bikes, which they later use to attack on state forces. As the bulk of the opium are grown and processed in southern Afghanistan, smuggling and trafficking too begins from these areas. There are basically some fixed routes for trafficking opium and heroin, which is taken to Europe and Russia through countries like Iran, Pakistan and various central Asian countries.
The Future Scenario Afghanistan is going through a complicated security and economic transition. The complete pullout of international forces and decline in aid is likely to produce a massive economic constraint inside the country that could further increase both economic and political instability. The U.N. has warned that the legal economy will continue to contract next year as foreign aid money continues to decrease, and that could motivate farmers to continue cultivating opium. Therefore, given the gloomy prospect for the legal economy, the lure of opium money will continue to boost opium economy.
The Counternarcotics Police of Afghanistan (CNPA) was established in 2003 as a special force element of the Afghan National Police (ANP) responsible for counternarcotics operations throughout Afghanistan. It is still in its nascent stage and lacks skills, motivation and resources to fight anti-state elements. Further, the forces are hampered by lack of fund, infrastructure and training, and are finding it hard to tackle opium production at provincial and local level. Earlier, CNPA was working closely under the guidance of U.S. government institutions—Department of State (State), Department of Defense (DOD), and Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The drawdown of military personnel will also lead to scaling down of the civilian law enforcement officials which in turn will jeopardize the counternarcotics effort. It is expected that Taliban will witness organisational expansion and increase in numeric strength in the wake of coalition forces’ drawdown. It will try to regenerate its capacities and capabilities. The Taliban are likely to try to keep military pressure in rural areas, both in the provinces close to Pakistan border and also expand their control and influence in areas vacated by coalition forces. This will require huge amount of funding and financial capacity. Chances are that the Taliban will take advantage of instability to generate maximum revenue from opium economy, further worsening the security condition. Terrorism, narcotics and the instability are the elements that are stitched together in Afghanistan. To transform Afghanistan from a nation in conflict to a nation in peace, the new government must accord top priority to counter-narcotics in the next few years. An unstable Afghanistan is a threat to global security and therefore it is the job of the international community to deal with problem before it infects governments and international institutions. (The author is an independent strategic analyst)
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SAARC
Energy Agreement
SAARC wants to purchase electricity from Nepal and Buthan, the Himalayan countries with a large potential to generate power from natural resources. But this deal, signed in recent SAARC summit, can work only if the member states amend their certain energy policies.
What needs to be done to make it work? • Sanket Sudhir Kulkarni
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or the Narendra Modi government, it seems, securing enough energy supply has been a priority. At the recent SAARC summit in Kathmandu, member states signed an energy agreement that paves the way for larger countries – including Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh – to import electricity from Nepal and Bhutan, the Himalayan countries where hydroelectric plants generate large mega watts of power at far cheaper price. Signing an agreement is not enough, because several such agreements signed in the past have failed to take off largely due to inherent political differences between member states. Opposition parties in these countries have diverging viewpoints
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on energy trade and they often oppose importation of electricity. Despite having abundant potential, Nepal has been unable to generate enough electricity. Today it is facing a severe power shortage. In Bangladesh, political parties oppose export of natural gas to India. India imports about 1416 MW of electricity from Bhutan, which also exports electricity to Bangladesh. India has agreed to back Nepal with its Upper Karnali power project. The SAARC electricity trade agreement makes bare of the growing power crisis in member states. For instance, Pakistan is struggling to meet its rising energy demands. In October 2014, it wrapped up a deal to import electricity from the Central Asian states of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan through Afghanistan. With political instability in Afghani-
stan rendering its project unsustainable and unfeasible, Pakistan is looking eastwards for energy. Of course, the SAARC agreement is just the first step towards regional energy cooperation. To make this initiative work, the governments in the region need to deal with technical, institutional and political issues. Without a strong political will, the initiative may well face the same fate as the previous agreements. The fundamental problem with SAARC is that the member states do not trust each other. As a result, any initiative with high commercial value fails to be implemented. In the last few months, however, there are changes in the attitudes of some south Asian countries towards India. This is partly due to the stable government in Delhi and its ability to take decisions regardless of the op-
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position. During 8th South Asia Conference held in October last year, Professor S. D. Muni explained how regional countries have begun to cooperate each other’s growth following the election of BJP government in India. The first such sign was India’s invitation for South Asian countries to attend the swearing in ceremony of the Narendra Modi government. It is time for all the countries in the region to cash in on this new wave of optimism and ensure that their energy needs are satiated. It seems SAARC needs to amend its energy policy somewhat to make its energy deal a success. First, it should allow private sector firms to generate
and trade in electricity. Unlike public sector firms, the private sector has a better resource and efficiency in executing projects. Nearly every South Asian country lacks the financial muscle to finance power projects. Even India, the region’s largest economy, is seeking foreign investment in its power plants. For example, some hydropower projects in Bhutan have run aground due to Indian delay in releasing money it had promised. On the other hand, private sector firms have both cash and technology to have the projects take off the ground. But the volatile political landscape and some legal hurdles have fright-
ened away foreign and regional investors. SAARC countries can also consider joining the Energy Charter Treaty, but it entails reforming the legal and energy sectors significantly to create a level playing field. Thirdly, it is important to put in place the technical infrastructure for greater energy connectivity. On their return from a field trip to Nepal and Bhutan, some experts complained to this author of a lack of grid discipline. It is important for India to deal with such technical hurdles to facilitate regional power exchange. (The writer is currently Visiting Fellow at the Non-Traditional Security Cluster in IDSA, New Delhi)
NASA, Microsoft to help scientists in virtual exploration of Mars
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he US space agency has teamed up with Microsoft to develop a new software that will enable scientists to work on Mars virtually using a wearable technology called Microsoft HoloLens. Developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, the software called OnSight will give researchers a means to plan and, along with the Mars Curiosity rover, conduct science operations on the Red Planet. OnSight gives the rover scientists the ability to walk around and explore Mars right from their offices. OnSight will use real rover data and extend the Curiosity mission’s existing planning tools by creating a 3D simulation of the Martian environment where scientists around the world can meet. Program scientists
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will be able to examine the rover’s worksite from a first-person perspective, plan new activities and preview the results of their work firsthand. The OnSight system uses holographic computing to overlay visual information and rover data into the user’s field of view. Holographic computing blends a view of the physical
world with computer-generated imagery to create a hybrid of real and virtual. The OnSight tool also will be useful for planning rover operations. Scientists can program activities for many of the rover’s science instruments by looking at a target and using gestures to select menu commands.
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Dangers of Factories
‘Make in India’: Is it a Boon or a Bane? Inviting foreign firms to set up plants in India is a great idea to create jobs, but such plans often come with inherent troubles. As the factories grow and expand, they pollute water and force rural residents to abandon their lands and look for jobs in urban neighborhoods.
• Praveer Nijagal
P
rime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make-in-India’ is a campaign to make India a manufacturing powerhouse like that of China. As part of this dream he has has been inviting international companies and NRI businessmen to come and make invest in India. There are two types of foreign investment (FDI). Investing in Indian stocks is one; setting up manufacturing or service units in partnership with domestic firms or on their own is another. The first method creates volatil-
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ity in the capital market, as investor pump in or pull out their investments depending on global market upheavals. ‘Make in India’ asks investors to stay invested for a long term, making the most of the country’s low cost but high-quality labor and expanding operation throughout Asia. Modi knows it well that foreign investments into manufacturing will stay on for a long while, boost the country’s economy creating millions jobs over time. Unlike capital markets, money invested in physical assets in is hard to be pulled out. Financial economics keeps record
of the money coming in and flowing out of the country, measuring its growth or decline from time to time. If India produced one million plastic bottles, for an example, the economists will calculate the cost of inputs used in the production and the prices the bottles sold at. Raw materials or input forms the core part of the manufacturing industry. Unfortunately, this is not taken into account while counting the cost the production incurred. If consumption of water is accounted for, business becomes unviable. Factories rise where water is easily available. What they do add, however, are the
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cost incurred for buying pumps, digging bore-wells and fees paid for the environmental damage. But as the manufacturing grows, the lake that it feeds on dries up leaving the local population with little or no water. As rivers dry up, water level shrinks even hundreds of kilometers downstream. Worse still, industrial effluents turn the water poisonous, making it undrinkable for decades to come. The social impact of such industrial growth is horrendous, particularly on rural community. As a result, rural residents abandon their homes and move into cities, eventually ending up in slums. Though the factories generate little jobs for residents living nearby, villages downstream gasp for fresh air and water. This is mainly because the factories consume the water villagers have long been using for their agriculture. Put it in a different way. We are already producing cars and other vehicles in the country. Did this manufacturing make us rich? The more the vehicles we produced the richer we should have become. But that’s not happening. Let us see why. Only about 25% of the urban population can afford a motor vehicle, whatever volumes of vehicles we produce. Only 8% of urban population can afford cars, while the figure stands at 1% in rural areas. We cannot serve more than 9-10% of our population, no matter how many vehicles we produce with the ‘Make in India’ campaign. To serve a few, we make the majority population poorer by poisoning our water, polluting air and damaging other key parts of the environmental. Setting up a factory means gaining rights over using natural resources such as rivers, lakes and mountains. As the days go by, clean water, air becomes extremely dearer. Millions of people bred by these resources will be uprooted and forced to live in urban slums. Sadly, such conse-
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quences are not taken into account while inviting foreign investment in manufacturing.
The USA Model
The history of large US conglomerates like GE and Wal-Mart can let us know how America has transformed from an industrial nation into a consumer economy. In his early tenure, Jack Welch of GE spent lot of his resources fighting against citizens whose only demand was clean water, air and land. When he became the CEO, he began advocating that the US cannot survive with outsourcing to China. He then vehemently pursued that path of offshoring production to China, even if it meant closing down plants in the US and firing employees. Walmart pushed consumerism to newer heights. With the tagline “We Sell for Less”, they coerced people into buying more clothes than they needed. The vendors within US could not meet their demands. Walmart then outsourced their production to Asian countries.
The China Model China has become the ‘factory’ for the world today. Even some of the basic things like safety pins are produced and exported from here. Some estimates suggest that China is producing more than the consumers needed the world over. Look at the environmental cost. What about the citizens’ right to decent living? The voice of common citizens is curbed in China. They cannot protest nor express their concerns in public. The autocratic state decides what is good and bad for its citizens, without bothering to know their con-
cerns. Any protest, genuine or not, is clamped down swiftly with an iron fist. China is the biggest polluter in the world today, with its manufacturing units consuming trillions of cusecs of water. The communist country even sources water from Tibet, which it forcefully occupied in the 1950s. Huge dams and canals it built to carry water from the Himalayan high lands pose huge environmental consequences for Tibet as well as neighboring countries, including India. We need to raise citizens’ awareness and support our rural brethren fighting for basic rights over water, air and land. Aggressive industrialization in the name of ‘Make in India’, without care for environmental issues and citizen rights, will result in nightmares in the long term. Corporate companies and governments must pay for the loss in natural resources, and should not take it for granted. One of the biggest lessons we can learn from the US is avoiding squandering our resources and avoiding purchasing what we do not really need.
The Indigenous Model Gandhiji’s idea of ‘Gram Swarajya’ can give us a few answers. India must look to producing indigenously to cater to the domestic food and clothing needs. We must primarily aim at selfsufficiency, curbing industrialization of food production, packaged foods, contract farming, and mechanized farming in large agriculture fields. Cottage industries must be encouraged. “Production by the masses” should be our dictum. Enabling people to generate decent livelihoods off their small land-holdings should be the way forward. ‘Make-in-India’ is a great initiative but will help us in the long run if it takes into consideration certain riders. The government should be cautious and make sure that India never becomes another ‘producer’ for the global consumers, corroding our own people and environment.
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Uncovering the Myths of Liberalization Interview with Prof. Bhagwati Prakash Sharma on how India can become self-reliant
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n the 1990’s, Indian firms produced all the cement we consumed. But 2000 onwards, as the country opened up its market for foreign investment, European majors moved in. Soon domestic firms found it hard to compete because their European rivals had started to flood the market with cheap cement. The result: 5000 cement factories closed down, leaving nearly a million people jobless. This is one of the several points Prof. Bhagawati Prakash Sharma made in an interview with Aseema. Prog.Bhagwati Prakash Sharma is the Pro-President of the Pacific University in Udaipur and also the All India Co-Convener of Swadeshi Jagran Manch. In this 2-part interview, we cover a range of questions on the Swadeshi movement, its philosophy, current and future economic scenarios, the economic policies of the new government and the way forward for the well-being of the country.
Q: What does Swadeshi actually mean and what is the mandate of the Swadeshi Jagran Manch? Prof. Bhagwati Prakash Sharma (BPS): It is wrong to perceive that Swadeshi means shunning modern technology. Many people are of the belief that Swadeshi means going back to the bullockcart age. This is a completely mistaken notion. The mandate of Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) is to see India at the forefront of the developed nations of the world. The economic policies the country is pursuing since 1991 does not seem to take us to that place. The socialist policies of Nehru did not even serve better either. It pulled up back rather than take us forward. The socialist measures prevented us from bolstering trade, commerce and industry. The country could
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not even cater to its indigenous demands as we increasingly became dependent on foreign imports. SJM wants India to be self-reliant, developing products on its own without large-scale foreign investment. Q: Don’t you think that liberalization and opening up many sectors to FDI saved our economy and helped to create jobs? BPS: I think liberalization has further hurt us rather than help. The present day economic reforms started under Narasimha Rao led to import more rather produce things on our own. In the last 23 years, we became a market for imported goods. With the coming of the market reforms, our manufacturing units moved overseas or died due to enhanced competi-
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of erstwhile Kelvinator from Whirlpool and another compressor plant from Shriram Industrial Engineering Group. Eventually they stopped manufacturing the compressor components and began to source these components from various other countries. Assembling the sourced parts has been the only job left for Indians. Several sectors have suffered this fate, with components manufacturing sector in the country being eliminated. SJM has been saying that if products are manufactured indigenously, only then the component manufacturing sector would also develop.
tion. We got transformed into a country of ‘assembly lines’. For the first time after the independence, manufacturing declined by 0.7% in 2013-14. In the July-September quarter, the rate of growth in the manufacturing sector was just 0.1% on a YOY basis. Manufacturing holds the key to generate employment and wealth, besides sustaining the demand for investment for decades on end. In the last 23 years, technology has gone into the hands of the foreign multinationals. In the 1990’s, domestic firms produced all the cement the country was needed. But they found it hard to sustain as the European majors started dumping cheap cement from South-east Asia in late 90s. As a result, more than 5000 cement factories in small and medium sector closed down. Large makers like Tisco, ACC and Ambuja were sold out to La Large and Holcim. Today, European firms supply two thirds of our cement. Same is the case with other sectors including consumer durables, televisions, refrigerators, air conditioners, cars, soft drinks, etc. Q: But many consider that FDI would bring in new technology to India and our manufacturers will benefit from technology transfers. How true is this view? BPS: This is not at all true. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has been weakening Indian manufacturing, technology development. The country might find itself trapped as the as these foreign multi-nationals take home their profits. Last year, MNC’s took home $29 billion in profits while we received only $24 billion in fresh investment. Moreover, MNC’s are removing technology-intensive jobs at the units they have taken over and moving them overseas. An example of this is the refrigeration sector. Until 1997, we produced every refrigerator we bought. When Whirlpool entered India, they acquired Kelvinator, the largest manufacturer of refrigerators then. Soon after takeover, they stopped the manufacturing of the mini compressors, core of the refrigerators, and started sourcing them from the USA. Tecumseh acquired the mini compressor plant
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Until 1997, we produced every refrigerator we bought. When Whirlpool entered India, they acquired Kelvinator, the largest manufacturer of refrigerators then. Soon after takeover, they stopped the manufacturing of the mini compressors, core of the refrigerators, and started sourcing them from the USA. Q: The previous government opened up the agriculture sector for FDI by allowing MNC’s to indulge in contract farming. Though there seem to be shortterm gains for the farmers, what are its long-term implications? BPS:As we have already seen, we lost the manufacturing sector to FDI. In agriculture, by allowing FDI in contract farming we are putting our entire food supply chain in jeopardy. There is an example of this. Cargill, an American private limited company, wanted to launch its Nature Fresh Atta in India. For this, it purchased 6000 hectares of land from the farmers in Madhya Pradesh on contract basis. The farmers, who were the land owners, became contract framers or share owners of their own lands. They take seeds from the company and cultivate for their sake. Huge flourmills that generate 300 tons per shift have been installed in these lands. They are replacing rolling flourmills and smaller mills. Flourmills formed the third largest Small Scale Industry sector in India. Now these are getting eliminated. Since they market their own products like Nature Fresh in shopping malls and stores, the entire food supply chain from farm lands to kitchen has been taken over by the company. Similar is the case with Tomato Ketchup, Potato Chips where companies like HLL engage farmers in contract farming. Likewise, whether it is industry, commerce, trade, every sector is increasingly going into the hands of the foreign players.
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Q: FDI is also being allowed in the retail sector. What are its implications for our traditional retailers and traders? BPS: The Manmohan Singh government had attempted to allow FDI in retail trade. Had it been through, our retail sector would have been in severe problem. India has 16 million traders and more than four crore are employed in the retail trade. If we consider an average of four persons per family, at least 16 crore people are dependent on retail trade. Today we are having a retail trade turnover of 30 lakh crore rupees. Even if 50% of this is snatched away by the largescale retailers of foreign origin, these 16 crore people would have their source of livelihoods reduced by half. Where will they go? Many would end up engaging in criminal or other illegal activities if they do not have proper means of livelihood. Q: What is the way forward to safeguard our interests and enable the growth of Indian companies? BPS: In the current scenario, SJM feels that we should think of Techno-Nationalism. An example of this is how China brought about EVDs (Enhanced Versatile Disc). China knew that DVD was in great demand world over but the royalty on the players was going to
the USA. They thought of an alternative product and came up with the EVD and related players. Similarly, they came up with their own encryption language for mobile telephony. China developed its own Wireless LAN standard called WAPI. They built and launched their own operating system to counter Microsoft’s Windows as the royalty was going out of their country. That way we can retain our manufacturing with ourselves. Today such suggestions are being labeled as ‘economic patriotism or economic nationalism.’ We have seen examples of this. When Pepsi wanted to take over the French company Danone, the French president said that Danone was the pride of France and hence should be owned by France itself and not the USA. He stopped the takeover bid by enacting a law prohibiting such takeovers by foreign companies in about 11 sectors that were deemed crucial for the French economy. What we refer to as ‘Swadeshi’ is today termed as economic nationalism the worldover. So, to see the development of Bharat, we need to adopt techno-nationalism and take steps to manufacture our own products. (To be continued in the next issue)
Indian Science Congress T
Where Past and Future met
he 102nd Science Congress was held between January 3 and 7, under the aegis of Mumbai University. The theme of the congruence this year was ‘Science and Technology for Human Development’. The inaugural ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Leading scientists, scholars and eminent laureates were part of the event. Several parallel sessions and plenary discussions were included as part of the 18 inter-disciplinary exchanges with the idea to widen the scope of the conference. For the first time in its history, the science congress included a session on “Ancient Sciences through Sanskrit”. Seven papers were presented over this five-hour session. One paper, co-authored by Captain Anand Bodas, retired head of a Pilot Training
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Centre, and Ameya Jadhav, a teacher, claimed there was evidence of ancient aviation in the Rigveda. Other papers in this session spoke about how Indian texts were the first to talk about the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, a constant known as pi, the Pythagoras theorem, and classification of plants, veterinary science and metallurgy. Dr Gauri Mahulikar, head of the
Sanskrit department of Mumbai University said that the Sulbha Sutra written in 800 BCE by Baudhayan had the geometric formula for what is now famously known as Pythagoras theorem. She added that Sulbha Sutra was also the first to crack the pi ratio. Delegates called for serious interdisciplinary research between various branches of science and ancient Sanskrit texts.
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Busting the Hype
What is happening behind the closed doors of software offices?
Major information technology companies are firing employees at the same speed they hired them. This comes at a time when millions of graduates are hunting for jobs in the software industry. What has gone wrong with IT?
Layoffs have hit the Indian IT Industry hard
• Raju Shanbhag
T
he colorful bubble seems to have gone bust. The Indian IT industry, the most preferred industry for Indian middle class and upper middle classes, appears to be being caught in a whirlwind, with major companies like TCS, Yahoo, and IBM asking their employees to leave. Over the last decade or so, the IT industry has transformed the way Indians lived their lives and dreamed about their future. Swanky workplaces, handsome salaries and routine foreign trips have made it a coveted profession. So much so, it has even outshined medical courses. As a result, a large number of engineering colleges began to sprout all around. Recent layoffs at TCS, Yahoo and
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some other companies give you a sense of how the simple market principle working to turn the industry upside down. Whenever the supply exceeds the demand, the value of what you want to sell falls. The supply of engineering talent exceeded the demand as every college graduate began pursuing a career in IT and every educational institute offered a course in IT. When companies like TSC and Yahoo say that layoffs are the usual company practice and that they routinely remove the underperformers to make way for the new talent, you better sit up and think. It is true, however, that IT companies often evaluate their employees, and it is also true that, IT industry lays off more number of employees than any other industry. Since the blue chip IT companies are heavily
dependant on US market, every twist and turn in the US corporate affects the fortunes of Indian IT sector. Job cuts are not uncommon in India, but Indian companies rarely practice the ‘hire and fire’ culture of the West. But layoffs often lead to chaotic scenes, even in the United States. In 2010, thousands of workers at STG, IBM’s hardware division, revolted against the management in response to their dismissal. Soon the revolt hit the newspaper headlines. Seeing the employees declining to leave, HR managers herded them all into a hall and handed their dismissal letters before telling them to hand back the laptops company had provided. Severance packages averaged six weeks pay. Several employees wrote and berated the management on the union website. “You treated Indians like re-
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source widgets. These people are human beings,” said one angry posting by Solidarity4IBMIndia. It is believed that IBM has over a 100,000 employees in India. In addition to India, it sliced jobs in Brazil, the Netherlands and other locations. According to Nasscom, country’s lobby group for the technology industry, India’s Rs. 7080 billion IT services industry is set to grow at 13-15% in the 2014-2015 fiscal, while the IBEF (India Brand Equity Foundation) predicts the industry may reach Rs. 13,500 billion by 2020. Business Standard says that IT industry will remain one of the top five employers until the year 2020.
None of these analysts or forecasters answers why the IT companies are laying off so many employees. Indian IT industry will definitely get back on track and bolster its operation. But to compete with the emerging software development hubs like China, the IT industry in the country has to device new strategies and tap hitherto untapped resources. They must also look at producing their own software products instead of merely being a backoffice for their US bosses. That’s the only way India can develop an IT industry free from the whims and fancies of the US market.
BRINGING NATIONAL RESURGANCE TO THE FORE, SINCE 1999
Aseema now extends its digital operations with its presence in Facebook!!
Latest job cuts by TCS have triggered a furor among the IT professionals
Time to Form Unions? T
hough they have fancy salaries and fancier designations, IT employees do not have unions. Therefore, they meekly obey orders at the office and put in their papers as soon as they are told to do so. They can still approach the labor commission, but the shackles of the conditions they agreed to comply while signing up for the job bind them. As per a report by the Hindustan Times, trade unions such as Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) offered to support TCS employees facing termination. The report notes that this could be the beginning of unionisation in the IT sector in India. The efforts to unionise are on the
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rise as the attrition goes on. Recently a Chennai-based group of IT-professionals, called the Young Tamil Nadu Movement, launched the Forum for IT Employees (FITE), and said it is mobilising employees who have lost their jobs as part of ‘involuntary attrition.’ The group has also threatened to take legal action against the company for laying off employees. The group has also initiated an online campaign by starting a page on social networking site Facebook titled, “We are ag ainst TCS Layoff” and that the country’s largest software exporter is planning to sack “25,000 non-performers by the end of February 2015”. The page now has over 5,000 followers.
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Pakistan never thought that the terrorists would go to the extent of killing innocent children until the Taliban struck a Peshawar school last month. This attack seems to have woken up Pakistan from deep slumber. The country is now coming to terms with the danger its own child (Taliban) has begun to pose. Will Pakistan kill its own child?
Child Killers Taliban attack on Peshawar School wakes up Pakistan from deep slumber
P
akistani military and the country’s intelligence agency, the ISI, got to know the real face of Taliban – the terrorist organization that the Pakistan groomed and nourished for years – when the terrorists attacked a military school and killed more than hundred people. Why this attack turned out to be the most gruesome and horrifying crime ever carried out on Pakistani soil is because the victims were unarmed and innocent children. On that fateful day, nine Taliban fighters drove into the school in Peshawar and fired indiscriminately at everything that moved. By the time the commandos killed the
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terrorists, as many as 145 people had been killed, more than 132 of whom were children aged between eight and 18-years. This was the deadliest terrorist attack ever taken place in Pakistan, surpassing even the 2007 Karachi bombing. Taliban later stated that it targeted the military school because militants wanted to teach the military a lesson and wanted to make the army realize the pain that they endured when their close associates were killed in military strike. In other words, it wanted to avenge the mili-
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Terrorists attacked children aged between eight to eighteen tary strike in North Waziristan, the lawless tribal region in Northwestern Pakistan that is home to the Pakistani version of the Taliban. The school became an easy target for the terrorists as there was not much security around and the children were unarmed. The terrorists in fake army uniforms easily gained entry into the school. Upon arriving into the school premises, they set on fire the vehicle they had come by. Then they ran towards the auditorium at the centre of the complex and opened fire indiscriminately on the children who had gathered there for a function. The terrorists did not intend to take any one hostage, instead wanted to kill as many pupils as they could. Frightened by the fire, children rushed to the exit gates on the other side of the auditorium, but many of them were gunned down in the garden on the way to exit. Some pupils were also forced to watch as their teachers, including
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Growing Attacks on Schools S
everal educational institutions have been targeted by terrorists over the past 10 years. The University of Maryland’s Global Terrorism Database, which lists more than 125,000 terrorist attacks around the world since 1970, has recorded a sharp uptick in terror attacks on schools since 2004, when a massacre at a school in Beslan in southern Russia claimed the lives of 334 people, 186 children among them. Schools remain a small and relatively stable proportion of overall terrorist targets recorded in the Global Terrorism Database, but their share of the total has increased from about 2 percent in 2004 to around 3 percent in 2013, down from a peak above 5 percent in 2010. Recently, Nigeria’s Boko Haram, which explicitly condemns Western education, carried out one of the biggest school attacks of the past decade when it kidnapped nearly 300 school girls.
principal Tahira Kazi, were burned alive. The attack on Peshawar school is a warning bell for India, whose schools and other public places are equally vulnerable to the acts of terrorism. After the Peshawar school attack, a
large number of Delhi schools have sent out text messages to parents of students, explaining enhanced security measures to avert any Peshawarlike incident. The security guidelines also call for avoiding creating a crowd in the
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schools unnecessarily. The schools have also been asking parents to carry proper identification while collecting their wards and seek appointment to meet school staff, etc. No longer India is treating this as an internal matter of its neighbor. In the aftermath of Peshawar attack, the station house officers (SHOs) incharge of police stations in various parts of Delhi held meetings with the management of schools and issued them security guidelines. Are these security guidelines foolproof? Will they ensure that terrorists will be stopped if they every attempted to attack? The All India Federation of Parents-Teachers’ Association (AIFPTA) has alleged that such security advisories were limited to private schools. It is the fact that providing roundthe-clock security is impossible, as there are hundreds of schools. Under these circumstances, the role of a responsible citizen plays
Peshawar School Auditorium After the attack a vital role. While police may not be present everywhere to stop antisocial elements, an alert civilian can do an equally good work and alert the police about any suspicious activities
Protests against PK A
amir Khan Starrer PK may have been the first Indian film to cross INR 500 crore mark, but that doesn’t mean that everyone is happy with the film. Many religious organizations across the country are calling for a ban on the film, claiming that the film hurts the religious sentiments of Hindus. Though the movie looks to tease every religion, there is no denying that a major part of film’s tirade is against Hindu religion and fake Hindu god men. This has angered many Hindu groups. Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has demanded a ban on the film or for the deletion of offending scenes. Already, VHP and Bajrang Dal activists demonstrated at the Delite cinema in Old Delhi and at PVR Priya in south Delhi besides Kanpur, Bhopal and Bhubaneswar. At all places, the
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protesters tore apart the film’s posters. The VHP said the screening was halted at the two theatres in the capital. But support came from unexpected
he notices. Attack on children is worst form of human depravity. But terrorists can go to any lows, and it makes sense to be as prepared as possible.
quarters for PK. Senior BJP leader L.K. Advani, who is an avid movie watcher, praised PK for its ‘courageous’ theme and its performances. He said in a press release, “Hearty greetings to Rajkumar Hirani and Vidhu Vinod Chopra for a wonderful and courageous film that they have produced in the shape of ‘PK’.
F E B R U A R Y 2015
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Tr a n s c e n d i n g B o u n d a r i e s
Is Drug Trade in Punjab Fueling Terro
The war against terrorism cannot be complete without a strategy to crack down on drug trade, which analysts say is the chief source of cash for terrorist groups in South Asia. Even the Pakistani intelligence agency, ISI, is heavily dependent on drug money to finance terrorist attacks.
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F E B R U A R Y 2015
rrorism?
• Dheeraj P C
D
rug trade is just as dangerous as terrorism. Whether it was 1993 Mumbai blasts, 2001 attack on parliament or 26/11, the drug trade funded most of the attacks on Indian soil. Ever since September 11 attack, the United States has pounced on financiers of terrorism across the globe. Terrorism cannot be eradicated without assessing the causes and exposing its sponsors and sympathizers. Narcotics trade inside India is one such financier. It is believed that India is the hub of international drug trade owing to its geographic placement. The country is bordering both the Golden Crescent and the Golden Triangle. The Golden Crescent region not only produces drugs that sponsors terrorism but it is also home to several terrorist organisa-
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tions. Inter-services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan and Dawood Ibrahim, the most wanted criminal for India, run their businesses from this region. Illicit drugs and narcotics in India can be traced back to the days of 80s and 90s when separatist movement razed across Punjab, with Khalistani terrorists actively involving in the drug business and spreading the menace to the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh. These drugs originate in Afghanistan where farmers cultivate a large farms of poppies. However, the poppy seeds by themselves are of no benefit. This business has two stages. The cultivation takes place across the border, and the necessary chemicals required to process the poppy and extract heroin are smuggled from India. The heroin and other drug substances that are later smuggled back into India are called the SouthWest Asian (SWA) drugs, which are in high demand in the western markets. Street value for this drug ranges between $80,000 and $260,000. The ISI and Dawood Ibrahim are behind both terror and drug trade in India. When ISI plotted the deadly 1993 bombings in Mumbai it was Dawood Ibraihm who facilitated the attacks by providing logistic support. On the streets, drug trade is controlled by the ‘D Company.’ Supported by syndicates in Afghan, Kenya and Nigeria, D Company smuggles the drugs in and out of India. Further, India’s porous and busy roadways, airways and waterways have eased transportation of drug. The barren lands in the vast Thar Desert region as well as the uninhabited regions of the Himalayan Mountain host entry and exit point. The ISI uses the same money to disturb peace in India. Maybe this is an old story, but it is important to put an end to drug
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trade, particularly in the backdrop of two main events. The first important event is the growth of Islamic State (IS) terrorism and the participation of Indian youths in it. Secondly, AlQaeda leader Ayman Al Zawahri has recently announced the establishment of the Indian branch of the organization. There are reports that Boko Haram, a lethal offshoot of the AlQaeda in Nigeria, has decided to join hands with Dawood Ibrahim. Boko Haram (meaning ‘western education is forbidden’) is known to be a ruthless terror group and competent in narcotics trade. Making way for such terror groups puts our security at risk. The Indian authorities have achieved mixed results in the past in terms of eradicating the menace. Over the past years, the BSF, Indian Reserve Battalion of the Punjab Police and the Narcotics and Affairs of Border wing of the Manipuri police have devised several strategies, like surprise patrolling and active surveillance, to corner the smugglers. Since the trade is transnational in nature, it is hard to beat the terrorists without the support of the local populace and the international community. The border authorities did
manage to win the hearts of the local people but failed to devise a joint working mechanism with the international community. So far, there have been no encouraging results, thanks largely to India’s soured relationship with Pakistan. However, the time is ripe for India to behave as the big brother in the region and demand active participation of neighboring states. A joint campaign is not a farfetched dream, because our neighbors too have been the victims of terror attacks, with Pakistan witnessing bomb blasts near the Wagah Border. The challenge may look easy if Pakistani leadership is as serious as India in dealing with AlQaeda, ISIS, Boko Haram and Taliban. First it needs to hand over Dawood Ibrahim to India and reign in on its ISI. Even the Interpol has stepped up alert about Dawood. India could employ techniques such as high quality sensors and cameras with thermal imaging capabilities to strengthen its monitoring along the border. But a joint war, such as Thailand’s efforts in the Golden Triangle region, looks more efficient in dealing with crisis of this magnitude.
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Politics of Veto
Indian Dream for a Permanent Seat in UN Security Council
December 20 , 1956, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru addressing UN General Assembly
• Dheeraj P C
T
he World War II changed the very structure of the world order, and as a result inter-dependence gained prominence in international politics. The United Nations got a mandate to maintain global peace and security. The UN held six institutions in its fold: the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council, the International Court of Justice and the Secretariat. Among them, the Security Council holds the key tool to maintain order in international politics. The Council – made of five permanent members (the US, the UK, France, Russia and China) and two temporary members elected for a term of two years based on their geographical representation – is designed to assure peace and security across the globe, providing security to everyone unsecured due to war or terrorism. It has to restore peace by deploying peacekeeping forces or by imposing
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economic sanctions on the troublemaker. Such decisions are taken after reaching a consensus in the council meetings. Permanent members enjoy the power of veto and they use it whenever a decision being made at the meeting appears to harm their political interests.
source: www.pminewyork.org
Were it not for Nehru, India would have long earned a seat in UN Security Council. Today permanent members enjoy superpower status, mainly due to the veto power attached to this seat. Read how this veto power was used and misused over the past decades. Thus, the permanent members can influence the decisions of the council making sure that it serves their political interests. In common parlance, it is referred to as ‘veto power’, although the word veto has not been mentioned anywhere in the UN charter. The permanent members can veto any resolution taken in the council. In other words, they can suspend just about any collective decision by vetoing it. Over the past decades, this veto power has been imperative in deciding the fate of a nation’s suste-
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nance in the international forum. Russia, formerly Soviet Union, has vetoed more than half of the UN resolutions. In the past decade alone, they have vetoed nearly 79 resolutions, most of which were favoured by the US. Resolutions it suspended were either about including new member states or punishing its international ally in Africa and West-Asia. These acts earned it the nameMr.Veto. After the Soviet Union disintegrated, the United States increased its use of veto, with most of its vetoes appearing to protect its interests in West-Asia. Thus, the veto power has become a lethal weapon for member countries to bolster their international influence. The dispute between India and Pakistan figured more than five times in the Security Council meetings. Every time it took a resolution, Russia suspended it by invoking its veto. Had it not been for USSR, India would have faced a joint force of the US, the UK, China and Pakistan during the Bangladesh war. Now the times have changed and so have relationships. The demise of the Soviet Union has changed the dynamics of India’s international relations. Her principle enemies have remained the same but not the friends; India has moved close to the West since 1991. But the country is still far away from garnering the kind of support it received from Soviet Russia during the Cold War. China still holds authority to veto any resolution against Pakistan, but India has none. Before beginning this debate, you need to know that India was offered the permanent membership at the Security Council. But the country, then led by Jawaharlal Nehru, declined the offer and passed it on to China. In fact, India was the first country to recognize the People’s Republic of China at the UN in 1949. However, such friendly gestures of Nehru did not yield any good results, instead China waged war with us in 1962. Since then China has turned completely hostile for Indian interests,
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September 27,2014, Prime Minister Naredra Modi addressing 69th session of the United Nations and the Soviets were India’s only guardians against the superpower and major powers who were amicable with Pakistan on all security issues. Therefore, getting a permanent seat at the Security Council should be a priority for India. We can no longer dependent on Russia to safeguard our interest as the former Soviet Union is currently struggling with weak economic growth. While China is showing eagerness to help Russia in these times of economic crisis, India has not been quite overt in expressing its support. Amidst all these, Indo- Pak borders have been constantly witnessing cross-border firings. A seat at the Security Council would have acted as a powerful tool for India to deal with its dispute with Pakistan, which is repeatedly calling for internationalize intervention into the Kashmir issue. All the permanent members of the UNSC as well the African Union have now backed India’s bid for permanent membership. But Pakistan has remained a blockade. Pakistan is supported by Mexico, Columbia, Argenti-
na, Italy, Spain and South Korea, who collectively form a part of the ‘Uniting for Consensus’ group. To revamp the UN, someone proposed giving permanent membership to the G4 nations, which include India, Germany, Japan and Brazil. The Uniting for Consensus group has members who are inimical to at least one of the G4 members. China has offered to provide its support to India on the condition that India would withdraw its support to Japan. India’s permanent membership in the UNSC would provide it a ‘bi-directional missile for peace’ against both China as well as Pakistan. Given the series of border incursions and ceasefire violations by Pakistan and the focus of global media on the dispute, the time seems ripe for India to widen the reach of its diplomatic arm and reach out to as many countries as possible to drum up support for a permanent membership. Furthermore, such a status can also help India gain greater control over the Indian Ocean region and counter the Chinese ‘String of Pearl’ strategy.
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West and Slavery
The devil can cite Scriptures for his purpose
• Prashanth Vaidyaraj
A
n NGO called Walk Free Foundation ranks India in the 5th slot among the countries where ‘modern slavery’ is rampant. Today there are many websites and organizations talking about slavery. The irony is that most of the reports appear to denounce only those countries that for centuries supplied slaves for their colonial masters. Backed by prominent American politicians including Hillary Clinton,
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Jewish history tells how men and women captured in enemy territory were later enslaved. Women captured by Israeli armies were often forced to serve soldiers as their wives. European settlers in the countries they colonized only furthered the Christian practice of slavery
these NGOs are hurting developing nations and their economies at the pretext of campaigning against slavery. European settlers, particularly Spanish and English colonial rulers, enslaved people and practiced the worst form of slavery. Even sexual slavery was practiced by Judaism, Christianity and Islamic religious leaders. Later, the European settler took it to a greater height in the countries they occupied and ruled. Unfortunately, today’s discussion about
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modern slavery is revolved around India, which never practiced slavery. Even low-wage jobs and the country’s traditional marriage system are being bracketed as ‘modern slavery.’ Owing to such unjust parameters, India is suddenly appearing on top of the modern slavery list. Someone is even peeping into the country’s past to tell a cooked tale of slavery. They point at Samskrita words such as Dasyu and the presence of Jatis (caste) to prove that slavery existed in India. The English words like slaves or slavery have no direct equivalents in Sanskrit or in any other Indian languages. When someone said that ‘dasa’ was the Sanskrit alternative to slave, Kangle corrected them, saying that ‘dasa’ meant “enemy”, “servant” or “religious devotee” depending on the context. Many laws of the British era – most of which we have continued to follow even to this day – hinge on the colonial understanding of the Indian systems. We demonstrated our ignorance by retaining such laws even after the British departed. In his book Indika, Greek historian Arrian portrays India during the time of Alexander the Great. “The Indians do not even use aliens as slaves, much less a countryman of their own.” Also, Megasthanese, Greek ethnographer and explorer, declared that there were no slaves in India. The guiding text of many Indian kings, the Arthashashtra, declares that servitude is not in the nature of the Aryan. The sale of children into slavery is explicitly forbidden in the Arthashashtra. Every job was deemed as a duty towards the society and each one had a role. However, it is true that slavery as we know today was introduced into the Indian psyche and society with the coming of the Muslim invaders who set up their fiefdoms here. Prior to the Islamic invasion, India was never economically dependent on slavery. The laborer, farm worker, and artisans were all free men unlike in
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Source: http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/
Many laws of the British era – most of which we have continued to follow even to this day – hinge on the colonial understanding of the Indian systems. We demonstrated our ignorance by retaining such laws even after the British departed. the western civilizations where every employee was nothing but a slave. Never had we had latifundia, the large, extensive parcels of privately owned land in the Roman era that were completely depended
on slave labors. A review of slavery in other parts of the world, mainly in the Americas, Australia and Africa may help you understand how the European settlers sowed the seeds of slavery throughout the world. In ancient Rome, slaves performed many domestic services and were employed at highly skilled jobs and professions. Teachers, accountants, and physicians were often slaves. Slaves performing manual labor even bolstered Roman military. In ancient Greece, convicted criminals would be sentenced to serve as slaves in farms, mines, and mills. Many Greek manuscripts and treatises tell how artisans employed as slaves were a major source of income for the state. Jewish history tells how men and women captured in enemy territory were later enslaved. Women captured by Israeli armies were often forced to serve soldiers as their wives. The Tanakh contains numerous laws governing the ownership and treatment of slaves. The Old Testament mandates that non-Israeli slaves shall serve forever.
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The populations influenced by Christianity saw slavery practiced in a variety of forms, and it was an expression of brutal exploitation of one human by another. Though slavery was a norm in the pre-Christian era in Europe, Christianity provisioned a religious sanction for this inhuman practice. The Bible contains several references to slavery and its Old Testament and in the New Testament specifies the methods for treating slaves. Book of Exodus, clearly says that male slaves were allowed to be free after seven years of service but female slaves were not freed in any way. All denominations of Christianity endorsed slavery actively and there was almost no debate on the treatment of the slaves for hundreds of years. The slaves were often raped, plundered, tortured and killed. They were made to work in inhuman conditions and, in most cases, were killed and abused for flimsy reasons. Individuals and groups of people were arbitrarily accused of heresy and tortured through methods of inquisition. The European settlers in the countries they colonized only furthered
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the Christian practice of slavery. For example, the non-Christian populations of New Zealand and Australia were devastated and enslaved. Before the arrival of European settlers, each Maori group of New Zealand considered itself a separate entity equivalent to a nation. The western historians interpreted conflicts between the groups as enslavement. Once they moved in, European settlers converted the tribes and subjected them to slavery. Until 1904, lakhs of men and boys from the South Pacific islands, and an unknown number of women and girls, were kidnaped and brought to Australia to work as slaves on the sugar plantations that still dot the country’s northeast coast. They were shackled, flogged with kangaroo hide whips and raped at will. There were thousands of deaths among enslaved populations. In Islam, the slavery is largely slavery of women that includes forced marriages, slavery for manual labor and more importantly sexual slavery. Women and children are considered as war spoils. After the war victory, men of the enemy camp are killed and young children and women are
shared among the Islamic soldiers. Islam permits sexual intercourse with virgin women immediately after the capture. A woman can be sold, purchased and gifted or freed. Even the wife cannot object a Muslim man wanting to have sexual intercourse with his slave. Such an objection can be deemed as apostasy. Slavery was officially abolished in a gradual manner. In 1800s, European states abolished slavery and in 1900s, Muslim countries followed the suit. UN abolished slavery globally in 1948 through Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But it appears that those who committed the sins of slavery have just started atoning for the crimes. Now, it seems they have become researchers, reformers and preachers against slavery. Hence, the recent debates on modern slavery is distorted only because it was initiated by its perpetrators themselves. They are trying to transfer the guilt of their sins onto the gullible populations who have been either victims themselves or ignorant of the historical context of the slavery. Most rewarding target for them today is India and Hindus in particular. (With inputs from Media.Syndicate)
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Rape and Islamic State Islamic State Militants Defend Raping of Women As Legitimate
Islamic Jehadists have no restrains when it comes to ‘using’ captured women
• Raju Shabhag
S
lavery has been present in the western world from the time immemorial. Slaves of different form and stature are serving their masters in many societies. Thanks to relentless efforts by humanitarian agencies, the magnitude of this practice has now some what reduced. Most religions shun slavery labeling it as inhuman practice, but a few others encourage it. Can any religion call on its followers to enslave and rape women? It is hard to believe that scriptures of some religions advocate this kind of cruelty. Several religious clerics and Islamic holy fighters have often argued that their religion approves using women as personal property.
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Women war prisoners are called al-sabi in Islam. In ancient days they could be brought in and used by soldiers however they pleased. Sometime, imams would put them up as a prize in contests. One of the highly active and arguably the most perverse Islamic militant group, ISIS, is intent upon following these guidelines. The ISIS vows to observe the practices. We have already seen how ISIS is treating scores of women it captured recently. Stories about rapes of women are commonly heard in Iraq and Syria, where this militant group is operating. And you can be assured that ISIS is claiming that it is acting according to the advise of its religion! Maududi (d. 1979), a highly respected commentator on the Quran,
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No religion can approve raping women whether they are kidnapped or prisoners of war. But Islmaic state militants in Syria have set up a slave market where men can choose their girls for sexual abuse. They refer to their holy scriptures to legitimize their act. states, “Two categories of women have been excluded from the general command of guarding the private parts: (a) wives, (b) women who are legally in one’s possession, i.e. slavegirls. Thus the verse clearly lays down the law that one is allowed to have sexual relation with one’s slavegirl as with one’s wife, the basis being possession and not marriage. If marriage had been the condition, the slave-girl also would have been included among the wives, and there was no need to mention them separately.” Maududi says in his comment on the verse that it is lawful for Muslim holy warriors to marry women prisoners-of-war even though their husbands are still alive. But what happens if the husbands are captured along with their wives? Maududi cites a school of law that says Muslims may not marry them, but two other schools say that the marriage between the captive husbands and wives should be broken. In several Muslim countries across the Arab world this practice is widely prevalent even to this day, though the countries elsewhere in world have long shunned this practice. The Arab slave trade was most active in West Asia, North Africa, and Southeast Africa. In the early 20th century (post World War I), slavery was outlawed and suppressed in Muslim lands, largely due to pressure exerted by Western nations such as Britain and France. For example, Saudi Arabia and Yemen abolished slavery only in 1962 following relentless pressure from Britain. Oman followed suit in 1970, and Mauritania in 1905, 1981, and again in August 2007. However, slavery claiming the sanction of Islam is documented presently in the predominately Islamic countries of Chad, Mauritania, Niger, Mali, and Sudan.
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Women and children are most vulnerable in ISIS militia ruled areas
Travails of women under ISIS R
aping women in the name of religion has grown into a devil in Iraq and a few other parts of the Arab world. The Yazidi religious minority community in Iraq says Islamic State (IS) is still holding 3,500 of its women and girls having raped them repeatedly. A few have managed to escape and are now telling their harrowing stories. More than 200 captured women were herded into one hall, which served as slave market. IS fighters could come to take their pick. They took whomever they wanted, by force. One girl slashed her wrists and the Jihadists did not allow anyone to help her. There were foreign fighters, with local Sunnis Muslims forming the majority. While being dragged away, the women could see their men being forced to shave their moustache, which the jihadists consider un-Islamic. They were not taken to see their families but to a house they assumed was a staging post. Seven girls were put in a room, where some were taken out to be abused and returned later. There were armed guards outside. It seemed hopeless. A video posted on the Internet appears to show a group of young men, mostly IS fighters, eagerly waiting for their turn at the slave market.
Sexual abuse of slaves is not limited to war prisoners. Even women kidnapped by terrorist gangs, such as Boko Haram in Nigeria, become the victim of this practice. Under Islamic law (Sharia), Ma malakat aymanukum is the term for slaves or captives of war. According to Muslim theologians in the Arab countries, it is lawful for male masters to have sexual relations with female captives and slaves, whether the women likes or dislikes. As recently as few decades ago, purchasing female slaves for sex was lawful in many Muslim countries. And the sexual intentions were the most common motive behind the purchase of slaves. Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi explains that “two categories of women have been excluded from the general command of guarding the private parts: (a) wives, (b) women who are legally in one’s possession”
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Industry has been crying hoarse for a cut in interest rates. And now the banking regulator has relented. The repo rate has been cut, which will prompt the bankers to ease the interest rates and that in turn will make borrowing cheaper. The Finance Ministry also has welcomed the step as it felt that this will boost investment. But it may be mentioned that the RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan didn’t resort to interest rate cut under any external pressure; it has gone strictly by the current economic scenario: a marked fall in inflation at home and a plunge in crude oil prices abroad.
Rate cut at last!
Industry, bankers delighted
• C P Nambiar
I
ndustry, bankers and even the Finance Ministry were pleasantly surprised by RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan’s sudden announcement – a gift on the day of Makar Sankranti, Pongal and Uttarayana -that the apex bank has cut the benchmark interest rates by 25 basis points. The rate cut comes after three years with the RBI being extremely cautious because of the stubborn inflation which has now eased considerably. Another factor that has helped the bank to cut the rates is the fall in international crude prices, which are now at a six-year low. As per the cuts announced by the RBI, the repo rate - the rate at which it provides overnight funds to banks — has been reduced to 7.75% from 8% and the reverse repo rate to 6.75%. The marginal standing facility rate
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and the Bank rate have also been revised to 8.75%. The rate cut will result in a fall in
deposit rates which in turn will lower rates for borrowers since those banks which have not revised their bench-
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mark base rates are expected to cut the rates in the near future. Raghuram Rajan explained the reasons for the cut: A fall in overall prices and the ebbing of price pressures on cereals and the large drop in international crude and other commodity prices which together have reduced the pressure on inflation. According to observers, Raghuram Rajan showed pragmatism and flexibility by cutting interest rates and giving a boost to the government’s efforts to revive growth. It may be noted that inflation has eased to single digit for the first time since September 2009, though it has slightly edged up marginally to 5.2 per cent in December as prices of some food items, including fruits and vegetables, increased. In November, retail inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was at 4.38 per cent — the lowest level since government started computing the new series of data in January 2012. In December 2013, retail inflation was at 9.87 per cent. Analysts had expected that RBI may ease interest rate in its monetary policy review on February 3 but it has done so a little earlier. Food inflation rose to 4.78 per cent in December 2014, from 3.14 per cent in previous month, showed the official data which was released today. “Households’ inflation expectations have adapted, and both nearterm and longer-term inflation expectations have eased to single digits for the first time since September 2009. Inflation outcomes have fallen significantly below the 8% targeted by January 2015. On current policy settings, inflation is likely to be below 6 per cent by January 2016,” Rajan said in a statement. Now it is up to the government to take follow-up measures aimed at boosting investment and invigorating the economy. In fact, the government has been demanding monetary relief repeatedly, though not explicitly, and Raghuram Rajan has taken cognizance of this while at the same time
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maintaining the independence of the apex bank. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley now has the daunting task of cutting subsidies, boosting tax revenue and deploying enough funds to revive infrastructure. Welcoming the rate cut, Jaitley said it would put more money in the hands of consumers and help revive investment. The other important factor that prompted the RBI to cut the interest rates is the fall in international crude prices. Crude oil and gold form a big chunk of India’s imports. Now that the crude oil prices have touched a six-months’ low, the trade deficit is bound to shrink, thus giving the government enough room for managing the economy. The price of oil has plunged more than 55 percent to under $50 a barrel since June. That is the lowest price since the depths of the 2009 recession. Oil analysts predict that the price could fall below $40 before beginning to rebound. But even optimists say $70 a barrel by the end of the year is highly doubtful. This a complicated question, but it boils down to the simple economics of supply and demand.
According to the World Bank, major oil importing countries in particular and the developing nations in general will benefit from the steep fall in global oil prices, but it presents a big challenge to the major oil exporting nations. In its latest edition of “Global Economic Prospects”, it said soft oil prices are expected to persist in 2015 and will be accompanied by significant real income shifts from oil- exporting to oil-importing countries. For many oil-importing countries like India, lower prices contribute to growth and reduce inflationary, external, and fiscal pressures, said the report released by the Bank on Wednesday, January 7. However, weak oil prices present significant challenges for major oilexporting countries, which will be adversely impacted by weakening growth prospects, and fiscal and external positions, it said, adding that if lower oil prices persist, they could also undermine investment in new exploration or development. “This would especially put at risk investment in some low-income countries, or in unconventional sources such as shale oil, tar sands, and deep sea oil fields,” the report said.
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Gasping for Power The endless traumas of our power sector Despite reforms, power sector in the country has remained inefficient and unreliable. Worst still, it is posing a serious threat to our economic prospects. Over the coming decade, we have to increase electricity output 10 fold, besides putting an end to power theft, transmission & distribution losses. The road ahead is fraught with hurdles - but Modi can help the sector overcome them. He has to replicate the same methods he successfully used as chief minister of Gujarat.
• Yashas Natraj
T
he Indian power sector is evolving rapidly from infancy to adulthood, with demand for electricity being expected to grow at a steady 7.5 - 8 percent CAGR until 2017. The untapped power resources tell the tale of the country’s failed energy sector. (Figure 1.1). It failed although the average per capita consumption of electricity in India is just 704 kWh, a fraction of the global average of 3,240 kWh. The first four decades after independence saw the state agencies monopolizing power generation, but gradually it announced reforms and opened up to foreign and private investment. For the government, however, reform was limited to breaking up state electricity boards (SEBs) into different smaller units and tasking them with different jobs such as electricity generation, transmission and distribution. The amended Electricity Act (1991) allowed private firms to generate power but gave the power of pricing
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to state-run agencies (CEA). In 2003, this law underwent further surgery. This time it somewhat freed the market from government monopolies, making ways for private forces and phasing out inefficient cross-subsidies. The barrier was further disman-
tled when it permitted private players to generate power in the name of “captive generation.” Some argue that this model too is a failure because it destroyed competition, created a chain of monopolies and left the power generators with no buyer but the government. Its regulatory framework, according to experts, is fraught with flaws.
Broadly, the issues plaguing the sector include inefficient government machinery, political interference, subsidies, tariff rationalization, and the demand-supply gap. The 12th five-year plan talks of adding about 76 gigawatts (GW) of electricity to power grids by 2016-17. To generate so much power, we need a supply of 842 million tons of coal a year, because thermal power accounts for a large bulk of the electricity we are going to generate. Thermal power makes up a large part of power we consume, but in this country, coal has always been in short supply. The monopoly coal producer, Coal India Ltd (CIL), has not been able to meet the demand, and importing coal is susceptible to price volatilities and market manipulation by external forces. Moreover, it might even increase power tariffs or subsidies. The government has stated that its immediate goal is to produce two trillion units (kilowatt) per hour by 2019, which means doubling the current production capacity. Such an increase in production also requires
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(Table O.1 shows the installed capacity of the Indian power generation assets.) about $250 billion in financial aid over the next 4-5 years. The National Solar Mission aims to increase production to 100,000 MW by 2022 by restarting defunct or stalled hydropower projects and generating between 20GW and 60GW of power from windmills. There has recently been a renewed emphasis on nuclear energy. Phasing out inefficient coal-fired power plants and supporting research on Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) are also on the agenda.
Distribution Distribution is the weakest link of the power sector, with unscientific pricing, operational deficiencies, T&D loss, power theft and outdated meters acting as main obstacles. State governments need to try different distribution methods by joining hands with private sector players. Allowing private firms to distribute power in urban centers, and limiting the state-run companies to rural areas, can also help improve the health of utilities. Reforms are generally meant to re-
duce state’s intervention in power sector, but politicians have continued to gamble with laws that decide the fate of power generators, often discriminating against the firms that have no political support. Therefore, strengthening accountability and freeing regulatory authorities from political intervention may attract more investors into the sector. India’s power sector is under a debt of 5 lakh crore, roughly 4.5 per cent of the country’s GDP. Almost one-third of the sector is financially sick, and it accumulated 1.14 trillion in loss in 2011(WB) and 2 trillion in March 2012(CRISIL).
Figure 1.1
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Figure 1.2
Much of this loss is blamed on distribution and bundled (SEBs) utilities. Even if electricity tariff rises by 6% every year to keep pace with the cost of supply, annual losses of utilities will likely reach 1.25 lakh crore in 2017. The fragile financial health of utilities is limiting their ability to invest in increasing their capacity or delivering better services. Subsidies need to be better regulated and mounting regulatory assets have to be halved. The Government is now subsidizing even private power distribution companies. Their loss may even have a knock-on effect on banks, which lent those cash.
A Game-Changer? Over the past few years, power sector has been plagued by policy paralysis and the coal allocation scam. But eauctioning of mines, aiding gas-based plants and providing compensatory tariff to power plants based on the coal and energy storage grids they import could breathe a new life into the sector.
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What Modi did in Gujarat D
uring his tenure, Narendra Modi transformed power sector in Gujarat. He re-negotiated purchase agreements with private power companies, set up a police unit to scare off power thieves, and cut power supplies to rural residents without meters. He did increase power price but guaranteed uninterrupted electricity supply.
Government is now trying gas-pooling and changing the course of clean energy funds. Lets us hope that in the months to come government may activate a few gas-based power plants that are lying idle for years. Enthused by the changing investor sentiment, Power Finance Corporation (PFC) has devised a plan to raise $250 million in overseas debt markets. Even two decades after the announcement of reform programs, power sector has remained inefficient, unreliable, and is suffering loss. Moreover, it has continued to pose a serious threat to the country’s economic growth. Enforcing the Electricity Act, 2003 in letter and spirit and getting state governments on board holds the key to transforming India’s power sector. Electricity should no longer be viewed as a service or commodity. Co-operative federalism as espoused by Narendra Modi and his success in ushering transformational changes in governance and financial viability of Gujarat’s power utilities could be the guiding lights.
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Jammu & Kashmir Result Status Party Won Bharatiya Janata Party
25
Communist Party of India (Marxist)
1
Indian National Congress
12
Jammu & Kashmir National Conference
15
Jammu & Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party
28
Jammu & Kashmir People Conference
2
Jammu And Kashmir People Democratic Front (Secular)
1
Independent 3 Total 87
Valley Votes J&K Elections: A Challenge or an Opportunity?
• C D Sahay and Dr M N Buch
T
he J&K state assembly elections have thrown up a fractured verdict with Mufti Mohammed Sayeed led Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) emerging as the single largest party (28 seats), followed closely by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with 25. The other main play-
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ers namely the ruling National Conference got 15 seats, the Congress Party 12, while 7 seats went to others including JKPC of Sajjad Lone. One must acknowledge that the average voter turnout of around 65% was at an unprecedented high for the state and compared favorably with 61.4% in 2008 and 43.09% in the 2002 elections to the state assembly. It is also worthy to mention here that in overall terms, the BJP received the
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Whatever the result of elections in Jammu and Kashmir, people overwhelmingly reiterated their faith in the democratic process and defied the violent threats of the separatists. They even braved the inclement weather in the valley and the aftereffects of the devastating floods. Is the indecisive result an outcome of the confused voter? highest vote share of 23% (32.4% in the Parliamentary Elections) followed by PDP-22.7% (20.5%), NC-20.8 % (11.1%) and the Congress with 18% (22.9%). An examination of the election statistics also brings out the fact that the Jammu region, as expected, strongly backed the BJP while South and North Kashmir largely pitched for the PDP which, despite heavy anti-incumbency, could not wipe out the NC and the Congress. The main point we would like to stress here is that the electorate has reiterated their overwhelming faith in the democratic process in the state, thereby, unequivocally rejecting the ‘separatists’ agenda. The people of the state not only braved the inclement weather in the valley; the after effects of the devastating flood and also the boycott call issued by the separatists. And while doing so they gave a verdict that is fractured. The questions are whether the verdict is indecisive or was the voter confused? The mere fact that the final result is one of a ‘hung assembly’ does not
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establish that voter was either indecisive or confused. They did vote conclusively for a change from the discredited NC-Congress rule. The voter
in Jammu region and to an extent even in the Valley showed a clear preference for political parties that pitched for peace and development as their main platforms during the course of their campaign. Understandably, the BJP and the PDP were identified by the electorate as the main proponents of this line. Rejection of militancy and
the agenda of the separatists were the other key messages that came out of the electoral verdict. As is well known, the State has three distinct regions; the Valley which is largely Muslim; Jammu which is largely Hindu majority and Ladakh which is inhabited largely by Buddhists. Together they form the totality of the state and are a part of the Indian whole. The people of Jammu largely voted for BJP and of the Kashmir Valley for the PDP since they were perceived as the main proponents of the peace and development agenda. As the largest single party the PDP is justified in their assessment that the people have reposed confidence in it. The BJPhaving polled more votes than others and emerging as the second largest party, has clearly established their claim to participate in the government. The natural fallout
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Congress and the NC have been ‘rejected’ at the polls, and their attempt to gain power through back door would contradict popular sentiments. They lost people support because of their bad governance and corruption. Why don’t they allow people’s verdict to rule? of the elections should, therefore, be for the PDP to be the lead party in a coalition in which the BJP participates almost as an equal partner. If this is accepted by the two main parties, power sharing arrangements can be worked out under which all the three regions of the State would get representation in government in terms of a common minimum programme. This alone would fulfill the aspirations of the people. For a democracy to function it has to ensure that every citizen feels that he is a participant in government and that government will function for the benefit of the people. The people of Kashmir have this right because it is through the democratic process that they will be able to determine how they will be governed. This also gives us a golden chance of weaning away the extremist and separatist groups from their stated objective of breaking away from India by convincing them that they are an integral part of this country with all the rights of an Indian citizen. The test of whether this is the direction in which we are moving is the formation of the new government in Jammu & Kashmir that truly represents the wishes and aspirations of the people. Surprisingly, media reports suggest that other permutations and combinations are also being examined as possible options. These
F E B R U A R Y 2015
Partywise Vote Share
include a BJP-NC coalition or an NCCongress-Others coalition or even a PDP-NC combination. BJP must steer clear of both parties because therein lies its true vocation and salvation. There is even some speculative talk of BJP and ‘Others’ trying to form a ‘minority’ government that does not survive a vote of confidence so that President’s rule could be proclaimed. These would be disastrous. Congress and the NC have been ‘rejected’ at the polls and any attempt on their part to gain a back-door entry would amount to negation of the popular sentiments. Both these parties are lost in a quagmire created by bad government and corruption. On the other hand, any contrived attempt to eventually impose President’s Rule would be nothing less than the basic democratic principle. A bout of President’s rule at this stage would completely destroy any harmony that New Delhi aspires to create with the people of the Kashmir Valley. It should, in fact, try and form a coalition with PDP because the people of Kashmir have clearly indicated that they want Mufti Mohamed Sayed as Chief Minister. BJP should very graciously accept the leadership of PDP whilst having a strong representation in the Cabinet. Thereafter, the coalition must forget all distinctions between the three regions of Jammu & Kashmir and must provide an even-
handed, development oriented government to the entire State. In the light of the above analysis, it should be incumbent on the two major parties namely the PDP and the BJP to accept and honour the peoples mandate as one in favour of peace and development by coming together with a common minimum programme and expeditiously form the next government in the state. Failure to do so, as mentioned earlier, would only be exploited by forces that back the ‘separatist elements in the state and are backed to the hilt by our adversaries from across the borders. It may be noted here that these elements have already started seeking an opportunity for themselves in the midst of the existing state of confusion. Some separatist leaders are reported to have met PDP functionaries to sow seeds of doubt. Syed Ali Shah Geelani has even gone public with the threat of launching a mass movement against any role in governance for the so called ‘fascist’ forces! Let politics not throw this opportunity away in pursuance of narrow political agenda and instead, show statesmanship to remove the last barriers to the psychological and spiritual assimilation of the State of Jammu & Kashmir. C D Sahay is a Distinguished Fellow, VIF and Dr M N Buch is Dean of Centre for Governance and Political Studies, VIF
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The Sands of Sarasvati by Risto Isomaki (Translated into English from Finnish: Owen Witesman)
Published by INTO; Pages: 345+IV
Climate thriller without Kalashnikov • Beluru Sudarshana
S
ince the book under review is a bit old, I prefer to quote the snapshots of earlier reviews.
“
The Sands of Sarasvati is an eco-thriller of apocalyptic proportions, which culminates in a giant flood. The book is both topical, and frighteningly believable. It is a lesson in how our melting of the polar ice sheets may trigger a tsunami that threatens the entire globe. Isomäki’s thought provoking and captivating thriller is flooded with cultural and historical knowledge, and with old wisdom from the East.” - Finlandia Prize judges panel
“
The Sands of Sarasvati is a cleverly written thriller which goes many levels deep-
A
er than just the prospect of an environmental catastrophe.” - Kansan Uutiset
“
The Sands of Sarasvati is a frightening thriller because its set-up is so very real. This book must be commended for the way that it handles a difficult subject, and explains the complex causative chain to the reader. At long last, we get to read a literary work that has a lot to say. The Sands of Sarasvati is a significant contribution to the ongoing dialogue about climate change.“ - Parnasso
“
Thanks to its subject and the way it is written, The Sands of Sarasvati is one of the key books of this autumn. As a narrator of the movement of snow and ice, Isomäki is as captivating as Peter Hoeg was in his novel Smilla’s Sense of Snow.” - Aamulehti ***
s evident from the above quotes, “The Sands of Sarasvati” is definitely a book of fiction; but more so, a book on the imminent catastrophe with which we should be concerned. This eco-thriller is the fiction version of Risto Isomaki’s earlier work: “64 ways to absorb carbon and improve the Earth’s reflectivity”, published in 2009. It is true that the Finnish version of the novel came in 2005 and it will be a post facto to refer the later book. Nevertheless, the author has been campaigning for such ecologically important issues since almost three decades. “The Sands of Sarasvati” is a novel on climate change, particularly with reference to the melting of ice sheets in Greenland. The hero of the novel, if we like to treat so, is Sergei Savelnikov, who is an expert submarine explorer. He has mastered a state-of-the-art Russian submarine Lomonosov. When this is rented out to Indian Government’s National Institute
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of Ocean Technology, he explores the submerged cities surrounding Dwaraka, the city of Krishna. Based on the real oceanographic explorations, he dwells deep into the Arabian sea to find more cities. What perplexes him and his Indian friend, marine historian, guide (and later his life partner), Amrita Desai, is the massive mountains of human bones, all dead, possibly instantly. While studying this strange phenomenon, he comes across some even strange photographs of a vanished lake from a far away Greenland. Thus the novel swings into action. Apart from vanishing of a huge glacier, the novel has many thrilling moments. The other explorer Susan Cheng’s dare devil acts to reach the bottom of the endless hole which sucked in the whole lake, the falling of ice sheets thereafter; the braking of the ice sheets, the near death moments of the players; finally, the apocalyptic scenario that take place despite the scientifically correct massive efforts - all are narrated in a matter of fact style. The 340 odd pages are full of climate change discussions, interlaced with human relationships, incidents, explorations of a thrilling kind. While the book reminds us of few `end of the world’ Hollywood movies, it is also a grim reminder of the very possible tragedy that may strike at mankind, if corrective measures are not taken. In fact, Risto Isomaki has provided a postscript, in which he commendably defends his imaginations as true life scenarios. “Unfortunately, many of the warnings in the Sands of Sarasvati (which was mostly written during the years 2001-2004) are based on real scientific projections, many of which are already coming true’ - this is what Risto has said. One of the novel’s scene relates to the closing of nuclear power plants across the coastal lines of Russia and upper Europe. Risto’s imagination of a nuclear catastrophe came true in 2011, much after his writing this scene! Japan’s Fukushima nuclear installation was devastated as the Tsunami struck hard. This one instance is enough to believe Risto’s other near future scenes, which of
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course are bleak and dangerous. The last scenes of Lomonosov floating across the submerged cities of Europe is a scene which is yet to be visualised in Hollywood. Thus, Risto has surpassed the unreal fiction movies from Hollywood and has given us the most realistic, yet terrifically thrilling novel of a different kind. He has shown that a novel can be more thrilling even without a Kalashnikov or a man made terrorism. The fact that The sands of Sarasvati has inspired votes in the European Parliament, Three theatre plays, a major international feature film project, a comic album, multimedia installations, glass art, music, a foundation, short radio plays and several research papers speaks to the quality of work. Risto Isomaki deserves our heartfelt compliments for writing such a new age novel, sending the ecology message in style. Science fiction of this new kind is a welcome development.
Further reading: Read Risto Isomaki’s `64 ways to absorb carbon and improve the Earth’s reflectivity’ here: http://bit.ly/1CmQoR9
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Terror Struck French Magazine to print 7 million copies
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ublisher of Charlie Hebdo – the French magazine whose ten employees, including the editor director, were killed by Islamic terrorists recently – says it is going print nearly seven million copies. The increase in usual print run from 60,000 copies to 70,00,000 copies reflects the extraordinary demand for what has come to be known as the magazine’s “survivors issue.” The cover of the new issue has a cartoon of the prophet holding up a sign that reads “I Am Charlie”, mocking the terrorists who attacked its office to avenge the publication of Prophet’s photo. Eight Charlie Hebdo staffers were killed in the attack, including the magazine’s editorial director, Stephane Charbonnier, who drew cartoons under the name “Charb.” The cold blooded Charlie Hebdo massacre sparked unprecedented European solidarity that was characterized by the “Je suis Charlie” slogan. Editor-in-chief Gérard Biard said in a radio in-
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terview that the survivors’ issue was aimed to pay tributes to its fallen employees besides confirming that it would continue to mock extremists. One of the captions “Tout estpardonne,” means “All is forgiven.” But Biard clarified that the message did not mean that Muhammad was offering forgiveness, as some initially assumed. “It is we who forgive, not Muhammad,” he said. “We needed to figure out how to continue laughing and making others laugh,” he added. “We wanted to analyze, say something about the events. This drawing made us laugh,” he said while explaining about the cartoon on the cover created by cartoonist RenaldLuzier, who draws under the name “Luz”.
An E-literate Panchayat
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he Karakulamgrama panchayat in Kerala has become a total e-literate panchayat in the state. Now PN Panicker VigyanVikas Kendra is aiming to replicate the program in 100 gram pachayats in 14 districts in the first phase. It hopes to complete the first phase by June 30 this year. With the second and
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third phase, the organisation hopes to make the state e-literate by 2017. The panchayat has earlier made pioneering efforts in participatory development, empowerment of rural masses and promotion of Information Technology. In 1998, Kerala government setup Grameena Pathana Kendram (GPK) as a rural resource centre by the panchayat. The Integrated Information Technology Centre (IITC) is one of the major activities of the GPK. Set up as a rural IT hub in collaboration with the National Institute of Design (NID) and the Centre for Development of Imaging Technology (C-DIT), the IITC conducts job-oriented training programmes designed for various operations. The Kendram has tied up with the State Land Use Board for a project to prepare panchayat-level resource maps for various districts. The GPK has also taken up a project to streamline the functioning of institutions transferred to local bodies from the Government as part of the decentralized programme.
Nearly 5,000 Europeans among Jihadists
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ccording to Europol, the head of European police agency, up to 5,000 European Union citizens have joined jihadist militants and are fighting in Syria. The news comes as the European continent is facing its greatest security threat ever in more than a decade with jihadist group carrying attacks. ‘We’re talking about 3,000, 5,000 EU nationals,” Europol Director RobWainwright told a parliamentary committee. “It is certainly the most serious terrorist threat Europe has faced since 9/11,” Wainwright told a British parliamentary committee. This has been a longstanding concern that radicalized fighters returning from Syria pose a threat, and Wainright said 3,0005,000 EU nationals could come back with the intent to carry out operations similar to the attack on a satirical journal in Paris, which killed 12 people. Wainright warned Europe faces a “capability gap” in dealing with the returning Islamists. Wainwright also warned of a risk of sleeper cells, noting that the two attackers who carried out the shootings at
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the Charlie Hebdo weekly (brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi) had traveled to Yemen in 2011 for training. Wainwright stressed on the need for greater vigilance over social media that is now being used by the Jihadist for recruitment. “We have to have a closer, much more productive relationship between law enforcement and technology firms,” he said. Wainwright added that “One of the important evolutions we’re seeing right now in the current terrorist threat is the way the Internet is used, clearly much more aggressively, much more imaginatively by the networks.” The names of about 2,500 suspects have been collected by Europol from the security services of various EU countries, Wainwright said.
Race Crimes Unabated in US
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he killing of a black teenager in St. Louis gasoline station by a White police officer has pitted black community against the police department across the United States. The Berkeley, Missouri, shooting happened at a Mobil On The Run gasoline station, within walking distance of the Ferguson street on which a white police officer shot dead 18-year-old Michael Brown in August. Soon, a crowd of 200 to 300 people gathered at the gasoline station, and started throwing bricks and fireworks. Two officers were injured in the melee. Four people were arrested and charged with assault. The city and St. Louis County would conduct separate investigations. Authorities did not identify the dead man, but the St. Louis Post-Dispatch named him as Antonio Martin, 18. The authorities also did
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not identify the police officer, who has been put on administrative leave. Police are seeking the second man involved in the incident. The officer had been given a body camera but was not wearing it at the time of the shooting. The dashboard camera on the officer’s car was also off. Protests in Ferguson have taken place for months and spilled over into violence when a grand jury decided a month ago not to charge the police officer who shot Brown. Demonstrations in cities across the country gained in momentum when a New York grand jury decided not to indict a police officer over the death of Eric Garner, a 43-year-old black man who died in July when police tackled him and put him in a choke hold.
Study: Reading ability of students Decline
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he 10th Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) brought out by Pratham shows that the quality of state-run schools is poor, and the learning abilities of students have been declining over the years. Pratham says it assessed 5.7 lakh students in 16497 villages spread across 577 districts. Survey shows that learning and reading quality in schools in rural
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India is very low. Barely a quarter of rural students enrolled in the fifth grade can read a simple sentence in English. And only a similar proportion of students in the third grade is capable of doing subtraction. The ASER survey measures the fundamental skills of children across rural India. Every year, children in the age group of 5 to 16 years are assessed in basic reading and numeracy. These skills are important barometers of learning in higher grades and, therefore, are assessed in all ASER surveys. Though school enrolment levels in the country rose to 96% among children aged between 6-14, the number of children dropping out from higher education is still very high. Because of the low quality of education in state-run schools, the proportion of children enrolled in private schools has increased. Number of children enrolling in private schools has increased from 29% in 2013 to 30.8% in 2014. Five states in the country—Manipur, Kerala, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Meghalaya—have private school enrolment rate in the elementary stage that are greater than 50%. The outcomes in private schools have been improving over the years. The proportion of children in Class III who can read at least words is just over half in government schools, but is nearly 80% in private schools. Though the quality of learning has not improved in the State-run schools, expenditure or the investment in infrastructure and teaching personnel has increased. The pupil-to-teacher ratio has gone up to 49.3% in 2014 as compared with 38.9% in 2010, and usable toilets from 47.2% to 65.2% during the same period. Drinking water is now available in 75.6% of the rural schools in the country. Increase in public expenditure has not actually resulted in any improvement in learning quality.
Gram Vikas MANTRA: My Village, My Problem
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ram Vikas has come up with a plan to eradicate water and sanitation problems. Gram Vikas has
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already worked on this model in more than 1,200 villages covering over 75,000 families and 400,000 individuals. Gram Vikas’ MANTRA model has been implemented in 24 districts in Odisha and piloted in six other states. Gram Vikas’ MANTRA approach involves a deliberate cross-cutting across several verticals of intervention. This involves developing institutional mechanisms such as consensus building, creating corpus fund, developing village executive committee and designing maintenance and sustainability plan. The
approach enables marginalized sections of the community to sit together with the more powerful sections and negotiate issues regarding the village on equitable terms. By treating rural communities as partners, Gram Vikas attempts to address their critical needs of safe drinking water, health, sanitation, housing, livelihoods and alternate energy. Most recently as the Socio Technical partner to OSDMA (Odisha State Disaster Management Authority), Gram Vikas is facilitating one of the largest Rural Disaster Resilient Housing project in the world. As a part of the post “Phailin” (cyclone) reconstruction efforts, the project envisages development of 22,000 plus houses, which are being built for the beneficiaries of the cyclone affected areas of Odisha. Partly funded by the World Bank, the Odisha Disaster Recovery Project (ODRP) aims to construct disaster resilient houses via the Owner Driven Construction of Houses (ODCH) method over a period of two years across 150+ settlements, most of which are new habitations. The planned habitations are envisaged to be model villages with all amenities that the communities will be empowered to self-manage and be proud of.
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World Bank Optimistic about Indian Economy
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ndia is on course to overtake China to claim the position as the world’s fastest growing, big economy in the next two years, says the World Bank (WB).This report is the latest vote of confidence for Narendra Modi who is doing everything he can to chart a new course for the country’s development. The Washington-based development institution raised its forecasts for India, saying growth in Asia’s third-largest economy would accelerate in the coming years even as much of the world is slowing down. The reason it cites is that New Delhi is implementing changes that will make the country’s economy more efficient and vibrant. “After several years of stalled progress, the newlyelected government has begun to implement measures to cut red tape, raise infrastructure investment, deregulate key parts of the economy, and shrink the role of government,” the WB said in its “Global Economic Prospects” report released in January. Deregulation of diesel prices to reduce the fiscal subsidy bill, relaxation of labor market laws, and linking of cash transfers with efforts to increase financial inclusion were all cited by the report as helping in India’s progress towards supercharged growth. The WB projects that smaller economies like Bhutan, Mozambique and Myanmar will experience larger growth in 2017, but India’s 7.0% expansion will be the fastest among the world’s 50 largest econo-
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mies. According to the Bank, the implementation of reforms and deregulation in India should lift FDI. Investment, which accounts for about 30% of GDP, should be strengthened to raise growth to 7%, says the WB report. Some other economists, including those at Goldman Sachs, predict India’s growth rate could outpace China as early as next year.
Death Sentence for Criticising the Prophet
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Mauritania court has sentenced a man to death for “insulting” prophet Muhammad. The 28 year old man, Mohamed CheikhOuldMkhaitir was arrested a year ago when he penned an article that critically interpreted the Prophet Muhammad. It also accused that Mauritania allows a discriminatory caste system. The author had also questioned some of the decisions the prophet had taken during holy wars.
Perceived slights against the Prophet have a history of causing offence among Muslim populations, and can carry with them harsh and brutal punishments. British writer Salman Rushdie’s 1988 book, The Satanic Verses, caused similar anger among some Muslim populations, prompting Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini to issue fatwa against the writer. Since then, the author has been claiming that his article has been misinterpreted. The prosecution demanded death penalty in accordance with Shariah
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and recommended that he be shot dead. To add to this, a court in the southern town of Rosso has also started proceedings against an antislavery campaigner, BiramOuld Dah OuldAbeiday, and six members of his organization. The charges against them include “inciting violence, disrupting public order, contempt for the authorities and membership of a non-recognized organization.” These developments took place as the country’s president Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz continues to deny that media is muzzled in the country and the practice of slavery still exists, despite widespread evidences of it and other human rights abuses occurring within the West African nation.
Indian Americans Are 25% of Intel Science Semifinalists
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ndian American high school students accounted for about one-quarter of the 300 semifinalists named in this year’s Intel Science Talent Search, the oldest and most prestigious pre-college science and math competition in the United States of America. Each high school semifinalist receives a $1,000 award from Intel, with an additional $1,000 going to his or her school, resulting in $600,000 in total semifinalist awards. The contest in 2015 will feature a new awards structure, Intel announced. The top award money has been tripled and new awards categories have been added. Last year’s $100,000 top prize has been replaced by three Medal of Distinctions of $150,000 each to students who demonstrate exceptional scientific potential in three areas: basic research, global good and innovation. Also new to the competition are three secondplace awards of $75,000 and three third-place awards of $35,000. Each finalist receives at least $7,500. The 40 finalists will receive all-expensespaid trips to Washington, D.C., to compete for more than $1 million in awards March 5-11.Semifinalists were selected from more than 1,800 entrants from 460 high schools in 41 states, Puerto Rico and five American and international high schools overseas.
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